Hello. I'm Takita, a designer.
Recently, I have been thinking about "Design is a toolbox for creating storytelling experiences."
I read a book called ".
Based on the premise that today's world requires designing the entire project, including the final product, this book provides a concise introduction to design knowledge and techniques centered around "story."
For those of you who are wondering what "storytelling design" is, here's a simple explanation:
This is a technique that leaves a strong impression on users by using an impressive "story" that evokes the thoughts and concepts behind a product or brand.
There are many different types of stories.
Some of them are stories that help users imagine what it would be like to use the service, while others tell a story about the product's production process.
The word "storytelling" has been appearing on many websites as a web design trend since around 2016. With the spread of smartphones and tablets, single-page designs have increased, and storytelling design, which is compatible with them, has become popular. Another reason is that storytelling design is easy to combine with animation effects such as video and parallax, making it easy to incorporate as a way to keep a long vertical page from getting boring.
As mentioned above, I was able to fully understand why "storytelling design" has become a trend in web design, and the reasons given by the creators were easy to agree with.
But what effect does this have on the viewer (user)?
How can showing it through a "story" make such a strong impression?
Such questions arise.
This time, I would like to summarize what I have researched into the effects of "storytelling" in order to deepen my understanding.
Memorable
First of all, having a story makes the product information and the message you want to convey much more memorable.
Research by Jennifer Aaker, a professor of marketing and psychology at Stanford University, has shown that stories are up to 22 times more memorable than a list of facts and figures.
(Reference: https://womensleadership.stanford.edu/stories )
While the figure of 22 times is surprising, it makes sense that information that comes in when you're immersed in a compelling story is more likely to be remembered.
When faced with a difficult topic outside one's expertise, I feel that more information is retained from an inspiring novel or film than from a simple list of information or data.
The empathy gained is deep
It seems that when people come into contact with good stories or stories they can relate to, the hormone oxytocin tends to increase. Oxytocin is also known as the "happiness hormone" or "love hormone," and it works to "strengthen connections between people" and "form attachments" such as trust, compassion, and empathy.
Dr. Paul Zak, a researcher at Montreal Graduate School in California, conducted an experiment to examine the relationship between empathy and oxytocin.
(Reference: The economy does not thrive through "competition": The neuroeconomics of love and empathy revealed by the trust hormone "oxytocin" )
Participants were divided into two groups and each group was shown a different 100-second video.
- Version A shows a father and his young son having a good time at the zoo.
- Version B shows a father tearfully talking about his bond with his son who has a brain tumor.
As a result, those who watched version A saw their blood oxytocin levels drop by 20%, while those who watched version B saw their blood oxytocin levels rise by 47% from baseline.
According to this experiment, even if there was no one in real life who was in trouble, participants were able to empathize with the characters in a "story" shown on screen, which led to the release of oxytocin.
(The book concludes that the reason for the drop in ratings for people who watched version A is that they were less likely to empathize with the story, and so became bored and lost interest midway through.)
As a complete aside, it seems that the amount of oxytocin secreted is also related to beautiful skin. It seems there's no harm in secreting it as much as you can.
(Reference: https://www.syogyo.jp/news/2018/07/post_021771 )
Stories make it easier to understand things
Have you heard of Don Norman, a leading authority in cognitive psychology who proposes the idea of "three levels of cognition and emotion processing"? Norman says that there are three levels of cognition and emotion, which is a sudden emotional movement.
Instinct level
An intuitive reaction to the design's appearance, such as whether it's good or bad, whether you like it or not.
Behavioral Level
Reactions such as whether the user gets the feedback they were hoping for when they perform an action such as "scrolling" or "pressing a button" and whether the user can easily understand or use the product.
Introspection level
This is a reaction that makes people think back and reflect on what value the design has for them. (Even if they are somewhat dissatisfied with the functionality of the site, if their favorite actor or idol is the image model and there are many photos that bring out the best in them, their overall evaluation and satisfaction will be high. That's what it comes down to.)
*Note: This is my own quick explanation of the "three levels of cognitive and emotional processing" by comparing them to our reactions when looking at web design (it may contain a lot of my own personal views, so if you want to know more, I recommend you read the book below).
(Reference: Who is Design for? Revised and expanded edition: A cognitive scientist's theory of design )
In his book he writes:
Humans are hardwired to look for causes and to create explanations and stories.
This book states that when people are faced with a new event or situation, they try to find an explanation by creating a "conceptual model (story)" in their head and use that to understand the event.
"Conceptual models" are based on one's own experiences, the stories of others, or generalizations formed from them, but even when causal relationships do not match these past stories, people still try to assign one to them.
He writes that we then use our imagination to fill in the gaps and create a story (conceptual model) to explain what we have observed.
This is a bit difficult to explain, so I'll use the example of myself when I first used the UI design app Sketch.
"It's all in English and I don't understand! How do I use it?" (New experience)
↓
"However, I have used XD and have heard that the operation is similar..." (Try to assign past stories, other people's stories, and general opinions)
↓
"Huh? But there was no feature named XX in XD... What is this?" (Parts that don't match the past story)
↓
"Hmm, maybe this is a feature for △△△" (filling in the gaps with your imagination)
↓
This made me think, "Yes, that was it! It worked!"
(A new conceptual model was born from past stories and imagination. This allowed us to use the functions of Sketch.)
Can you imagine it somehow?
In other words, the idea is that humans advance their understanding of things through "stories," or create new stories themselves to facilitate understanding.
I want to continue deepening my knowledge of "communicating through stories"
I was reminded that from my own experience, learning information through a "story" makes it easier to understand and remember.
When scientific information comes to mind, I find it difficult to get started on it, as I consider myself a humanities person at heart.
However, if the entry point is an interesting movie or game, the introduction can be smoother and you can enjoy it.
I also believe that I have certainly experienced the fact that being interested in something ends up leaving you with more information.
Of course, the method of "showing and telling through a story" is largely dependent on the listener's interpretation, and conversely, there are some things that are better read as quantified data, or that are better presented with information organized in bullet points.
The same can be said for web production, and when using a story, there are various ways to express it; sometimes it is better to show it through text and graphics, and sometimes it is more effective to show it through video.
My interest has grown and I have researched a variety of topics, and I have learned that "communicating in story form" is one effective method when considering the cognitive characteristics of humans.
As a designer, I would like to continue to deepen this knowledge when thinking about how to "show" and "communicate" things, and I would like to apply what I have learned to my output.