Storytelling: an Essential Tool when Designing Services

When discussing service design, people tend to find it quite abstract and struggle to understand it and how it fits into the design world. Unlike UX design, which evokes images of digital products, apps, or websites, or design research, which is associated with one-on-one interviews, focus groups, and comprehensive reports, service design can sometimes feel a lot less tangible. A design solution for a service can take numerous forms, making it challenging to articulate.

Lou Downe, former Design Director of the UK Government and the founder of service design in the UK Government, states: “The problem we have is that we don’t see services as real things. When we do, we think of them as somehow less impactful than physical things.”

This is where I believe storytelling can play a crucial role in service design, transforming abstract services into something more meaningful, impactful and real.

The Insufficiency of Data Alone

In both public and private services, key decision-makers rely heavily on data and statistics. These provide a rationale for moving forward with a decision and are equally important to us as we work through the design process. However, I always think it is key to remember, behind those statistics are real individuals with genuine experiences of using services. While quantitative data is essential, it cannot capture the full human experience. 

Telling stories about  the human experience complements data by adding qualitative insights, offering a richer and more comprehensive  understanding. Stories bring to life the human aspects that data alone might miss, highlighting the needs, emotions, and experiences of service users.

Several sources highlight the importance of integrating storytelling with data. For instance, Catherine Cote from the Harvard Business School emphasises that “Data storytelling can help turn data insights into action. Without effective communication, insights can go unnoticed or unremembered by your audience.”

Storytelling can help to enhance decision-making led by data by transforming data into compelling narratives. This approach enhances problem-solving and ultimately leads to better decision-making within services.

Spotify exemplifies the use of data storytelling to enhance their service and elevate the music streaming experience for users. By leveraging this approach, they offer a personalised experience, with data and storytelling playing pivotal roles in their success. Last year, as part of their annual Spotify Wrapped feature, which provides users with a personalised summary of their listening habits, they introduced ‘Me in 2023’, 12 personalised ‘listening characters’ based on their streaming behaviour of different music genres. Louisa Ferguson, Head of Global Marketing Experience, stated, “Genre is a fan-favourite data story for sure. This year, we were especially interested in visualising and quantifying the genres against one another, which we haven’t always done in the past.”

The Power of Storytelling

Storytelling is a powerful tool that can breathe life into new services, illustrate pain points in existing ones, and unite stakeholders towards a shared vision. It fosters the connections we inherently seek as humans, enabling us to share ideas and evoke empathy for service users.

Like a well-crafted story, services should be designed with a clear beginning, middle and end, ensuring every detail is considered holistically. A service designer’s role is to ensure that the service user effortlessly achieves their goals while leaving with a positive impression of the experience.

At Big Motive, we use storytelling to highlight the needs and experiences of those benefiting from the services, and always ensure consistently positive impressions. We have several tools in our toolkit to help us achieve this.

Storyboarding

Effective communication is key to storytelling in design, and various tools help bring these experiences to life. One of them is storyboarding. Storyboards are not unique to service design; they have been used in cinema and advertising for decades. However, their purpose remains the same. In film, storyboards bring the project to life before it is made, aiding filmmakers in decisions on casting, lighting, set design, props, and editing, ultimately helping directors achieve the perfect final cut. Storyboards act as prototypes, mitigating the risks and costs of errors in films, and ensuring a more refined final version. The more you visualise, tell stories about ideas, test, and iterate, the more successful the solution becomes.

Sir Ridley Scott, a renowned filmmaker, is famous for his unique version of storyboards, which he called ‘ridleygrams.’ Through storyboarding, Scott was able to problem-solve effectively. He explains: “I know how to draw. Many years at art school, it was all hard work, but drawing now is very fast and easy for me, so I’ll turn up with sequences like this actually boarded, shot-by-shot, wide, close, medium. So I’ll already get the tonality and the feeling for what it is and how savage it’s going to be.”

A notable example of storyboarding in service design is Airbnb. Without physical products, properties, or stock, Airbnb focuses on the feelings and experiences they create for customers. They consider the entire journey of planning, booking, and travelling, beyond mere user interactions. The design team uses stories to bring visitor and guest experiences to life, guiding design decisions that shape real-world experiences. This approach helps them understand and enhance every aspect of the customer journey.

Katie Dill, former VP of Design at Airbnb, explains, “We use storyboarding to see how each moment in the journey connects… to understand where opportunities for improvement lie. The storyboard is a benchmark we refer to, not only to gauge progress but to help us look ahead and tackle potential problems down the road.”

At Big Motive, we’ve had the chance to work on impactful service design projects, with storyboarding being a key tool. One such project was with the Department of Health in Northern Ireland, where we were tasked with understanding the pain points experienced by patients, GPs, and receptionists whilst trying to access a GP in Northern Ireland. Storyboarding brought these challenges to life and complemented our key findings, effectively illustrating the issues faced by patients.

Architecting Stories

Another tool we love using to tell the story of our service users is a Service Blueprint. This tool maps out the service process, identifying key touchpoints and interactions. Created by bank executive G. Lynn Shostack in a 1984 article in the Harvard business review, a Service Blueprint visualises the service delivery process from the user’s perspective, highlighting pain points and opportunities for improvement. Kendra Shimmell, formerly the head of service design at Adaptive Path and currently a principal product manager at Remitly, states, “Without the intentional design of backstage systems and operations, the work of navigating them is outsourced to the customer.”

A service blueprint allows service designers to have a clear understanding of a service user’s story and the systems that need to be in place to bring that story to life.

We recently applied this method in a project with the Government of Ireland, focusing on integrating government services into a life events approach, particularly around having a baby in Ireland. In our work, service blueprints help us create a detailed map of the service journey, ensuring every aspect of the user’s experience is considered and optimised, and the right supporting systems are in place.

Design your service by leveraging storytelling.

To attain a more comprehensive, human-centred and sustainable result, it’s crucial for professionals in public and private services to incorporate storytelling into their service design processes. This design approach enables a deeper understanding of the needs and experiences of service users.

Ultimately, storytelling in service design can attract like-minded individuals and enhance collaboration, aligning everyone towards a common set of shared beliefs. Stories not only offer a better way to envision services but also provide the motivation for their adoption, evolution, and inspiration for progress.

If you’re interested in enhancing your service through storytelling, we would love you to get in touch. Let’s chat about how we can work together to create more meaningful and effective service experiences.