Storyboards are a great tool to map out either an experience that you want to create or an experience that you are imagining. This process allows you to put it back in front of users to validate whether the needs you are expressing the storyboard actually exist. What are the key moments, milestones, or ideas in an experience that we can react to? Get creative and put it out there! 
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‍What is a Storyboard and when do you use it?‍

Finding a good starting point can be confusing. Is a storyboard your whole experience with someone? Is it just a small portion of the idea? Is it the really big idea? All of these questions can come up when trying to figure out when and if you should use a storyboard.

A good place to start is to think about a movie storyboard. It doesn't typically have every single frame from the entire movie in it. Move storyboard usually have just the key moments in the story that creates or contribute significantly to the whole story. The purpose is to have these big pivotal moments or ideas in one place, so you can look at them as a series of frames that break down the big outcome. When we think about using storyboards, we're really trying to think about what the key moments are in the experience that we want to articulate so that users our teams can look at it these ideas and react.
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Ultimately, narrating and organizing around a basic story can be done anywhere - even literally on the back of a napkin! The goals is to get it out into the world. A great way to do this is to use the value of Miro and take notes right here in our digital whiteboard. Once we have that, we're going to begin to add in other types of illustrations, graphics, icons, and emojis in order to bring a layer of context and order to our experience. 
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‍Getting Started‍

Start by writing your story. Choose a single persona and storyline you’d like to focus on and, as a group, caption each step of your story. Be sure to gather diverse input from everyone in your group to surface ideas one person may not think of.
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Next, you’ll want to create some basic visuals. Use images, icons, annotations, or simple sketches to set the scene for each step. These don’t need to be perfect. The quicker the better! Spending a lot of time thinking about whether or not this looks really good is not the purpose of this kind ofstoryboard it's really about getting thekey moments in the journey out of yourhead and onto paper. It’s important to keep in mind that they are only meant to help tell a story.
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‍Individual or Group?‍

When using a storyboard, it can help to begin thinking independently and then collaborating collectively afterwards. Allow people to work individually for a few minutes before sharing with the group. Sometimes, this method can help teammates who are more introverted to get their thoughts out and themselves. It is always good to take the time to be prepared and then come back to share after everyone has had the opportunity get oriented.

The beauty of tools like a storyboard is that you have an opportunity to put ideas out there and then negotiate those differences with a group. There is power in seeing how different people approach the problem from different view points. Storyboards can be particularly helpful when considering multiple viewpoints around what makes the most sense for the overall idea.

‍Why Multiple Storyboards?‍

There are a couple of reasons why multiple storyboards can be helpful in developing your story.

• Different points of view allow you to get a full 360 degree angle on your story
• You can build a story around a specific point of view for each stakeholder
• Once you build a specific point of view based on key stakeholders, you can compare them against each one of these storyboards and then against each other for a well-rounded view

The real goal of our storyboard template is not to map out the entire story or to make a flip-book movie, it's to express key points along the journey that you think are important for people to see and know about. Storyboards oftentimes allow business communicators and strategy communicators to get their ideas out, even if they don't know exactly how to write the code or develop the backend. It helps a lot of different people communicate in the same format.
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Jump right into the Miro Template ->

‍Final Thoughts‍

Explore these storyboards and find a path that allows you to communicate even early stage stories to a broad set of stakeholders. Start with designing something you know and get in the habit of putting your thoughts out there, experiencing critique, talking about your idea, and communicating with this storyboard template as the backdrop. Have fun collaborating with your team to find the best story!