Author: Amit Patel

User experience design jobs are on the rise again as companies across various industries and sectors continue to build their design teams. And if you’re interested in making a career pivot into user experience (UX) or user interface (UI) design, taking an immersive course can help you achieve your goals. Not only will you gain the skills, knowledge and approach you need to succeed in a long-term career, but you’ll also have the opportunity to work on real-life projects and unleash your career potential.

Structured Learning Experience

Immersive courses offer a structured learning experience that covers the end-to-end design process, including not only UX and UI design, but also product strategy as well. This means you’ll have a clear understanding of the entire process, from user research and wireframing to prototyping and user testing. Learning in a structured environment allows you to progress faster and more efficiently than you would on your own. UI/UX design courses often come in various lengths and formats (in-person vs online), and it’s important to find what works best for you both learning wise and practically.

Learn from Industry Experts

A major advantage these courses provide, versus studying yourself or taking self-paced/pre-recorded courses, is the access to experienced and knowledgeable instructors who have real-world experience in the industry.

At Experience Haus, our instructors are experts in the field, having worked for some of the biggest names in tech and design, from industry disrupting startups, or industry leaders such as Amazon. Learning from instructors with practical knowledge and skills helps you succeed in the industry, gives you valuable critique and feedback, and the opportunity to leverage their network.

Real-life Projects

One of the most important aspect of any in-person or online UI/UX design course  is the opportunity to work on real-life projects and gain hands-on experience. By working on real-life projects, you’ll be able to apply what you’ve learned in a practical setting. Ensure that real-life projects are a part of you decision making process. This is a crucial component of the learning process as it allows you to build your portfolio and demonstrate your skills to potential employers.

Good courses can also prepare you for the challenges you will face in your career and helps you develop core problem-solving skills. In a growing job space, and one that is attracting many people, it is important to differentiate yourself – real-life projects allow you to do that.

Working on live design challenges, and interacting with real users is a major advantage of well-defined course.

Community of Learners

Finally, you want to be in a place that can help you succeed. Well-defined and structured courses can offer a supportive learning environment where you can collaborate and co-create alongside like-minded individuals. This is especially important for those making a career pivot, as it can be daunting to enter a new field.

Being part of a community of learners can help boost your confidence and motivation. The ability to build a small support network is key, but also perhaps adding a mentor or two to help you navigate your journey.

By enrolling in and completing an immersive user experience design course, you can unleash your learning potential, and land the knowledge required to get your first role, and open up new job opportunities. It is important to arm yourself with industry-relevant skills and knowledge you need to succeed in the field of UX and UI design. This is especially important for those looking to make a career pivot into UX and UI design.

As user experience designers, it’s easy to get caught up in our own ideas and assumptions about what our users want and need. We may create solutions that we think are the best fit for their needs, but how can we be sure that we’re designing with their best interests in mind? The answer lies in empathy mapping.

Empathy mapping is a design thinking technique that helps us to understand our users’ needs, wants, and pain points. It allows us to create user-centred designs that truly meet their needs, and as a result, are more effective in achieving our goals.

What is Empathy Mapping?

Empathy mapping is a visual tool that helps designers gain a deeper understanding of their users by focusing on four key areas:

• What the user sees: This includes the user’s physical environment, what they are reading, and what they are looking at. Think about context here.
• What the user hears: This includes the user’s internal and external conversations, as well as what they are listening to.
• What the user thinks and feels: This includes the user’s beliefs, values, and emotions. Empathy really comes to life here.
• What the user says and does: This includes the user’s actions, behaviours, and communication.

It helps designers to test their assumptions. By creating an empathy map, designers can test their assumptions about the user and get feedback on their designs. Empathy mapping helps designers to create a detailed profile of the user, and to see things from their perspective. By doing this, we can better understand the user’s needs, goals, and motivations, and design tailored solutions.

Why is Empathy Mapping Useful in the Design Process?

Empathy mapping is a powerful tool for several reasons:

• It helps designers to think more deeply about their users and their needs. By focusing on the user’s perspective, designers can create more user-centred designs that are more effective in achieving their goals.
• It helps designers to identify and prioritise features that are important to the user. By understanding the user’s goals and motivations, designers can create solutions that are tailored to their needs.
• It helps designers to communicate with their teams and stakeholders. Empathy maps are visual and easy to understand, making them a great tool for communicating the user’s needs to others.
• It helps designers to test their assumptions. By creating an empathy map, designers can test their assumptions about the user and get feedback on their designs.

