Storytelling In UX Design

🧑🏼 How To Design Better Personas In UX (https://lnkd.in/eGPXmPNZ), a step-by-step guide to reduce decoration and add meaningful data to make personas more helpful and effective. Neatly put together by Slava Shestopalov. ✅ We need to know who users are and what they need to do. ✅ We can use both personas and Jobs-to-Be-Done for that. 🤔 They serve different purposes and focus on different things. ✅ Jobs-to-Be-Done focuses on user needs and outcomes. ✅ Personas focus on users, their behavior and mental model. ✅ Useful personas emerge from profound user research. ✅ They help visualize users, their goals and motivation. 🚫 Don’t focus on demographics to avoid stereotypes. ✅ Include the way of thinking, background, “a day in life”. ✅ Always add at least one persona with a disability. ✅ Add a story, pain points and how they use your product. ✅ List user’s habits/products they use daily, often and rarely. ✅ Finally, add needs, wants and fears mentioned by users. ✅ Then, prioritize key points for each role in your team. We often speak about personas being an outdated tool, successfully replaced by Jobs-to-Be-Done. Yet often in practice they are compatible. Both move the focus to user needs, yet they shed light onto user from different perspectives. Knowing how users think, behave and feel is as important as what they do. As Page Laubheimer noted, personas help remove box-checking mentality. They tell a story of the customer, what their environment is, what their habits are, the tools they use daily — and give product teams a way to think about users in a much more approachable and tangible way. Ultimately, use what works for you and for your team: just make sure that the user details aren’t invented, and root in actual research with actual customers. Useful resources: Five-Steps Framework for Building Better Personas, by Nikki Anderson https://lnkd.in/eGWpqkdz Personas vs. Jobs-to-Be-Done, by Page Laubheimer, NN/g https://lnkd.in/eHA2Ft4J A Guide To Building Personas For UX, by Maze https://lnkd.in/ehCzACZW Personas for UX, Product, and Design Teams, by UserInterviews https://lnkd.in/eeE3pVUK Fixing User Personas, by Jordan Bowman https://lnkd.in/eDPCr63Q Personas Make Users Memorable, by Aurora Harley, NN/g https://lnkd.in/eh-PYMxc #ux #design #research

Analytics teams spend weeks perfecting their reports and dashboards only to hear: “This is interesting, but what should we actually do?” Recently, a marketing professor DM’ed me about his students struggling with data storytelling. His marketing research class was comfortable with the reporting aspects. But when asked to offer a clear point of view or insight, they froze. Some worried it might come across as manipulating the data if they offered interpretations or recommendations. This hesitation isn’t limited to these students. Many data professionals feel uncomfortable pushing beyond the “what.” Here’s why: 👉 Fear of being wrong publicly, especially when data involves uncertainty 👉 Desire to appear objective and “let the numbers speak for themselves” 👉 Lack of business context or confidence in their domain knowledge 👉 Positioning as a support function rather than a strategic partner 👉 Not enough time to dig deeper 👉 Strong technical skills but underdeveloped communication skills As a result, analytics often stops before the diagnosis—just listing symptoms without explaining the cause, let alone the cure. We stop at reporting what happened: “Revenue dropped 18%.” 📉 And we hesitate to explain why it happened or what to do next. What we should say: “Revenue dropped 18% because our top customer segment shifted to a competitor with faster delivery options. We should pilot same-day shipping in three test markets.” Ironically, what stakeholders need most—interpretation and direction—is what analysts often avoid. And yet, we don't go to doctors just to confirm we're in pain. We go to understand the cause and find a cure. That’s where data storytelling comes in as it moves us from: ✅ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 = Symptoms (the metrics and trends) ✅ 𝐒𝐨 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 = Diagnosis (why it’s happening) ✅ 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 = Treatment (what to do next) If you want your work to drive action, you can’t stop at symptoms. You need to offer meaning and a path forward. What’s one technique that’s helped your team move from reporting to storytelling and action? 🔽 🔽 🔽 🔽 🔽 Craving more of my data storytelling, analytics, AI, and data culture content? Sign up for my newsletter today: https://lnkd.in/gRNMYJQ7 Check out my brand-new data storytelling masterclass: https://lnkd.in/gy5Mr5ky Need a virtual or onsite data storytelling workshop? Let's talk. https://lnkd.in/gNpR9g_K

