Storytelling is a powerful tool for connecting our teams, stakeholders, and products. Stories that engage and persuade audiences can help us advocate for our users and increase buy-in. Beyond just sharing information, stories can evoke emotions, encourage reflection, and inspire action.
Storytelling Fundamentals
If you’re new to UX storytelling, start here.
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Leverage storytelling to communicate user needs and gain buy-in for UX initiatives. |
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Article |
Build up your storytelling skills to persuade audiences to consider research findings or commit to a design idea. |
Turning Data Into Stories
After collecting data, turn it into a clear narrative. Rather than just passing the data on to our audience, it is our job to shape the data into a story that highlights the main insights. Use the following resources to turn complex data into a digestible story for your audience.
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Turning Complex Data into Compelling Stories: A 5-Step Process |
Article |
Guide your audience through complex data with storytelling techniques. |
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Video |
Help your audience conceptualize numbers with anecdotes and metaphors. |
Presenting to Teams
Use the following resources to actively engage stakeholders during presentations, convey the value of UX projects, and navigate challenges that may arise.
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Video |
Use storytelling to improve collaboration, support stakeholders in reaching their goals, and amplify the influence of UX work. |
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Article |
Connect with your audience in remote settings by using these 5 strategies. |
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3 |
Video |
Adapting your vocabulary builds trust with your audience and ensures alignment on ideas and solutions. |
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Video |
Effectively advocate for UX initiatives using storytelling. |
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Video |
Communicate the value of UX work by translating user needs into business value. |
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6 |
Article |
Use storytelling templates to create narratives that are clear and impactful. |
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7 |
Video |
Use gain-loss framing to highlight the benefits or drawbacks of a decision. |
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8 |
Video |
Apply chunking techniques to your presentations to make them more digestible and memorable for your audience. |
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9 |
Video |
Provide context to your stories to guide your audience in making informed decisions. |
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‘But You Tested with Only 5 Users!’: Responding to Skepticism About Findings From Small Studies |
Article |
Address stakeholders' doubts while also showing that you are confident in your research findings. |
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Video |
Saying “I don’t know” helps to build trust and facilitate collaborative problem-solving within a team. |
Storytelling Artifacts
UX professionals use various storytelling artifacts to engage and communicate with audiences. While this list does not include all storytelling artifacts, it serves as a good starting point.
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Video |
Follow this 6-step process to create storyboards that effectively convey scenarios to your team. |
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Article |
Storyboards are a simple, low-fidelity tool to communicate ideas with team members. |
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Article |
Follow these guidelines to enrich your asynchronous deliverables and boost engagement with stakeholders. |
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Article |
Informal reports are a faster and more efficient method for disseminating findings and feedback to teams and stakeholders. |
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Article |
Break up long walls of text in reports by using white space and other visual elements. |
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Article |
Leverage interactive UX maps as a dynamic method for storytelling. |
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When and How to Create Customer-Journey Maps
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Article |
Use this guide to understand journey maps and how to make one. |
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Video |
Share early-stage low-fidelity design artifacts with stakeholders to facilitate collaborative problem-solving and knowledge transfer. |
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9 |
Article |
Use this guide to understand personas and the value they bring. |
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10 |
Article |
Discover the most used deliverables for communicating with stakeholders. |
