Hi again. Let's continue our discussion about storyboards. Remember, storyboards are often used to outline movies. In the film world, storyboards are used before a movie is created to show how each scene of the movie will play out for a character. In the UX world, storyboards are similar. They show how each scene of the journey will play out for a user as they interact with the product. Now, things are about to get interesting. There are actually two types of storyboards. Keeping movies in mind, these two types of storyboards are called big picture and close-up. First, let's discuss a big-picture storyboard, which focuses on the user experience. Big picture storyboards think about how people will use the product throughout their day and why that product will be useful. This helps you understand the entire user experience, including the different challenges, potential pain points, and types of interactions the user will encounter. Take a moment to think about a movie you watched recently. Maybe it was an action-packed superhero movie or a thoughtful romantic comedy. Each panel of the big picture storyboard captures a part of the character's actions that push the story forward. Again, it's similar in UX design. Each panel of a big-picture storyboard captures a part of the user's journey with a product. Let's revisit our dog walking app. Remember our problem statement was: Drew is a pet owner in a small town who needs to find and schedule a dog walker because they work the night shift. Our goal statement was: Help users with pets find and schedule dog walkers easily and quickly. Let's create a storyboard to describe how Drew gets from the problem they're currently facing to the goal when using our product. Remember, we want to include emotion in our big picture storyboard. First, the user leaves their house in the evening, heading to their job as a nurse. Their dog is left at home overnight for ten hours, so we see the dog with a sad face. Then as the user is driving to work, they think of their dog at home. The user remembers that they forgot to take their dog for a walk that day. Whoops! Later while the user is on a break at work, they grab their phone and open the dog walking app. The app shows the faces of local dog walkers who are eager to meet the user's pooch. The user feels relieved knowing that someone might be able to bring their dog for a walk. In the app, there's a clock icon and the user selects a time for the dog walker to come into their house. There's also a calendar icon to schedule the dog walker on a regular basis. The user clicks the Confirm button to finish scheduling. Their dog will be so happy to have some company and go for a walk. Finally, the user returns back to work and is smiling, feeling happy that their dog will be well taken care of and will get more exercise in the future. Notice that this big picture storyboard is focused on how and why. Think about questions like, How will the user use our dog walking app? Why will the app be useful? And why will the user be delighted by the app? Like a good movie, a big picture storyboard can show the emotional engagement that a user will have with our app or with any product. Understanding how a user feels while experiencing your product is an essential part of the design process. You have the hang of a big-picture storyboard. Let's transition to the second type of storyboards: close-up. In a close-up storyboard, the sketches in each panel focus on the product instead of on the user experiencing that product. While big-picture storyboards focus on the how and the why, close-up storyboards focus on the what. Think about questions like, What happens on each screen of the product? What does the user do to transition from one screen to another? And after you've created the storyboard, what are potential problems with the flow? Keep in mind, we only need to pick a few key screens to sketch in order to demonstrate the product experience. It's not necessary to do a detailed click-by-click play of every part of your product. Let's think about our dog walking app again. In a close-up storyboard, you'll include the same screens that a user will experience. First, the user taps the icon on their phone's home screen to open the dog walking app. Next, the user enters their email address and password to log into the app. The user navigates to the settings page of the app to share the location at their house for the dog walker to visit. Then the user returns to the homepage and taps the clock icon to select a time for the dog walker to come to their house. The user also taps the calendar icon to schedule the dog walker on a regular basis. Finally, the user presses the Confirm button to finish scheduling the dog walker. What did you notice about how this close-up storyboard was different from the big picture storyboard? The close-up storyboard is less about emotion, since we're not focused on the user. Instead, the close-up storyboard is focused on the practicalities of the design itself. So how do you decide which type of storyboard to use? To decide, it's helpful to think about this stage of the design process you're in. If you're early in the design process, you might want to present your high-level ideas to stakeholders to get them excited and bought in. In this case, a big-picture storyboard makes sense. so your team can focus on the user, their needs, and their experience with your product. On the other hand, a close-up storyboard is more useful after your initial design directions have been explored. Since a close-up storyboard focuses on the details within your product, like screens of an app, this type of storyboard can help you think through practical ideas about improving the product. One more thing. In many cases, you might want to create both a big-picture and a close-up storyboard. There are also ways to bring both types of storyboards together. For example, in this storyboard about Amal booking a workout class, we change the focus from the user to their specific interactions within the app. That's okay. As UX designers, it's good to have a flexible and creative approach to explaining your ideas. So try experimenting with both styles. And that's a wrap! You now know about two types of storyboards: big picture and close-up. Keep your storyboards close by, because later on we'll use the sketches we created in this close-up storyboard to draw wireframes. Next up, we'll learn the basics of wireframes. Keep up the great work.