Empathy mapping is a great tool for designers who want to create user-centred designs that truly meet the needs of their users. By understanding the user’s perspective, designers can create solutions that are more effective in achieving their goals, and that ultimately result in a better user experience.

How to Create an Empathy Map?

Creating an empathy map is relatively easy as a practical tool, and can be done in a few simple steps:

• Identify your user persona: Who is your target user?
• Define the scenario: What is the context of use? What are the user’s goals?
• Fill in the empathy map: Use the four key areas of the empathy map to create a detailed profile of the user. You can use post-it notes or a digital tool like Figjam to create the map.
• Analyse and prioritise: Analyse the empathy map to identify the user’s pain points, goals, and motivations. Prioritise the most important features and design solutions that meet their needs.

In conclusion, empathy mapping is a powerful tool for user experience designers and product designers who want to create user-centred designs that meet the needs of their users. By focusing on the user’s perspective, these designers can create solutions that are more effective in achieving their goals, and that ultimately result in a better user experience.

If you’re a designer who hasn’t tried empathy mapping yet, try it and see how it can transform your design process. Come along to one of our empathy mapping workshops to see how this all comes together and to try your hand at creating one.

All of us here at Experience Haus are passionate about design’s role in our lives, from the products we use to the services we rely on. But one aspect of design that we believe is often overlooked is inclusivity.

Inclusive design means creating products, services, and experiences that are accessible and usable by everyone, regardless of their abilities, disabilities, or backgrounds. Inclusive design is not just about accommodating people with disabilities, but also about considering the needs of all users, including those from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

So why is inclusive design so important? Here are a few reasons:

Inclusive design is the right thing to do.

First and foremost, inclusive design is the right thing to do. Everyone deserves to be able to access and use the products and services that are essential to daily life, from public transportation to online shopping. Inclusive design ensures that everyone is included and no one is left behind.

In our programmes, we emphasise the importance of designing for a diverse range of users, and encourage our students to consider the needs of all users in their design work. We believe that by prioritizing inclusivity, we can create a more equitable and just society

Inclusive design makes business sense.

Inclusive design is not just a matter of ethics or social responsibility, however. It also makes good business sense. When products and services are designed to be accessible to a wide range of people, they become more appealing to a broader audience. This can expand a company’s customer base and increase its market share.

Consider, for example, the success of Apple’s iPhone. The iPhone was designed with accessibility features such as VoiceOver, a screen reader that allows users with visual impairments to navigate the device. But these features are not just for users with disabilities; they also make the iPhone easier to use for everyone. As a result, the iPhone has become one of the most popular smartphones on the market, with a market share of over 40%.

Experience Haus design days revolve around bringing our community together to solve real-life issues that impact many.

Inclusive design sparks creativity.

Inclusive design also has a creative aspect to it. Designers who embrace inclusivity are forced to think creatively and come up with innovative solutions that can benefit everyone. By designing for people with disabilities, for example, designers can create products and services that are not only more accessible, but also more user-friendly and intuitive for everyone.

Take, for example, the design of OXO’s Good Grips kitchen utensils. The founder of OXO, Sam Farber, was inspired to create these utensils after watching his wife struggle to use a traditional vegetable peeler due to arthritis. The result was a line of kitchen utensils with large, soft, non-slip handles that were not only easier to use for people with arthritis, but also for anyone who wanted a more comfortable grip. Today, OXO’s Good Grips utensils are a staple in many kitchens around the world.

Inclusive design is the future of design.

Finally, as our society becomes more diverse and inclusive, it’s becoming increasingly clear that inclusive design is the way forward. Inclusive design is not just a trend or a fad, but a fundamental shift in the way we think about design.

As thought leaders in the design education space, we are committed to promoting inclusive design in everything we do, from our curriculum to the products and services we create. We believe that by teaching our students to think inclusively, we can help create a generation of designers who prioritise inclusivity in their work.

But inclusive design is not just the responsibility of designers; it’s the responsibility of everyone in the design ecosystem, from product managers to software engineers to digital marketers. That’s why we work closely with industry partners to promote inclusive design and encourage them to adopt inclusive design practices in their own work.