“I’m sorry, but we’re not convinced.” That’s what a group of seasoned investors said after listening to a perfectly structured pitch by a VP from a promising fintech startup. This VP had spent three sleepless weeks on the deck. 32 slides. Charts. Graphs. TAM, SAM, SOM. Revenue projections. Burn rate. Customer acquisition cost to lifetime value ratio? Check. He had it all. And yet, something was missing. ⸻ I met him a day later. He looked exhausted. Frustrated. Angry. “I don’t get it,” he said. “They asked for data—I gave it. They wanted clarity—I gave it. They asked tough questions—I had answers.” Then I asked him, “But where was the story?” He frowned. “What story? I’m not here to perform. I’m here to present facts.” Exactly the problem. ⸻ In the next 3 days, we didn’t change the product. We didn’t redesign the slides. We rewrote the narrative. I asked him to start with this: “10 years ago, my father walked into a bank branch. He left confused, embarrassed—and without a loan. He didn’t understand the form. The language. I built this product for people like him. Not for the urban elite—but for the India that still stands in queues.” We layered the pitch with emotional depth. A real origin story. Stories of users. Moments of pain. Moments of possibility. ⸻ He walked into the same investor room again—same faces, same metrics—but this time, something was different. There was silence after his story. Then… one investor leaned forward. “You should’ve started with this last time.” They asked fewer questions. They felt more connected. They saw the vision, not just the numbers. And yes—the deal closed. ⸻ 💡 Here’s the truth most leaders ignore: Data is the skeleton. But storytelling is the soul. People don’t just buy your logic. They buy your why. You’re not pitching numbers. You’re pitching meaning. ⸻ So ask yourself: Are you just informing? Or are you truly influencing? Want to be a Super Hero at work , now how to tell great stories #Storytelling #ExecutivePresence #LeadershipCommunication #PublicSpeaking #InvestorPitch #SoftSkills #BusinessStrategy #CXOContent #CorporateTraining #PersuasionSkills #LinkedInForLeaders #NarrativeStrategy

In marketing, emotive storytelling uses human emotions to create stories that captivate audiences. When done well, it may create a lasting impression that improves recall and cultivates brand loyalty. Marketing efforts can use emotive storytelling in the following ways to increase brand recall: 1. Real-life Narratives: By presenting authentic accounts of people who have profited from the brand, you can humanize it and make it more memorable and accessible. 2. Hero's Journey: It is a traditional narrative form in which the protagonist encounters difficulties, overcomes them, and ultimately prevails. Companies might present their goods and services as the "hero" who aids customers in overcoming obstacles. 3. Address Universal Themes: Tap into themes such as love, family, ambition, perseverance, or even fears. They're universally relatable and often evoke strong emotional responses. 4. Evoke Nostalgia: Transport your audience back to a 'simpler time' or specific moments in their past. The emotional connection to those times can be linked to your brand. 5. Dramatic Visuals: Captivating visuals accentuate a compelling story. Use high-quality imagery or videos that align with the narrative’s mood and tone. 6. Authenticity: Ensure that the emotional narratives aren’t forced or fabricated. Authenticity is key; consumers can sense when brands aren't being genuine. 7. Interactive Stories: Engage the audience by making them a part of the story. This could be through interactive videos, polls, or augmented reality experiences. 8. Embrace Vulnerability: Showcasing brand vulnerabilities or failures and how they were overcome can create a transparent relationship with consumers. 9. End with a Positive Note: Even if the story starts with a challenge, ending on a hopeful or positive note can make the narrative more memorable and leave the audience with a good feeling about the brand. 10. Consistency Across Platforms: Ensure the emotive narrative is consistent across all marketing channels for a unified brand image. 11. Empower the Consumer: Position the consumer as the protagonist, and show how the brand plays a pivotal role in their personal story or journey. 12. Engage the Senses: Alongside visuals, use sound, textures, or even scents if applicable, to offer a multi-sensory experience that deepens the emotional connection. By harnessing the power of emotive storytelling, brands can foster deeper connections with their audience, driving higher engagement, loyalty, and, ultimately, brand recall. #marketingcampaigns #LinkedInNewsIndia

Shopping centres must become experiential arenas! The term ‘experiential arenas’ comes from Diana Teixeira Pinto and aligns with my view of how to design worlds not spaces. So how do we transform spaces into worlds? Here are some of my top design principles for executing successful Experiential Arenas: Build Worlds, Not Spaces Design destinations that transport people into new realities, not just corridors of commerce. Colour as Energy Bold, surprising palettes and patterns that lift mood and inject personality into every corner. Wellness in Motion Seating that heals, greenery that breathes, zones that invite pause and reset through biophilic design. Shopping should restore, not exhaust. Fill the Forgotten Atriums, rooftops, stairwells, and voids become playgrounds for art, light, and imagination. Sensory Immersion Use sound, scent, light, and texture as storytelling layers to spark memory and emotion. Everywhere’s a canvas Turn escalators, walkways, and food courts into theatres for entertainment, surprise, and play. Participation Over Passivity Invite people to co-create through interactive art, digital play, gamified shopping, and communal rituals. Play is Serious Business Design joy into the architecture: swings as benches, slides as shortcuts, playful touchpoints everywhere. Local Stories, Global Scale Embed local culture, artists, and narratives, then amplify them into experiences with global resonance. Micro-Magic Surprise through small details like bins that talk, ceilings that glow, restrooms that delight. Fluid & Ever-Changing Keep spaces alive with rotating installations, seasonal scenography, and pop-up moments of wonder. Sustainable Spectacle Awe doesn’t need waste: design modular, reusable, and eco-conscious experiences that wow responsibly. Community as Stage Curate experiences where people become part of the show — from live performance to collaborative design. Memory is the Metric Success isn’t footfall, it’s stories: people leave with moments worth retelling, not just receipts. Elena Knezović #retail #architecture #interior #design

