Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Dallas Reedy

I’ve never been a great storyteller.

I come from a long line of not-so-great storytellers.

My dad was once trying to tell us all a joke; one of those story-form jokes with a delayed-but-often-well-worth-it punchline. He kept pausing for long periods of time, racking his brain for how exactly it went. I could see the wheels turning in his head: “now, what comes next.” Finally it was time for the punchline and he paused for what felt like minutes. By the time he finally recalled exactly how it went, we were hardly paying attention any more and the “joke” fell absolutely flat.

We laughed—a lot. Not at the joke, but at how long it took to tell the joke.

Real footage of us laughing at how long it took my dad to tell a joke.

What makes a story great?

I am absolutely fascinated by people who can tell a great story without seeming to try very hard at all. People who can recall interesting details, weave them together into a tapestry of immersive narrative, and evoke the same sensation or emotion that the protagonist was likely feeling at the time.

Great stories have the power to completely captivate us.

Great stories cannot be boiled down to some formulaic construct. Each story is great not because of its overall content, but because it is told in the right way for the right audience at the right time. This is the genius and magic of a good storyteller. Therefore, great stories are not merely the ABCs of the path and events of the protagonist, but the timing, tone, and tune of the way the story is told.

Okay, so what makes a storyteller great?

As with stories, there really isn’t an instant-success formula to follow to become a great storyteller.

There are, however, a few tips from Psychology Today that could help:

Set the context. Start with the who, what, where, why, and how of the story.
Avoid unimportant tangents. Avoid following every sidebar thought that comes into your mind. Such details tend to distract and frustrate your audience.
Know your audience. Make sure the story you’re about to tell is relatable to the people who are listening.
Just a sprinkling of embellishment. Too much embellishment and you risk boring your audience or even outright lying.
Rehearse before you begin. Run the main points through your mind, paying extra special attention to the ending.
Be considerate of the people in your story. There’s no need to turn a useful, fun, and exciting story into yet another round of gossip.
Keep it short. Don’t hog all the attention! Keep it to a couple of minutes and then work on your listening skills.
Be mindful of the impact. Sad or distressing stories can have a negative, even stressful, impact on your listeners, especially if the story is a long one. Set the expectations up front and be careful with the details.

Why do stories & storytellers matter?

Stories bond us. Stories motivate us. Stories are how we share the good times and the bad. Stories are everywhere.

Part of my job as a designer (prefix that with “user experience,” if you must) is to empathize with the people who will actually use the things that I help to create so that they can accomplish necessary tasks as part of their own narratives. This empathy involves crafting up a story about the other person in my mind and using that story to motivate how I perceive the product or service.

Part of my job as a designer is to tell a compelling story about the product or service that is being offered. A story which effectively communicates the message of that product or service and which captivates the right people to invest in that story.

Telling good stories, and telling them well, is part of the fabric of humanity. Well-told stories motivate us to try new things, buy new things, become better people, and help those in need.

We can benefit ourselves and our communities by becoming better storytellers.

Go on. I’m listening.

I love hearing great stories and occasionally trying to tell them.

We all have a story to tell.

What’s your story?

8 Steps to Better Storytelling—and Better Design was originally published in Prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

8 Steps to Better Storytelling—and Better Design

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