Storytelling And All That Craic

Stories are more than just account of past events in someone’s life. Much more can be taken from a story. Stories are used as forms of entertainment by everyone every day. Without stories the world is a dull place. There are all kinds of stories, some stories tell us crazy, extravagant events that have happened, and some stories tell us basic information about one’s life. Stories can help people to bond, people become friends because they can talk about similar experiences they have encountered. Sometimes people share an experience and create a bond through that story. Hearing a story sometimes motivates or inspires you to do something.

Storytelling can be used in research for design, I watched the YouTube video, “Gang Leader for a Day: Sudhir Venkatesh”. He tried to learn about the gang by asking the street gang members questions about their lives, but they did not respond as he would have hoped. He then decided to learn about their lives by living with them. This was the best way learn about these people. To see and hear the stories of the gang members was simplest and most accurate method to learn about them. All the stories he heard were just all the experiences in the gang members lives that shaped the people they are today. The gang members were much more likely to be co-operative if the tone was conversational and they are not bombarded with questions. This is the case for everyone, people are more likely to give more information in a natural, fluid conversation rather than intense question asking.(Venkatesh, 2020)

To really understand a person needs for a product, the best way to understand the main needs is for the person to tell you stories of their experiences. These stories are the best way to identify the issues in the person’s life. I watched a show on RTE called “Big Life Fix”, this program conveys how important storytelling is in the design process. In this, the users explain their problems and their emotions around the issues they have. This allows the designer to understand and empathize with the user. There is a 6-year-old boy with a condition where has no lower limbs. The designer goes about an ordinary day in his life to understand how he deals with problems in his life already and uses this information to see problem areas and things that he can develop on. He learns about the young boy’s interests and designs a motorized mobility cart that looks like a dinosaur. (RTÉ Player, 2020)

From this class I learned that storytelling is far more relevant in the design process than I initially thought. I am going to apply what I’ve learnt to my work. It is important when in the research/ideation stage to be very observant to stories and especially the user’s story as they are the most important person to the designer.

References:

Venkatesh, S., 2020.Gang Leader For A Day: Sudhir Venkatesh. [online] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRq1AhFAN-4. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRq1AhFAN-4> [Accessed 27 March 2020].

RTÉ Player. 2020.RTÉ Player. [online] Available at: <https://www.rte.ie/player/series/big-life-fix/SI0000006774?epguid=IP000064568> [Accessed 27 March 2020].