The Experience is the Story

I have decided to write a few chronicles about storytelling, because the more I study and practice storytelling, the more I realize how much more there is to learn. Today’s chronicle is about storytelling and experience. When I talk to my X colleagues (UX, CX, LX and all the other Xs) I like to stress that the design of any kind of experience is the design of a story, a story that will emerge from the interaction of the individual (customer, learner, user, etc.) with the object, product or process that was designed.

So, it’s safe to say that, in a way, the act of design (of an experience) is a type of storytelling act, because it is framing the relationship between the individual and that which is designed. That relationship is mediated not only through the interaction with the item designed, but by the emotions (satisfaction, boredom, fear, etc.) that emerge from that interaction. That relationship, and associated emotions, constitute the experience, which the individual may rationalize, analyze, describe, or synthesize in the form success, failure, mystery, horror, adventure, etc. When we give voice to our experience and others are able to find relevant connections to it, we fulfill the most important goal of storytelling, which is to create meaning through human connection.

Storytelling, therefore, is experience, because the experience is, in fact, the story; and designing the experience is, in the end, the crafting of the story.