If you are looking for a roadmap to master data storytelling, this one's for you Here’s the 12-step framework I use to craft narratives that stick, influence decisions, and scale across teams. 1. Start with the strategic question → Begin with intent, not dashboards. → Tie your story to a business goal → Define the audience - execs, PMs, engineers all need different framing → Write down what you expect the data to show 2. Audit and enrich your data → Strong insights come from strong inputs. → Inventory analytics, LLM logs, synthetic test sets → Use GX Cloud or similar tools for freshness and bias checks → Enrich with market signals, ESG data, user sentiment 3. Make your pipeline reproducible → If it can’t be refreshed, it won’t scale. → Version notebooks and data with Git or Delta Lake → Track data lineage and metadata → Parameterize so you can re-run on demand 4. Find the core insight → Use EDA and AI copilots (like GPT-4 Turbo via Fireworks AI) → Compare to priors - does this challenge existing KPIs? → Stress-test to avoid false positives 5. Build a narrative arc → Structure it like Setup, Conflict, Resolution → Quantify impact in real terms - time saved, churn reduced → Make the product or user the hero, not the chart 6. Choose the right format → A one-pager for execs, & have deeper-dive for ICs → Use dashboards, live boards, or immersive formats when needed → Auto-generate alt text and transcripts for accessibility 7. Design for clarity → Use color and layout to guide attention → Annotate directly on visuals, avoid clutter → Make it dark-mode (if it's a preference) and mobile friendly 8. Add multimodal context → Use LLMs to draft narrative text, then refine → Add Looms or audio clips for async teams → Tailor insights to different personas - PM vs CFO vs engineer 9. Be transparent and responsible → Surface model or sampling bias → Tag data with source, timestamp, and confidence → Use differential privacy or synthetic cohorts when needed 10. Let people explore → Add filters, sliders, and what-if scenarios → Enable drilldowns from KPIs to raw logs → Embed chat-based Q&A with RAG for live feedback 11. End with action → Focus on one clear next step → Assign ownership, deadline, and metric → Include a quick feedback loop like a micro-survey 12. Automate the follow-through → Schedule refresh jobs and Slack digests → Sync insights back into product roadmaps or OKRs → Track behavior change post-insight My 2 cents 🫰 → Don’t wait until the end to share your story. The earlier you involve stakeholders, the more aligned and useful your insights become. → If your insights only live in dashboards, they’re easy to ignore. Push them into the tools your team already uses- Slack, Notion, Jira, (or even put them in your OKRs) → If your story doesn’t lead to change, it’s just a report- so be "prescriptive" Happy building 💙 Follow me (Aishwarya Srinivasan) for more AI insights!

I dropped 3 client deals in 2024 because I refused to fabricate "success stories” and bring forced engagement. This is not about ethics. This is not about morals. This is about the power of authentic storytelling. Let me break it down: Audiences have built-in BS detectors. The moment they sense fabricated stories: → Trust evaporates → Credibility crashes → Connection breaks Here's what happened when I shifted to purely authentic storytelling for my clients: Client A: The engagement rate jumped from 1.2% to 4.7% Client B: Lead quality improved, closing ratio up 35% Client C: The content resonated so deeply that competitors started following The authentic storytelling framework that transformed results: 1/ Real Struggles ↳ Share genuine challenges without sugar-coating 2/ Honest Process ↳ Detail the messy middle, not just the glossy result 3/ Actual Results ↳ Present true metrics, even when imperfect 4/ Learned Lessons ↳ Reveal what you'd do differently next time 5/ Human Elements ↳ Include emotions and personal reactions When I implemented this for a career coach: Instead of: ❌ "How I helped a leader get a 3x salary increment overnight." I created: ✔️ "How I helped a nearly lost leader who was tired of linear salary get a 3x raise with these 7 additions over a month." The result? 7 qualified leads in 48 hours. Authentic storytelling isn't just a marketing tactic. It's your most powerful business asset. Because in a world of fabricated success, honesty cuts through the noise. P.S. What's one authentic story you've been hesitant to share that might actually strengthen your connection with your audience? PPS: If you also want to get similar results, my DMs are open to talking about new projects.

