The principles of interaction design: #4 Tell Stories
Calm down internets. I know that “Storytelling” might be almost as cliched as the page-curl but I can’t think of a better way to name the concept, so bear with me. Besides, Principle 5 just doesn’t work as well without it, and I’m all about expectations. [read: Principle 1]
In the traditional sense stories include a setting, characters, dramatic tension, and resolution. That is fine if you’re writing a novel, but in the case of interaction design it doesn’t have to be so structured. Storytelling in interaction design is all about Principle 1, patterns and users expectations.
Think of it from the users perspective. Maybe I need to find the closest post-office so I search “post office locator”. As a designer you need to meet my expectation so tell the story that solves my problem.
Chad searches for a post offices and lands on our “Post-Office Finder” page. He then enters his zip code and is presented with post offices in his area. Since there are more than 3 results he needs to narrow his search by distance also….
Pretty easy to design it, right?
Next up, Principle 5; Metaphors (don’t abuse them)
