Storyboards
I recently had to help communicate a fairly abstract concept to a large number of stakeholders. I could tell everyone had a different interpretation of this concept when I talked to them. The reason? The concept had a significant offline, aka meatspace, component to it. The flow charts and wireframes I created weren’t capable of telling the whole story.
What to do? I turned my monitor off, opened my sketchbook, and started getting my hands dirty (literally). The result? A nine panel storyboard that effectively illustrates this abstract concept. It didn’t take long to create and the payoff has been great. Now whenever someone has a question I refer to the storyboard and walk them through the experience. They’re able to see, and better understand, the online and offline components.
While I can’t show this specific storyboard due to the proprietary nature of this concept, below are some resources where you can see examples of this deliverable and how others approach the process.
- Building a Design Comic Storyboard - Short video that walks through Cisco’s process for creating storyboards.
- Communicating Concepts Through Comics - Excellent presentation by Kevin Chang of Yahoo.
On a more personal note, I really enjoy doing this type of work since my background is in computer animation. I’ve drawn numerous storyboards for various projects, both academic and professional, so it always brings back fond memories. Plus, it’s always fun getting paid to draw pictures.
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