Inclusive design is not without its challenges.

Designing for a diverse range of users requires empathy, research, and a deep understanding of the needs of different users. It also requires designers to challenge their own biases and assumptions about what “normal” is.

We teach our students to embrace the challenge of inclusive design, and to approach it with curiosity, humility, and an open mind. We encourage our students to collaborate with users from diverse backgrounds and to incorporate their feedback into their designs. We also emphasize the importance of accessibility in our curriculum, and teach our students the skills they need to create accessible products and services, such as using alternative text for images, designing for keyboard navigation, and testing for colour contrast.

Inclusive design is not a new concept, but it’s more important now than ever before. As our society becomes more diverse and inclusive, it’s crucial that we design products and services that reflect this diversity and inclusivity. By prioritising inclusivity in our design work, we can create a more equitable and just society, expand our businesses, and unleash our creativity.

We are excited to see more and more designers embracing inclusive design and making it a central part of their work. We believe that by working together and sharing our knowledge and experiences, we can create a more inclusive world, one design at a time.

From fintech to healthcare to edtech and more – Experience Haus students apply their learnings immediately on to challenging design briefs set by real life stakeholders representing real life startups and small businesses.

Design is not just about creating aesthetically pleasing objects, but also about solving problems and finding solutions. And real-life challenges provide students with an opportunity to put their theoretical knowledge into practice, to understand the complexities of design and to develop critical thinking skills.

At our recent Design Day, our students worked on a real-life challenge set by the City of London Education Strategy Unit.

Throughout their learning journey, our students are forced to consider the practicalities of their designs, such as budget constraints, deadlines, and the client’s requirements, as well as taking into account the cultural, social and ethical implications of their work.

As educators, we firmly believe that the best way for our students to learn and hone their design skills is through working on real-life projects and design challenges. This approach is at the centre of all of our courses and design days, and it is one of the things that sets us apart from other design schools. Let’s explore a few reasons why we feel this is so important and a pillar to our approach.

Context is key.

The first reason why real-life projects are so effective is that they provide a context for the design work. When students work on projects that have real-world implications, they are able to see how their design decisions affect not just the appearance of the project but also its functionality and impact on users. This helps students to think more deeply about the impact of their work and to consider the broader implications of their decisions. This is essential for developing a well-rounded understanding of design and its impact on the world.

Presentation and storytelling skills also come to life when working on real-life projects.

Providing a sense of purpose.

Additionally, real-life projects give students a sense of purpose and motivation, as they are working on something tangible and impactful. This can lead to a more engaged and motivated student, who is more likely to invest in extra effort and produce higher-quality work. This, in turn, leads to a more confident and capable designer, ready to tackle real-world challenges in their future careers.

Understanding the end to end process.

Another key benefit of real-life projects is that they allow students to experience the design process from start to finish. In a traditional classroom setting, students may only work on part of a project or may only see one aspect of the design process. By working on real-life projects, students are able to see how all the different pieces fit together and gain a better understanding of the overall design process, and an appreciation of how design teams come together. This can help to build a sense of ownership over the work and a deeper understanding of the steps involved in creating a successful design.

A platform for growth.

It is important to remember that the goal of working on real-life projects is not just to produce a final product but also to provide students with a platform for learning and growth. This means that students should be encouraged to take risks and explore new ideas, even if they are not certain of the outcome. At Experience Haus, we encourage our students to embrace this spirit of experimentation and to be open to new perspectives and approaches.

Enhancing soft skills.

Working on real-life projects also helps students develop important skills such as time management, teamwork and communication. Collaborating with other students or clients on a project teaches students to compromise and find common ground, skills that will serve them well in their future careers. Effective communication is also a crucial aspect of the design process, and students will learn to articulate their ideas and present their work in a professional and convincing manner.

Portfolio pieces.

One of the biggest benefits of working on real-life projects is the opportunity to gain real-world experience. Students can use these projects as a portfolio piece, which they can showcase to potential employers and demonstrate their competence and skills. This can give them a competitive edge in a crowded job market, and can help them to secure job opportunities in their desired field.

Here are some tips for those who are considering working on real-life projects as a way of developing their skillset in the experience design space.

