Storytelling in Design

This week, we were asked questions about whether we as designers are storytellers. And for that you must first understand what it is to e a story teller. If you search for a definition, you might find something similar to this, "storytelling is the conveying of events in words, and images, often by improvisation or embellishment". So in order to understand storytelling in design, what is essential. Do you have to use words? Does it have to be chronological? And can you be a storyteller simply by designing something, or is there more to it? I never before thought of designers as storytellers, so it wasn't until this class that I started thinking about it.

I think that storytelling as an extremely important aspect of design. In research it is one of the key aspects to understanding a person life and their interactions with products. But along with that comes the element that the best way to understand something is to experience. It is important to hear peoples stories and learn from them in all aspects of life. If you are to ignore stories being told to you you won't be long getting stuck down a rabbit hole. I feel it is extremely uncommon for people to not have a story to tell about a product they have. Whether they have to go out and buy it or install it, there is a process t everything that needs to be understood by designers.

Along with storytelling in research, a designer must become storyteller when presenting their ideas. You can presents product to someone and all it's features but I feel the more important aspect once again is "why?". You cannot just throw up a picture of your design, you must explain your design and explain how you came to make each choice, whether presenting in person or through a PowerPoint, the story of how your design came to be must be presented clearly. For this reason i find that every designer must be a story teller, whether they actively do so or not.