Design Thinking Toolkit
Design Thinking Toolkit
Storyboard

Storyboard

Recipe step number
Day 3, Activity 4
Description
Draw key moments of the test flow (comic-book style)
Reading Time
5 mins
Activity time
1-3 hours

Recipe: Design Sprint (Day-3)

  1. Deciding on ideas
  2. Rumble (optional)
  3. User Test Flow
  4. Storyboard

✏️
Materials needed: - Mural (digital whiteboard) - Microsoft Teams (or other video conference tool)

Overview

💡
Why do this? Building a prototype in one day (day-4) will be a challenge. It will be difficult to coordinate the team in doing this. The storyboard helps the team collectively sketch out the entire test experience. It also serves as the “playbook” for prototype content creation.

Here's a detailed 10-min video from Design Sprint agency AJ&Smart that shows exactly how to facilitate the Storyboard activity. Note: it includes some extra updated instructions that aren't found in the Sprint book.

Key Tips

‣
Key tips from the Sprint book (pages 148-158)
  • Draw a grid and choose an opening scene.
  • Utilize the winning sketch (and other materials from your solution sketches).
  • Don’t invent brand new ideas.
  • Be ambitious. But keep it high-level for now.
‣
Key tips from Advance Concepts™
  • It helps to convey to the team that each panel represents just a couple mins in the actual experience of the test
  • It also helps to let the team know about Day-4 and prototyping, because in this activity you don't need to work out every small design detail. Those decision-rights will be owned by certain individuals when prototyping.
  • Have an experienced person take the role of sketching the storyboard initially (filling in the details)
  • Play it out! Once you have sketched a rough draft of the Storyboard details, acting it out is the most helpful way to check the flow makes sense, spot important gaps, and make necessary tweaks.

How to do this activity

⏱️
Allow 2.5 hours

Here's what it can look like in action:

Example Storyboard from a real Design Sprint (a bit messy is ok as long as the details are clear)
Example Storyboard from a real Design Sprint (a bit messy is ok as long as the details are clear)

...and a closer look

Important details are spelled out, but other pieces can be kept high-level and simple
Important details are spelled out, but other pieces can be kept high-level and simple

The steps

⏱️
Allow 2+ hours

‣
Explain what a Storyboard is for:
  • Testing ideas with users, not designing the "real" final solution.
  • Collecting all the details to make the prototype feel realistic: write copy text, decide what data and numbers make sense
  • [10 mins] Facilitator does run through of steps, and assigns smaller groups to certain screens
  • [30 mins] Separate into smaller groups (if it helps) and work on starting to put details into screen
  • [15 mins] Come back together to check in and go through the flow
  • [20 mins] Splitting off again to continue work
  • [15 mins] Come back together before the end of the session to walkthrough the whole Storyboard and check for any gaps/inconsistencies
  • [20 mins] Finish adding details and filling gaps
  • [10 mins] Run through final storyboard and celebrate!!