• Start small: Don’t be afraid to start with smaller, less complex projects. This will help you to build your confidence and skills gradually.
• Collaborate with others: Working with other students or clients on a project will help you to develop important skills such as teamwork and communication.
• Be open to feedback: Real-life projects are a great opportunity to receive feedback from professionals and peers, which can help you to improve your work and grow as a designer.

At Experience Haus, we work closely with industry partners and clients to ensure that our projects are aligned with current trends and challenges in the design world. We tap into our growing network of incubators, accelerators, business schools, universities, co-working spaces and more, to find the most current and challenging projects for our students to work on. This helps to keep our students engaged and inspired and also provides a sense of the real-world demands of the design industry. But above all, students leave their Experience Haus learning journey with credibility and confidence they can move forward with as they begin their design careers.

As the user experience design field continues to grow in popularity and demand, there’s never been a better time to pursue the passion for design and launch a career in this exciting and dynamic field. But those who are looking to pivot into this line of work are often faced with a decision that will shape the trajectory of their career path – what are the best study options?

On one hand, there is the traditional route of going back to university and pursuing a design degree, while on the other hand, there is the alternative of attending a highly immersive design bootcamp (usually around 10-16 weeks long) Both have their pros and cons, but which one is the right choice?

Design bootcamps, like our UX/UI Career Development Bootcamp here at Experience Haus, have become a relevantly recent phenomenon in the design world, offering a compressed and focused curriculum that is designed to get students job-ready in a matter of months. This, of course, is appealing to many, but also raises a very important question: is it possible to master the art and science of design in such a short period of time?

On the other hand, a traditional design degree offers a more comprehensive education, allowing you to delve into important foundations and theory of design, as well as the technical skills required to become a successful designer. But is a degree necessary in an industry that is constantly evolving and changing? Will you get exposure to real-life challenges and scenarios?

Self-studying and taking a series of short courses can of course be a viable option for designers who are highly motivated and able to set their own learning pace. However, it’s important to be realistic about the level of dedication and discipline required to self-teach, as well as the rigor required to find finding structured learning resources and opportunities for hands-on experience. Nonetheless, there is a path to a UX career with this option that cannot and should not be ignored.

As any new designers contemplate the decision of which path to take,, it’s important to keep in mind that design is more than just a skill or a trade. It is a mindset, a way of thinking that allows you to solve problems and create impactful solutions in the world. So, the question becomes: can a design bootcamp provide you with this mindset and perspective, or is it only gained through years of dedicated study and practice?

In the end, the choice between a design bootcamp and other options comes down to personal preference and career goals, and of course the practicalities. If motivation is high, and there is a desire to enter the design industry as quickly as possible, a design bootcamp may be the right choice.

So does this sound like something you are currently contemplating? What exactly makes design bootcamps such a valuable resource for aspiring designer like yourself? Let’s take a closer look:

• Fast-track entry into the design industry: With a design bootcamp, you can get a head start on your career and start making a name for yourself in the design world. This is a great option for young designers who are eager to get started and make their mark in the industry.
• Compact and focused curriculum that provides job-ready skills: Design bootcamps are designed with a single goal in mind: to get you job-ready as quickly as possible. The focused curriculum is tailored to meet the needs of the industry, ensuring that you learn the skills that are most in demand and have the best chances of success.
• Networking Opportunities: Design bootcamps provide students with opportunities to network with peers, instructors, and industry professionals. This can lead to job opportunities, mentorship, and collaborations that can enhance students’ careers.
• Career Support: Many design bootcamps provide job placement and career support services to their graduates. This can include job search strategies, interview preparation, resume building, and more. This support can be crucial for students looking to transition into the design industry.
• Cost-Effective: Compared to traditional design programs, design bootcamps are much more cost-effective. This makes them accessible to a wider range of people and provides an excellent return on investment for students who are looking to build a career in design.

Regardless of your choice, remember that design (especially when in it as a career) is a lifelong journey. Whether you attend a design bootcamp, self-teach, or go back and pursue a design degree, you will always be learning, growing, and pushing the boundaries of what is possible. So, embrace the challenge and trust your instincts. The right path will become clear as you continue to pursue your passion for creativity and design. The path taken will also depend on personal learning styles and career goals.

Design bootcamps offer a structured learning environment and hands-on experience, while self-studying and taking a series of short courses may be a good option for those who are highly motivated and able to set their own learning pace.

