DESCRIPTION
This one merges the iterative, human-centred process of Design Thinking with a narrative structure: you treat your users and challenges as characters, craft a story of their journey, and then articulate how design responds and transforms that journey. The USP is that it doesn’t treat story as an afterthought (just for marketing) but embeds narrative into the design process itself — helping teams build empathy, surface meaningful insights, prototype more user-resonant solutions, and then communicate those solutions in emotionally credible ways. It is especially useful in business environments focused on innovation, product and service development, user-experience design, organizational change or any context where you need to engage stakeholders with both logic (design thinking) and emotion (story).
ORIGIN
The roots lie in the design-thinking movement and storytelling has been discussed as integral to it (e.g., “Storytelling: What and Why” in design-thinking toolbooks). The method is emergent, widely adapted in innovation/UX/strategy circles rather than formally patented or trademarked.
story53 frames this approach as first storyteller to make storytelling in design thinking easier and more understandable, giving it a proper framework as part of a design sprint.
USED BY
…instinctly by many designt thinking coaches, practitioners and designers.
Approximately needed time
- Step 1: 1 hours
- Step 2: 1 hours
- Step 3: 1 hours
- Step 4: 2 hours
- Step 5: 1 hours
- TOTAL: 6 hours (plus the “own” design thinking process or workshop time)
METHOD
MATERIAL YOU COULD NEED: Personas, user-interview data, empathy maps. Whiteboards, sticky notes, markers for mapping story arcs and design ideas (templates, journey-map canvases) and prototyping materials (paper prototypes, sketches, mock-ups).
Presentation or narrative templates or method descriptions (for telling the story of the user + solution) and a space to test and share the story with stakeholders and users to collect feedback.
STEPS
EMPATHY IDENTIFICATION
To craft a story around or into a design thinking process you first need characters and context: you need to understand who you’re designing (it) for, what they feel, think and do. The empathy phase of design thinking sets this up and storytelling needs its characters and personas, emotional triggers and context. This foundational step ensures relevance and resonance.
Conduct empathy research: user interviews, observations, journey mapping and ask users to tell stories of their experience, frustrations, aspirations.
Define personas and characters of your story and what their day-to-day life looks like and what tensions they might have? Capture emotional states, motivations and unmet needs. This becomes the hero (or protagonist) of your narrative.
Supporting methods: Survey, interviews, personay and customer journeys.
Example: A team designing a fitness app goes into gyms, interviews new members about their “first workout” experience. They discover a persona: “Sarah, 35, working mother, feels intimidated at gym, wants efficient workout in 30 minutes and a boost of confidence.” They shape the character and story seeds.
NARRATIVE ARC CHALLENGE
Once you know the character, you need to define what’s wrong or what needs to change, this is the design thinking “challenge” or “conflict” in the story. In design thinking this corresponds to the Define phase. In storytelling it’s the “inciting incident” or problem. Without this, the story lacks tension and direction.
Frame the user’s problem: what is blocking them, what pain or gap exist? What change do they want but can’t achieve? Establish the narrative arc: beginning (status quo), conflict (challenge), climax (solution journey), resolution (transformation).
Draft story outline: “Sarah attempts a workout but …”, “She struggles with …”, leads to “Our design helps …”, “She achieves …”.
Example: For Sarah: “Sarah arrives at gym after work, feels unsure where machines are, wastes 10 minutes finding a workout plan, leaves feeling frustrated. A 30-minute high-impact guided session would fit her schedule and boost confidence.”
IDEATE AND MAP STORY
With challenge defined, you ideate possible solutions (design thinking’s Ideate phase) and map how those solutions change the user’s journey: a story of transformation. By mapping the solution into a narrative, you align design and story simultaneously.
Brainstorm many ideas (divergent thinking) for how your character’s challenge can be addressed. Select promising ideas and map how the user’s story would change: what happens differently, how do they feel, what actions do they take?
Create storyboards or journey maps: “Before solution” vs “After solution”. Highlight key moments of delight or transformation.
Example: The team ideates: “30-min guided video workout”, “gym social mini-community”, “pre-booked workout machine set-up”. They choose the guided video idea and storyboard: Sarah logs in, picks 30-min session, machine auto-sets, trainer voice encourages her, she leaves feeling empowered.
PROTOTYPE STORY-SOLUTION
Design thinking emphasises prototyping early ands storytelling emphasizes visuals and narrative clarity. This step builds a tangible version of the story-solution (prototype, sketch, narrative) and visualizes its impact, helping to test story & design.
Develop a prototype (paper, digital, service flow) representing the solution. Visualize the story: create a narrative presentation or storyboard of how the user journey unfolds with your solution. Use story elements: character, conflict, transformation, emotional payoff. Use visuals (screenshots, mock-ups) to support.
Example: The team builds a clickable mock-up of the app’s 30-min workout session, includes a storyboard slide: “Sarah enters gym → App guides to machine → Trainer voice → Heart-rate summary → Success badge”.
They test with users.
TELL IT
Prototypes need validation and stories need to be told to stakeholders to get feedback for buy-in. In this step you present the story & prototype to users and/or stakeholders, collect feedback to refine both, design and narrative. This closes the loop between design thinking and storytelling.
Present the narrative: introduce the character, the problem, the solution, and the transformation. Use a story format rather than dry feature list. Challenge yourself and your environment to find the best fitting “character” for your audience. Get feedback from users and stakeholders to find out if the story resonates and if they see themselves in it. Is the solution believable and what parts of the story feel weak?
Refine the design and storytelling accordingly: adjust the journey, visuals, narrative tone, assumptions.
Example: The team shows Sarah’s story to a focus group of working mothers. One says “I’d prefer a voice-coach more than video trainer”, Another: “I care more about machine availability than time”. The team revises both features and narrative accordingly.
Storytelling in design thinking is not just for later marketing or communications. It supports empathy, ideation, stakeholder alignment.
The narrative must stay human-centered: design thinking emphasizes understanding the user’s world, emotions and context and your story framing supports that.
Visuals and sketches strengthen the story in design thinking: “Visual Storytelling in Design Thinking” emphasizes images & stories and help to manage complexity.
Iterate: as design thinking is iterative, so is storytelling. You may loop back to empathy, redefine challenge and refine story.
Audience matters: when storytelling your solutions, ask who your audience is (users, stakeholders, funders) and tailor story accordingly for best fit in messaging.
PROMINENT BRANDS USING IT:
Consumer product brands often present case-studies of design thinking journeys in their marketing/brand materials including personas and preferred storytelling approach.
Digital service companies (apps, UX-driven products) use the design thinking & storytelling approach when presenting their personas, user journeys and case studies.
SAP even published a design thinking canvas you can download and use for visual storytelling.
ANECDOTES:
One article titled “The ‘Cha Cha Cha’ of Design Thinking: A Storytelling Approach” describes how teams can frame the design thinking process as “Character – Challenge – Change” (Cha Cha Cha) in order to make it more accessible and story-driven.
A design thinking toolbook (DT-Toolbook) says: “In design thinking, storytelling helps to articulate your design vision… by communicating the value of your team’s work to an audience.”
