October 2022: Storytelling and the Art of Product Design
The story.
It plays a massive role in product design, ostensibly starting and ending with the user. Products need to tell their own tale too. As we at Speck Design well know: to be a product or industrial designer, you have to be equal parts audience and orator. UX research helps us understand the story of the user. UX design is our retelling of that narrative—in our own words—passed through the filter of human-centered design. Empathy and emotion cannot be functionally expressed in a design without a purposeful recounting of a user’s motivations and needs. And we must never forget that the products we bring into this world are a lasting broadcast of impact—recitals of lives changed—hopeful for good.?In October, we will look at the story’s place in product design, recount some of our own, and we hope to hear yours too. Follow along on?LinkedIn?and our?journal.
WORTH THE?READ: HIGHLIGHTS FROM LAST MONTH
We explored the history of disposable products, which are public enemy number one in regard to the circular economy. Although it is hard to imagine a world where we don't throw away 130 million metric tons of single-use plastics, we found the truth is "we don't make things like we used to," and that is taking an incredible environmental toll.
Can circular product design be profitable? Spoiler alert: yes. In our September blog, we made an untraditional but strong business case for product developers and brands to adopt circular design practices that benefit everyone along the way.
ON THE HORIZON: The Never-Ending Stories of Product Design
Communicating a product’s features, benefits, and potential impact is just part of the storytelling’s place in product design. From user journeys and personas to storyboarding and fostering collaboration in design teams, the story is more than just thematic—it is the tie that binds. In our blog and on LinkedIn this month, we’ll look at how the two intermingle and how getting better at either could make one best in both.
STORIES ABOUT STORIES (AND MORE)
领英推è
If you want to hone your design craft, learning what makes a good story and why is an excellent place to start. Not surprisingly, there is some science about it and a Ted Talk too!
Catchy title, isn’t it? But, make no mistake, the real attention-getters here are the product, the problem it solves, and the story (of redemption) they?tell.?
Packages are products, too, and tell just as important of a story—maybe more. The GoPuff’s packaging is a shining example of telling potential customers their snacks are wildly delicious—and a little bit healthy.
Every product has a story and tells a story. Anna Dahlstr?m, the author of Storytelling in design, talks about how we can manage, choreograph and narrate that story through design.