Regardless of the path you choose, the important thing is to pursue your passion for design and continue to develop your skills, knowledge, and experience in this fast-paced field.

As a junior designer, knowing when your design has ticked all the boxes and is “good enough” to move forwards with, is a daunting challenge. And as a more experienced designer, you’ll remember the struggle of finding that perfect balance between creativity and practicality in your work. You probably still have this question pop up in your from time to time.

When it comes to figuring out when a design is “good enough,” it’s not always an easy answer. So let’s dive into what “good enough” means in design, the factors that influence this often impossible-to-find line, and how to truly determine when your design is ready for the world to see.

Photo by Yan Krukau

First things first, let’s define what “good enough” actually means in design. Is it just hitting the client’s requirements? After all, aren’t we paid to deliver solutions that meet our client’s expectations? Or is it a design that looks great and functions well? Is there more to it than that?

It’s a little bit of everything. A “good enough” design should tick all the client’s boxes, look good, and give the end users an enjoyable and smooth experience. But the definition of “good enough” can change from project to project and client to client, so it’s important to have a flexible approach as part of your designer skillset.

Now that we know what “good enough” means, let’s talk about the factors that influence this line. These can include things like project timelines, budgets, design goals, and user experience. Finding the balance between these factors can be a tricky task and the “good enough” line may shift as the project progresses.

So, you may be asking, how do we determine when a design is “good enough”? There’s no one right answer, but there are a few strategies that can help:

• User testing: This can give you valuable insights into your design’s strengths and weaknesses, helping you make informed decisions and ensure that your design meets the needs of your audience.
• Iterative approach: The design process is iterative, so be prepared to make changes and improvements based on feedback and testing. This will help refine your design and make sure it heads towards the “good enough” line.
• Collaboration with stakeholders: Good communication with clients and stakeholders is key for the success of any design project. Make sure everyone is on the same page and your design hits its desired outcomes.

But what if you’re still questioning your design? Here are a few things you can do to help you make that determination:

• Take a break: Sometimes stepping away from a project can help you come back with fresh eyes and a clearer perspective. Go grab a coffee somewhere, or go for a walk with some of your favourite music on.
• Get feedback: Ask a colleague, instructor, fellow student, or friend for their honest opinion on your design. They may see something you missed or have a fresh perspective to offer.
• Trust your gut: You’re the designer. You’re the one in charge here. So trust yourself and your instincts. If something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. You’ll get better and better at this over time.

While hitting deadlines and budgets is understandable, settling for “good enough” design can have serious consequences. Compromising on quality, for example, not carefully thinking about the desired user experience, can result in a less effective design that doesn’t meet its goals. Nobody wants that, and a client will not be too pleased.

For example, let’s say you’re designing a new landing page for a client who is launching a new product soon, and they’re pushing for a tight deadline. You might be tempted to cut corners and settle for a design that just meets their requirements, but this could result in a site that has a poor mobile experience, misses accessibility standards and has unclear messaging. In the long run, this could hurt the client’s business and damage your reputation as a designer or a team.

As designers, it’s important to be mindful of the trade-offs we make for efficiency and be ready to argue for the time and resources needed to make our designs truly amazing. Our type of work takes time, and it’s best to be clear about this upfront to ensure you have enough time to design the ideal experience that everyone is expecting and needs.

Figuring out when a design is “good enough” is a complex process that requires a deep understanding of the design problem, audience, and project goals. By approaching your work with a flexible and adaptive mindset, you will create truly effective and impactful designs. But just remember, questioning if your work is “good enough” will probably never go away.

Design education is constantly evolving to keep up with the changing needs of industry and the creative economy. With the workforce of tomorrow needing the right skillset for success and with startups needing the right foundations for growth, innovation hubs inside universities are primed to help with both of these requirements.

Innovation centres at universities are typically established to promote innovation and entrepreneurship among students, faculty, and the wider community. They typically provide resources, support, and mentorship to help entrepreneurs and innovators bring their ideas to market, and this is done through funding opportunities, workspace, and educational programs and workshops.

This past weekend Experience Haus worked with Essex Startups, a support service at the University of Essex, and based within the universities Innovation Centre. The Essex Startups team provides students and graduates the opportunities develop entrepreneurial skills to prepare for their future. The two-day workshop was one of many programmes that the team runs aimed at providing students with core design and entrepreneurship skills to help them bring their ideas to life.

