Hannah Mitchell & Laura Pledger
Workshop : How storyboarding can bring your research to life
At the RNLI, we’ve discovered how useful storyboards can be as they are a great tool to help easily explain complicated processes in a visually compelling way. Storyboards bring out the human element, the thoughts and feelings of our end users and by doing so, it helps our audience gain empathy for the end user.
Storyboards can bring a lot of value to a presentation as they are so visual, they grab peoples’ attention. They can even be used to help change peoples’ perceptions. Based on a Ted Talk that we’ve listened to, if you present your research as a story, it actually lights up different parts of people’s brains compared to just presenting the data to them. It can also instil feelings empathy for you as the presenter and make them more likely to trust you.
During our workshop, we will talk you through what a storyboard is and why we feel it’s a great UX tool. We will then support you while you create you own storyboard in groups, based on some research that will already be prepared for you on the day.
About Hannah
I have a real passion for numbers so my career started out in analytics, where I was often surrounded by big data sets and large amounts of figures. Over time, it has evolved and expanded into the UX field, where I have worked across retail, healthcare and more recently the charity sector. My role as a User Experience Specialist at the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, or RNLI for short, has shown me how selfless people can be and has encouraged me to share the knowledge I have to try and support others. I want to make sure people get the opportunity to have their voices heard and I’d love to show how beneficial storyboarding can be as a UX tool.
About Laura
With a background in fine art and marketing, I have always been interested in creative ideas and what makes people tick. However, it wasn’t until I discovered UX that I found an area that I’m honoured and passionate to be a part of. I’ve played a key role within the UX team at the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) for the last 4 years, leading on complex research and designing new systems to support our extraordinary volunteers. Storytelling has formed an important part in this – amplifying the voices of users and ensuring their experiences help shape organisational priorities and decisions.