This thesis explores how to integrate story and strategy into the design process. A common obstacle design teams currently face is how to navigate forward in the abstract nature of the design process. By incorporating methods used in storybuilding, storytelling, and strategy, this thesis presents a framework called Foundation. Foundation helps design teams develop a strong focus and avoid getting lost in the design process.

Where design was formerly known for creating tangible products and services, design has evolved to also include building intangible experiences. Design teams use a flexible and iterative process to step forward in solving these complex problems. Yet, the adaptability and the varying factors of the problems can cause design teams to get lost in the process.

Story is one of the oldest and most natural forms for understanding complex material in a pleasurable way.  By incorporating methods used in story, design teams can create a comprehensible understanding for their journey through the design process.

Strategy is a discipline that defines how to advance to reach a goal. By incorporating strategy, design teams can create directives on how to proceed. 

Story is composed of two parts: (1) storybuilding and (2) storytelling.

Storybuilding includes the elements that create a story and the flow to logically put those elements together. 

Storytelling is defined as the “method of creating imagery, emotions, and understanding of events through an interaction between a storyteller and an audience”

To use story, you must learn both how to create a story and how to tell it.

Strategy is a discipline that defines how to advance to reach a goal. The essence of strategy is choosing what to do and what not to do. Without choice, there is no need for strategy.

Design is flexible problem-solving of real world complexities.

Through flexible, iterative, and adaptable processes to solve wicked problems, design is demonstrating its importance as a differentiator for businesses. However, in order to continue to prove design’s value, design teams need to be able to successfully repeat their process for each new challenge they face.

Since the design process is flexible to adapt each new data point, design teams can get lost within not only the data but also the process itself. Without a strong focus, inconsistencies can develop among final deliverables from team to team or project to project.

“Story is the language of experience” – Lisa Cron

Since design is a complementary form of problem solving, communicating, and engaging emotions, using story is relevant and powerful.

Story has four key elements: the protagonist, the main goal, the conflict, and the final change. Together, they build story’s DNA and represent the major stages of a story’s development.

The elements that compose strategy are positioning, competition, and fit. Positioning is the unique role that an organization holds within an industry. Competition is uncovering all the direct and indirect competitors facing that organization. Finally, fit is the integration of the products and services an organization chooses to offer.

While the elements of strategy help define what differentiates an organization or technology, the execution of strategy creates a competitive advantage and a catalyst for change to the overall scope and direction

the value of the intersection between design, story, and strategy. The insights indicate that story and strategy has the potential to impact the design by combining creativity and logic, providing a holistic perspective, and allowing the design team to present their unique outlook to the world. Especially during collaborative design processes between design teams and organizations, combining the three disciplines has the potential to impact the design by fostering understanding, conjuring emotional resonance with audiences, and planning to achieve better concepts. The example frameworks show that potentiality by “building stories into the fabric of the system” (Fereday, 2013, para. 4). They show that story can blur the line between strategy and design through the brand, experience, and straightforward communication. The frameworks also illustrate that while the theory of incorporating story into design and strategy is valued, the actual application of how to do it and the validation of its effect are missing. Looking forward, this thesis will capitalize on the overlaps potentiality and test out how implementable the theory is of combining all three disciplines.

Conclusion

The importance of the literature review is to compare and contrast the current literature to find similarities, gaps, and opportunities. Therefore, by comparing the current literature in design, story, strategy, and the overlaps between, key insights were found that drove the final design of this thesis.

In design, it was found that design teams need to build a strong foundation that is easily comprehensible yet provides direction for moving forward. Since businesses are now relying on design to create not only tangible but also intangible solutions that produce meaningful experiences for consumers, the design process has adapted to include the complexities of new challenges.  Yet these new complexities can cause design teams get lost within not only the data but also the process itself. Therefore, by incorporating story and strategy into the design process, design teams can build this strong foundation.

In story, incorporating methods used in storybuilding and storytelling, design teams can incorporate comprehensibility for their journey through the design process. They can define how to focus their research and develop it into an emotional yet informative story. Storybuilding and storytelling will help define the design team’s and client’s single goal, and be able to relate that goal to the end user in an emotional impactful way.

In strategy, the elements can help define what differentiates an organization or technology, and the execution can creates a competitive advantage and a catalyst for change to the overall scope and direction. Knowing the direction can help design teams build a plan for moving forward in the design process, and serves to propel design toward stronger concepts that are more likely to be approved. Therefore, design teams can include strategy from the beginning of their project to serve as the guide to make proactive design fit within the current resources. Incorporating strategy makes designing much easier.