Ten students, who are all part of the Essex Startup Frontrunners programme, took part. These students (who are employed as Innovation Factory project assistants) are provided paid opportunities and partnered with startups. Because they are studying various subjects, this provides a range of backgrounds which they can apply as their work on these startups, with fresh eyes, through in-depth research and more.

“The Innovation Factory is designed to do two things: firstly, we want to give our students practical, real-world examples of the types of problems that they’ll face in the workplace when they graduate, and, second, to provide additional help and support for our start-up community so they can explore new opportunities to help them scale and grow. It’s an exciting approach and we’re looking forward to seeing the outcomes at the end of the project.” Andy Mew, Head of Start-Up Support, Essex Startups

The workshop was divided into two parts. On the first day, students were introduced to design thinking and user research basics. They learned about the importance of the designers mindset, and understanding how divergent and convergent thinking can help in the design process. They then learned how to identify and understand the needs of their target audience, and how to use this information to inform their design decisions. This was followed by ideation and prototyping, where students used various methods and tools to generate and refine potential solutions.

To bring a sense of real-life application, the students were asked to re-imagine the whole Innovation Centre experience. And in order to bring some creativity, collaboration and an understanding of constraint into the day, students were asked to first sketch their concepts, and then used LEGO to build rapid prototypes of their vision.

On the second day, students dove deeper into the business side of design. They were introduced to business model design and pricing strategies, and learned how to develop a marketing plan that would help them reach their target audience and bring their ideas to market. As they worked through the topics of the day, they continued to work on their LEGO prototypes, which provided a good grounding for open conversation and deliberation on the best path forward.

The highlight of the workshop was the final pitches, where students presented their ideas and prototypes to the rest of the group, including the Head of Startup Support, Andy Mew. This was an opportunity for students to demonstrate what they had learned and to receive feedback from their peers. It was amazing to see the creativity and passion that the students brought to their projects, and everyone involved was impressed by the high level of professionalism displayed in their presentations.

“As someone who aspires to get into marketing this was an amazing experience to learn in-depth knowledge, in a fun creative way, which kept me engaged. It has given me more confidence as you provided great tips on what businesses look for and need to run a business, which I can apply in the future” Anoushka Tekeyan-Pelosi

“I learned a lot this weekend about design thinking, prototyping, ideation, and business modelling and I gained a lot of confidence from the pitching exercise that we undertook at the end of the weekend.” Ed Creeden

“This was a great workshop, very informative, always held my interest. It was very engaging and fun to participate in and something I would recommend to anyone.” Bilal Nagode

In conclusion, the collaboration this past weekend was a great success, and the combination of topics provided a well-rounded learning experience that will serve the students well in their future careers.

By providing students with the tools and skills they need to succeed in the very near future, we are helping to build a stronger and more vibrant creative community. The Experience Haus team looks forward to a continued collaboration with the Essex Startups team, and to helping the next generation of entrepreneurs and creative thinkers reach their full potential.

If you work within the creative industries, storytelling should be considered an important part of your skillset for the future. It is a versatile and valuable skill that can be applied to many areas of work. It can help to build stronger connections with audiences, inspire innovation, and drive business success.

Storytelling continues to be a powerful tool for designers, entrepreneurs, and creatives. When used well, it allows you to connect with your target audience on an emotional level, communicate your company values and mission, and differentiate your product from competitors. But why is storytelling so important, and how can you improve your storytelling skills?

Let’s start at the beginning. Storytelling, broken down simply, is the art of creating and sharing a narrative, or even more simply, a story. It is a way to communicate information, ideas, or experiences to an audience in an engaging and relatable way. Storytelling can take many forms, including written stories, oral stories, and visual stories, such as those we see in today’s popular film and television series. The purpose of storytelling can vary, it can be used to entertain, educate, persuade, or simply share the vision of an experience.

Storytelling, pitching and crafting engaging presentations remain a core element of the Experience Haus curriculum across all of our courses.

Storytelling has been used for centuries as a means of passing down history and knowledge, and connecting people with one another. In modern times, storytelling is also used in many areas such as marketing, advertising, and entertainment, and in the experience design world, it can be used for internal communications, pitching and landing pages across the web.

