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A storyboard (noun) is a graphic organizer in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence.
What this definition is missing, though, is how storyboarding essentially reignites the world of technology. Through the art of storyboarding, the power of storytelling marries a technological phenomenon: and a screen is no longer just a screen. Its value is no longer merely limited to its actual technological capacity -- instead, the power is shifted back to the person who matters most: the user. But how?
An app is no longer just defined by its ability to just do the actions it is created to perform. It is now given even more value based on the humanness that it can add to an experience. Through storyboarding, we are able to do just that: design technology that makes human beings more human. We do this by asking ourselves questions that contextualize the user in his or her real life situation. What exactly is the user going to use our technology for? What kind of a day did she have? Did she sleep well last night? Why not? How will our product make her life easier? How will that fit in with her day -- how can we contextualize her use of an app in a way that is less robotic, less imaginary, less technical -- and more vulnerable, more flawed, more human?
This is how we take technology and make it less about a product and more about the people who are actually going to utilize it -- by building the story behind the app as we build the app itself.
The flashlight app is not just a button that we click to illuminate a room. The flashlight app is about a family going camping for the first time. Everyone packed everything except for flashlights, so there they are, stumbling in the dark and laughing about how scared they are of the woods while they pull out their phones to quickly and easily illuminate their campsite. They stay up late into the night, using it to eerily light up their faces in the dark as they tell each other scary stories in their tents.
Evernote is not about taking notes. Evernote is about a teacher who teaches six periods a day and is a single mom -- she also has two kids waiting for her at home. She uses every moment she can to prepare the next lesson for the next class, and spends her free period taking notes on a desktop, the busride home taking notes on her phone, and then finally, at the end of a long day, on her iPad before she goes to sleep -- each time perfectly able to pick up where she left off.
Do you see what's happening here? Storyboarding, arguably an archaic practice (I mean, didn't cavemen essentially partake in storyboarding?) is now becoming the means with which we are able to contextualize our technology for our users. After all, so the only way we are ever going to be able to truly understand our technology is to understand people. And this is so incredibly powerful. Storyboarding is the bridge between the creators and the users, the best way to incorporate design in a meaningful, user-centric, contextual way.
And the best part about it is the best part of all of us -- its humanity.
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