Telling a story of the future : Using storyboards and narratives to evaluate anticipated experiences

Abstract: Evaluating User Experiences early in a development process can save both time and money by pro-actively mapping out user needs and behavior patterns. However, since most well-known UX-evaluation methods applies during or after user interaction, due to the “second-order” design problem of experiences being a byproduct of interaction, there is a desire within HCI for more early-stage UX-evaluation methods that could be applied to concept stages as well. This paper investigates the experiential evaluation of a storyboard and narrative through the Anticipated eXperience Method (AxE) and discusses how it compares to a re-iterated high-fidelity prototype created in Figma. The process of this study is described out of the context it has been executed in, which is together with the company Scania AB at their cabin production facility in Oskarshamn, Sweden. The study explores what insights can be found from evaluating anticipated user experiences in early concept development and how these insights can apply towards further development of a touchpad user Interface. The underlying foundation of this study has followed the approach of a design-inclusive UX-research project, which heavily incorporates design activities into the process of conducting research. Thus, the storyboard, narrative and interactive Figma prototype have been created along the process and takes center stage in the investigation of experiential evaluation at early stages of interactive product development.