This week focussed on Narrative in Print and Film, and there were some ideas around narrative structure and how design is incorporated into fiction which I wanted to explore further
I had been familiar with Freytag’s Pyramid as a story structure from GCSE English, so I wanted to explore different approaches to story structure and see how they could be relevant to UX design. One I had heard of but not explored was the Story Circle, which was pioneered by writer Dan Harmon on the TV show “Community”, and later “Rick and Morty”. It’s clearly a really effective structure given the prestige of both of Harmon’s shows and I think it works better for content like TV that is episodic due to its circular nature allowing the end to arrive at a place where it is ready to start again.
I was then curious as to how the story circle could be applied to UX design, and I found this adapted version which looks at it this way. The main changes are around the chaos side of the circle and replace Search, Find, and Take, with Learn, Believe, and Act. What I find interesting about the story circle in comparison to Freytag’s Pyramid is that incorporates more of the service aspects into the User Journey rather than concerning itself only with when the user starts using the digital product. The return and change steps on the circle are when the user incorporates the product into part of their life, whereas the Pyramid really ends when the experience does.
What I think I’ve learned from this is that the story circle and Freytag’s Pyramid should be used together. The Circle shapes the overall service cyclical structure and the Pyramid shapes the experience of just using the product. I found this really useful to look at and understand and I think knowing how these two concepts work together will help me build better narrative experiences in the future.
When looking into story structures for this week, I came across a rule I think is important to consider in UX design. It comes from Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators and writers of the TV show South Park. While South Park may be infamous for its outrageous humour, the narrative and writing of the show are actually incredibly respected which is why it has performed so well for so many years. This is due to what they call the “But & Therefore Rule” (BTR). The BTR relates to the blocking out of the narrative in the early stages of story development, where they force themselves to use the connectors “But” and “Therefore” over connectors like “and then”. By working this way, it forces the writers to create a story based on cause and effect, rather than just moving from situation to situation. I think this is also very relevant for UX design, as following the idea of cause to effect for each step of the user’s journey would make for a more immersive and satisfying experience. I think this is also incredibly important for when the user is submitting something; rather than just moving to the next thing, the user needs feedback to say the process is complete and would like to move on, and this would make the user feel more confident in what they are doing. I find it really interesting to see how narrative structure concepts have relevance in UX and will make sure to explore them in my work going forward.
Another thing discussed this week is how design is used to embellish Film and TV, and looking further into this I found this website which documents a lot of brands and applications from fiction. This is actually part of a thesis from a Master's Student and is a great resource for fictional design.
One of the first examples I recognised was the Waystar Royco brand from Succession, which I found interesting as it’s an example of a fictional brand which could easily exist within the real world. The way a designer has had to design normal brand applications for a fictional brand is sort of fascinating to me due to how realised and real it all feels. The applications all look exactly how you’d expect and really help to immerse the audience in the world.