Stop treating your prospects like calculators. I learned this lesson painfully while leading the launch of a new solution for a healthcare transformation organization. The CEO and SVP of Product Innovation were well-intentioned, but they had biases that fueled their convictions. “Show them the science and ROI. Once they see the data, they’ll switch,” said the CEO. “They’ll switch?” I asked curiously. They rarely switched for the logic. They often resisted because we didn’t understand the emotion that tied them to maintaining the status quo. Most B2B marketers still build journeys on the idea that buyers only care about features, scientific studies, and ROI models. But real people buy with their hearts as much as their heads. LinkedIn's B2B Institute found that emotional factors significantly influence B2B buying decisions, accounting for 66%, while rational factors account for the remaining 34%. When you act like every decision is a math problem, you miss the emotional needs and biases that drive action. Fear of missing out. Desire for security. The endorsement of a trusted referral. Those feelings tip the scales long before spreadsheets ever come out. Three quick shifts to make your GTM more human: 💡 Map emotions, not just touchpoints. Ask: What’s the buyer afraid of at each stage? What small win can calm that fear? Use stories to build trust. 💡 Data is important. But a 2-minute customer story about real struggle and success sticks far longer. 💡 Frame decisions around loss-aversion. “Don’t lose your edge” often lands harder than “gain more efficiency.” When you blend hard facts with a genuine understanding of how people feel, you’ll see faster decisions and deeper loyalty. Takeaway: Your next user journey should start with these questions: ✔️ “How do we show up in our customers' struggles? ✔️ "Do they see us as relevant?” ✔️ Can they see their lives as being better because of our help? Build from there. #businessgrowth #GTM #buyerjourney #CMO

I talk to 9 new CXOs almost every week. 7 out of the 9 struggle with this 1 thing: "Connecting Emotionally with Their Audience" This happens because they frequently rely too much on statistics and facts, which makes their speech impersonal and dry. The next thing they know, their capacity to inspire and lead their groups, stakeholders, and clients goes down to 0! And it’s not like they haven’t worked on it. Infact, at least 5 of those CXOs have experimented with different approaches to enhance their public speaking abilities, including going to seminars, reading books, and even rehearsing in front of a mirror. But these attempts were more about technique than on the emotional connection, which eventually made them give up. Once we SWOT analysed it all, finding the right approach was easy for us. What did we do? The Empathy-Driven Communication Approach: → Storytelling: We created gripping stories to illustrate the most important points to make the information memorable and relatable. → Analysis of the Audience: We concentrated on learning about the needs, feelings, and viewpoints of the audience. → Training in Emotional Intelligence: We aimed to improve their capacity to identify, control, and relate to their own feelings as well as those of their audience. The result? → 3X the Influence → 2X the Engagement → Stronger Relationships Today, they have transitioned from being data-driven presenters to influential storytellers who can connect deeply with their audience. Interested in transforming your public speaking skills and becoming an influential leader? DM me “INFLUENCE” P.S. What do you find most challenging about connecting with your audience during a presentation?

When I first started my personal brand, I received zero traction. Now, my posts reach thousands within hours. I've switched from focusing on 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 I posted to 𝘩𝘰𝘸 I told my story. Storytelling doesn’t just engage—it connects. It’s the difference between a good post and a great one. A story that makes people stop scrolling, pay attention, and leave feeling a sense of desire, motivation, or direction. Here’s how you can master storytelling in your LinkedIn posts: 1️⃣ Start with a Hook Open with a question, surprising fact, or challenge your audience is facing. 2️⃣ Focus on Conflict & Resolution Every good story needs tension. Present the problem first, then show how you overcame it to keep the audience engaged. 3️⃣ Make It Relatable Share stories that resonate with your audience’s pain points or aspirations. If they can relate, they’ll engage. 4️⃣ Use Emotion Don’t just tell facts—make them feel something. Emotion drives action and makes your story memorable. 5️⃣ Keep It Simple Stick to one core message or takeaway. Simplicity is powerful. 6️⃣ Create an Actionable Ending Leave your audience with something they can act on. Ask for their take, challenge them, or prompt reflection. 7️⃣ Be Authentic Share your real, raw experiences. People want to connect with 𝘺𝘰𝘶, not perfected stories. Turn your posts into conversations to skyrocket your engagement. It worked for me, and it can work for you too. 👉 What’s your hardest challenge when it comes to storytelling? #storytelling #personalbranding #engagement