Another cool thing I picked up from hanging out at ExileCon.
You know when something is so complex that it feels like your brain is about to explode? That's how I felt when the game developers started rolling out all these new features, items, and ways to play the game Path of Exile 2. But then, they started a game demo, and suddenly, I was hooked.
They had a whole story going on - stuff about the characters, their backgrounds, what they were after, the problems they had to deal with, and how they planned to sort things out. Even though I didn't know much about the game, I was totally caught up in it. It got me thinking about this design tip - the story is the ultimate medium for delivering information.
Say you've got a concept or an idea you want to get across to folks. If you wrap it up in a story, it's a whole lot easier for people to get it and feel a connection with it. You can crank it up a notch by turning that story into a demo or prototype - basically showing folks what you mean, not just telling them about it.
This isn't some new-fangled idea. It's been around since 1968 when this smart guy, Douglas Engelbart, did a demo that changed how we interact with computers. That demo, which folks call "The Mother of All Demos," laid the groundwork for lots of the tech we use today, and even inspired people like Steve Jobs, followed by Apple, Google, etc till today.
This same idea works great in UX design. Demos, prototypes, and stories are the real deal. When you mix them all together, you've got a dynamite way to show what your product can do. All you've got to do is tell a story about your product, bring it to life with a demo or prototype, and boom! People understand it better and feel more connected to it. Whether it's in a game or in UX design, a well-told story never loses its magic.
在ExileCon上我还领悟到另一个酷炫的东西。
你知道当某事物过于复杂，让你感觉大脑要爆炸的时候，那是什么感觉吗？这就是我在游戏开发者开始展示所有这些新的功能、物品和玩《流放之路2》的新方法时的感觉。但后来，他们开始了一个游戏演示，突然间，我被深深吸引了。
他们构建了一个完整的故事——关于角色的东西，他们的背景，他们追求的目标，他们必须处理的问题，以及他们打算如何解决这些问题。尽管我对这个游戏了解不多，但我完全被其中所吸引。这让我想到了这个设计技巧——故事是传达信息的最终媒介。
假设你有一个概念或者一个想法，你想让大家明白。如果你把它包装成一个故事，那么人们就更容易理解它，并与之产生联系。你可以通过将这个故事变成一个演示或原型来增强这种效果——基本上就是向人们展示你的意思，而不只是告诉他们。
这并不是什么新奇的想法。早在1968年，一位聪明人，道格拉斯·恩格尔巴特（Douglas Engelbart）做了一个演示，改变了我们与电脑的交互方式。那个被人们称为“一切演示之母”的演示为我们今天使用的许多技术奠定了基础，甚至激励了像史蒂夫·乔布斯这样的人，接着是苹果，谷歌等一直到今天。
这个理念在用户体验设计中也非常有效。演示、原型和故事才是真正的王道。当你把这些元素混合在一起，你就有了一个展示产品能做什么的绝佳方式。你只需要讲述你的产品的故事，用一个演示或原型把它实现出来，砰！人们会更好地理解它，感觉更加与之相连。无论是在游戏中还是在用户体验设计中，一个讲述得好的故事永远不会失去它的魔力。