This module was titled Narrative and Storytelling, and when I first read that was what IXD 304 was about I didn’t know what to expect. Storytelling is not something I immediately link with UX design, and I wasn’t sure where the crossover between telling stories and designing the best user experience. Between week one and week two, we were asked to watch a video by Cindy Chastain, and I found this a useful video to get me started on thinking about storytelling design. As the semester progressed and we worked through more of the lecture series I was able to expand this knowledge and build a much better understanding of the importance of storytelling in a design. This was added to after Week 10’s guest lecture from Big Motive, where the link between Aristotle’s seven storytelling elements was explored. These elements have been used since the time of the Ancient Greeks as the basis for stories. Transposing these elements to more familiar UX design elements such as our characters being our users, and our set being our layout and visual design, really helped me understand how to use storytelling techniques within UX design. Another key aspect is how to pace the story, and how the elements are revealed to users. As user journeys are designed to take users through the process of completing a task these journeys can be considered as stories with a start, a middle and an end, by crafting each of these steps we can ensure the best experience for users possible.

For our first deliverable we were tasked with creating an Immersive Prototype in Figma to tell the story of the Apollo 11 mission, we were provided with a selection of text about the mission to use as a base for the story and the rest of the design was left up to ourselves, including deciding on a target audience, the colour palette, typography and sourcing or creating suitable visual assets. As this was an immersive prototype, we needed to use the prototyping tools within Figma to grab our users' attention and guide them through the story. I decided that with the amount of high-quality photography from the mission, I would use photography as the backbone of my prototype. I also wanted to use some of the video editing skills I have picked, especially to introduce the space race before Apollo 11 and to show key videos taken during the mission. I also created some original infographics to tell a visual story of the Saturn V rocket, the trip to the moon and the distance covered on the return to Earth. I was happy with the results of these, but when I came to prototype the content, I had created I started to find that I couldn’t create some of the animations and transitions I had planned. The main issue was that Figma does not support scrolling as a trigger for interactions, I had originally intended to set my animations to begin when a user scrolled to a certain section, however, this was no longer an option. Trying to find suitable alternative triggers for the interactivity I wanted within my prototype was something I struggled with throughout the semester, with a workable solution only really coming together near the end of the semester. I tried using keyboard animations for the design I presented for the first design critique, but this was not obvious to users, I then switched to using onscreen navigation buttons, but I only had space for these to be small and this made them too awkward to use. In the end, I have returned to users scrolling down through the content and clicking on labelled buttons to interact with the interactive elements I have created. This may not be the solution I had originally hoped for, but in terms of usability and giving users control to use the prototype as they wish it is the best option.

Our second deliverable was to take our prototype and convert it into either a narrative website or an e-book. Initially, I wanted to create a website, that would allow me the functionality I needed to replicate the interactivity I had included within my website. However, further thought made me realise that to do this I would need to invest more time than I had available into either learning how to use Framer or JavaScript. With another module to work on and a prototype to build, I knew I would not be able to create a website to a standard I would be happy with. I therefore decided to create an e-book instead.

E-books were a new area to me, I had used Adobe InDesign before but only briefly to create my CV in the first semester, so I saw this as an opportunity to develop my skills and be challenged differently. As e-books are digital representations of real books, they do not offer the ability to include interactive elements such as audio, video or hover interactions which I had used heavily in my prototype. This meant I would have to think of new ways to use my content to tell the story and I relished this challenge. It left me needing to concentrate on the treatment of my images and my typography and I enjoyed the extra focus on these elements. I used typographic elements such as hierarchy and drop caps to help users find their way and was able to frame the photographs, I had chosen in a way that was dynamic and exciting. I feel that using InDesign is a skill I will benefit from in the future. I also had to overcome some problems when exporting and viewing my e-book during which I learnt a lot more about the different types of e-books and specific elements that a designer needs to consider when working for this medium.

Overall, I have enjoyed this semester and have been able to add new skills to my repertoire. I have also gained a much better understanding of how storytelling skills can be used within UX design to improve the user experience of a product. I have pushed Figma more than I have done previously and have been frustrated by some things it cannot do, although this challenged me to find solutions. I am also much more confident using InDesign an industry standard piece of software. This leaves me in good stead as I embark on a year’s industry placement with Rapid 7.