by Donna Lichaw
For those who contributed insight, ideas, and imagery along the way: Marta Justak, Eva-Lotta Lamm, Ajay Rajani, Lis Hubert, Michael Leis, David Malouf, Chris Noessel, Paul Rissen, and Senongo Akpem.
For my fellow campers. You know who you are. You remind me daily that it’s OK to take up space.
And for Snowball, my cat, who passed away right before I decided to write a book. You taught me that a cardboard box is never just a box. It’s whatever you want it to be.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
For more than 15 years, Donna Lichaw has guided startups, non-profits, and Fortune 500 brands in optimizing their digital products and services by providing them with a simplified way to drive user engagement through impactful storytelling. As a consultant, speaker, writer, and educator, she utilizes a “story first” approach to help teams define their value proposition, transform their thinking, and better engage with their core customers.
Donna developed her talent for storytelling and narrative development as a documentary filmmaker, from which she built a successful career as a digital product strategist for a number of emerging and established companies in New York and London. She has been recognized as a subject expert on storytelling and customer engagement strategies, speaking at design and technology conferences throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
Donna graduated from Northwestern University with an MFA in radio, film, and television, and completed her undergraduate degree in film and video studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She has taught courses and delivered seminars on design, communication, and user experience at New York University, Northwestern University, and General Assembly, and is an adjunct faculty member at the School of Visual Arts.
She currently works and resides in Brooklyn, New York with her partner, Erica, their crooked dog, Ralph, and doe-eyed, pointy-eared cat, Gizmo. You can find her at www.donnalichaw.com and on Twitter @dlichaw.
Footnotes
CHAPTER 2 How Story Works
1 http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2010/05/half-heard-phone-conversations-reduce-performance
CHAPTER 3 Concept Stories
1 Jobs, Steven P., Scott Forstall, Greg Christie, Bas Ording, Imran Chaudhri, Stephen O. Lemay, Marcel Van Os, Freddy A. Anzures, and Mike Matas. Telephone Interface for a Portable Communication Device. Apple, Inc., Cupertino, CA (US), assignee. Patent 7860536B2. 28 Dec. 2010. http://1.usa.gov/1GPdPpK
2 Opening trademark statement from Dragnet, a radio, TV, and motion picture series.
3 Note: This is a fictionalized version of a business.
CHAPTER 5 Usage Stories
1 For full case study co-written by Lis Hubert, see Storymapping: A MacGyver Approach to Content Strategy, Parts 1-3 UX Matters http://bit.ly/1k2JckM
CHAPTER 7 Using Your Story
1 For more on creating storyboards and comics, see Cheng, Kevin. See What I Mean: How to Use Comics to Communicate Ideas. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Rosenfeld Media, 2012.
2 Trendacosta, Katharine. “Brand New Concept Art of Back to the Future Part II’s 2015 Technology.” io9. http://io9.com/brand-new-concept-art-of-back-to-the-future-part-iis-20-1678913570
3 For more on live-action improv, see Gray, Dave, Sunni Brown, and James Macanufo. Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers. Sebastopol, Calif.: O’Reilly, 2010.
4 While there are many different types of elevator pitch formats, I like to use this one: http://www.gamestorming.com/games-for-design/elevator-pitch/
5 Vogelstein, Fred. “And Then Steve Said, ‘Let There Be an iPhone’.” The New York Times, 04 Oct. 2013.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
How to Use This Book
Frequently Asked Questions
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1: Mapping the Story
Making Things Go BOOM!
Why Story?
Chapter 2: How Story Works
Story Has a Structure
Building Products with Story
Chapter 3: Concept Stories
What Is a Concept Story?
How Concept Stories Work
Avoiding the Anticlimactic
Supporting the Story
Mapping a Concept Story
Finding the Concept Story at FitCounter
Chapter 4: Origin Stories
What Is an Origin Story?
How Origin Stories Work
Mapping an Origin Story
Case Study: Slack
Case Study: FitCounter’s Origin Story
Chapter 5: Usage Stories
What Is a Usage Story?
How Usage Stories Work
Case Study: Twitter
Mapping the Usage Story
How Big Should Your Story Be?
Case Study: FitCounter
Chapter 6: Finding and Mapping Your Story
Listen
Use the Smile Test
Measure
Case Study: SmallLoans—a Cliffhanger
Innovate: What If?
Borrow: Stories as Proofs of Concept
Chapter 7: Using Your Story
Illustrate Your Story with Strategic Tools
Write Your Story
Act It Out
Elevator Pitch
Putting It All Together
Chapter 8: Rules of Thumb
Stories Are Character-Driven
Characters Are Goal-Driven
Goals Can Change
Goals Are Measurable
Conflict Is Key
Math Is Fun
Choose Your Own Adventure
Make Things Go Boom!
Index
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Footnotes