We all enjoy a good story. We want to see the story through to a successful ending. Stories capture our attention, evoke emotional output, and create a sense of connection with those involved. In the same way, stories can help make a deeper connection between your brand and your audience. By sharing the inspiration behind your product or design, you can give your audience a glimpse into your creative thinking and process, and in turn, create a sense of community and belonging.

But storytelling isn’t just about sharing your story, it’s also about understanding your audience’s story. As a designer or creative, it’s important to understand the needs and wants of your target audience, and to craft your story in a way that resonates with them. By understanding your audience’s story, you can create a design or product that truly meets their needs and stands out from competitors.

Now let’s move into how a story comes together. There are numerous ways you can create a story arc, but a good story typically has a clear structure, with a beginning, middle, and end. It should have a central conflict or problem that is resolved by the end of the story. Additionally, a good story should have well-developed characters, descriptive language, and the ability to evoke emotions in the audience. Using descriptive language can help to create vivid imagery and bring the story to life for the audience. This can be done by using specific nouns, verbs, and adjectives, as well as by including sensory details. Additionally, using metaphors and similes can also help to create a more engaging story.

A great example of this is Apple’s “Think Different” campaign, which ran from 1997 to 2002. This campaign used storytelling to position Apple early on as a company that stands for creativity and innovation. The ads that were run featured photos of famous thinkers and innovators, accompanied by a voiceover that said, “Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently.” This campaign helped to re-position Apple to eventually become the global leader in the tech industry it is today.

Storytelling should be considered an important part of your skillset for the future – so what are some top tips for designers or design teams needing to improve their storytelling?

Understand your audience: To create an effective story, it’s important to understand your audience’s needs and wants. As part of the process, know you are trying to convey your message to, Conduct user research to learn more and use this information to craft a story that resonates directly with them. Evoking emotions in the audience is key to creating a connection with them. To do this, it’s important to understand the emotions you want to evoke and to craft your story in a way that will elicit those emotions. This can be done through descriptive language, character development, and by using techniques such as foreshadowing and suspense. Share what you have learned with the rest of your design team. By sharing stories of people who have overcome challenges, or of new and exciting ways of doing things, you can inspire your team to think differently and come up with new and innovative ideas.

Use storytelling throughout the design process: Incorporate storytelling throughout your design process (we’ll talk about user testing in the next point). Use stories from your audience to inspire design decisions, drive innovation, test ideas and communicate early design concepts to key stakeholders. Storytelling can help in problem-solving by providing authentic contextual understanding and perspective. It can be used to describe a problem, impact, how it was identified, and how it was eventually solved.

Use user testing to finesse your storytelling: Use storytelling as a tool to understand your user’s product experience. Encourage your users to share their stories about how they interact with your product (you could ask for descriptive reviews) and use this information to improve the design. In today’s increasingly competitive landscape, being able to differentiate your brand or product is necessary, not just essential. Storytelling can be used to create a unique and compelling narrative that sets you apart from all of your competitors. A/B testing is a great way to optimise your stories. Test different versions of the proposed story with current users and use the feedback to refine the story before moving forward in the design process.

Collaborate with other team members: Storytelling is not a one-person job. Encourage collaboration between team members, and gather input from different departments to co-create a more comprehensive and cohesive story. Storytelling remains a powerful tool for communication for design teams as a whole. It helps to convey so many types of information in a way that is relatable and engaging, making it more likely that the audience will retain the information and take action off it.

Use different mediums to tell the story: Don’t limit yourself to just one medium to tell your story. It’s not uncommon to try and put an entire story into a presentation slide deck. Use different mediums such as videos, images, and animations to bring your story to life in a more engaging way. Explore including these where possible. Storytelling requires creativity, which is highly valued in today’s fast-paced and ever-changing creative economy. With storytelling, individual designers and design teams can think outside the box, come up with new ideas, and create highly memorable experiences for the audience. Leave the audience wanting more.

Finally, like any skill, storytelling takes practice. Take time to study different storytelling techniques, and try out different approaches in your design work. The more you practice, the better you will become at crafting compelling stories that stick. And once you’ve mastered the art of storytelling, add this to part of your growing leadership skillset.

Storytelling can be used to inspire and motivate teams, communicate a vision, and build trust and alignment within an entire organisation.