A storyboard is a series of panels or frames that visually describes and explores a user’s experience with a product.

The four key elements of a storyboard are:

• Character: States the user in the storyboard.
• Scene: Gives designers a way to imagine the user’s environment.
• Plot: Describes the solution or benefit offered by the design.
• Narrative: Describes the problem the user is facing and how the design will solve this problem.

There are two common types of storyboards:

• Big picture storyboards

  • focus on what the user needs, their context, and why the product will be useful to the user.

  • used early in the design process when designers are trying to get stakeholders to support their ideas.

    

• Close-up storyboards

  • concentrate on the product and how it works.

  • They’re best used in the middle to the end of the design process.