In the overlap, the three key insights and four framework examples express the value of the intersection between design, story, and strategy. The insights indicate that story and strategy has the potential to impact the design process by combining creativity and logic, providing a holistic perspective, and allowing the design team to present their unique outlook to the world. The frameworks show that story can blur the line between strategy and design through the brand, experience, and straightforward communication. The findings from the overlap indicate that combining these three disciplines is an area of opportunity considered relevant and valuable by design practitioners.

This thesis used a qualitative approach consistent of secondary and primary research, and data collection techniques.  These research bodies helped inform each other and define how to proceed in both the research and development phases.

The research process began with examining secondary sources of notable articles, journals, and books relating to design, story, and strategy. 

The second step in the research methodology was primary research. Primary research yielded qualitative data through five areas of study: interviews, observation, survey, feedback, and testing/co-creation.

The final portion of the primary research was the co-creation sessions that implemented and validated the final deliverable. The co-creation sessions were also conducted through the Savannah College of Art and Design’s Collaborative Learning Center. The two classes that tested the final deliverable were for the clients of Chick-fil-A and Silver Promotion Service. Each class had a different design brief.

The first portion of primary research involved interviews with notable designers and writers. It was important to understand each point of view, their various methods of working, and to identify any patterns that overlapped between the two disciplines.

Interviewing designers and writers provided a unique perspective to understanding the value of story in design. The interviews were transcribed and then affinitized into five key insights:

1. Importance of the audience
 2. A structured process to move forward
3. Be organic
4. Lots of hurdles and frustration for moving forward

5. Value of story in design

Analysis of the primary research data resulted in key findings influencing the final design concept. The responses of the interviews, observation, and survey identified problems and opportunities in the current design process. The findings revealed that story and strategy could help design teams determine their focus, overcome the ambiguousness of the process, and build their final concepts as the logical conclusion from research to create a cohesive final design.

DESIGN CONCEPT:

The final objective is to create a framework that fits within the design process, and provides direction to design teams.

a design framework was created called Foundation. Foundation uses elements from storybuilding and strategy to formulate a narrative that is easily comprehensible and directs design teams forward. It is a guide for the design process.

Foundation needs to develop from the research and insights in order to provide direction to the next stages. If the research and insights have not been completed, describing the various elements of story and strategy would be guesswork.

the goal of Foundation is to combine their strengths to create a comprehensive and directive guide for designers and design teams to use in their projects. Understanding where designers and design teams get stuck, Foundation fits best after the creation of insights, but before the generation of ideas.

Foundation, like story and strategy, is separated into two parts: elements and execution. This to define what Foundation is and how to use it. The purpose of the elements is to concisely define the categories of the research. By doing so, the elements can help design teams determine what they need to research and what they might have missed. Overall, defining the elements communicates the designer’s and design team’s actions in order to point out any discrepancies and to align research and insights.  

The second part of creating Foundation is determining how to communicate the elements into a comprehensible, directive statement. The execution of Foundation is the key point to communicate all the research and insights. A metaphor that represents the importance of Foundation is viewing it as the back cover of a book. The back cover of a book entices a reader to want to learn more. It provides enough information to prepare the reader for what he/she is getting into.

For the Chick-fil-A class, the team decided to create an archetype out of their protagonist, representing it as a cow named Chick-fil-A. They also created a narrative that presented the conflict through the four personas developed from their research. Not only was their narrative highly engaging, it was so successful for presenting the goals of the workshop that the clients took it back to the headquarters to present it to the CEO of Chick-fil-A.

For the Silver Promotion Service class, the class presented their final story as part of the mid-term and final presentations. It was the predecessor for the introduction of the midpoint ideas and final concepts respectively.

Both Chick-fil-A and SPS affirmed the value of Foundation for their individual projects and thought that it was a unique way to bring together all the information in a fun and concise format. Both professors also found value in Foundation for helping direct their students and resolving disagreements over direction. It was incredibly informative to test the framework on design teams working on client-based projects, and seeing Foundation work.

Elizabeth Snively from Chick-fil-A exclaimed that the story “pulled together all the pieces of the design brief into something that was understandable.”

Filling out the framework not only helped figure out exactly what did and didn’t fit into the thesis, discovering that the protagonist is the design process reframed the design problem. Instead the Foundation applying to design teams, looking at it as influencing the design process helped uncover how to use it and where it would provide value. Although the application of Foundation on this thesis was very Meta, it helped narrow down exactly what to and not to include in terms of the literature review and interview data.