Blog Post
AlyssaGomez
Staff
I work on an instructional design team that does not use storyboarding or prototyping because the nature of our company requires us to produce courses at a fairly fast rate. Most of my teammates feel that storyboarding or prototyping will take up too much time, so instead they jump directly into course-building.
I have recently learned about the process of storyboarding, and I would like to know your thoughts: do you think storyboarding adds time to the process or saves time overall? I would love to share your thoughts with my team. Thank you!
I have recently learned about the process of storyboarding, and I would like to know your thoughts: do you think storyboarding adds time to the process or saves time overall? I would love to share your thoughts with my team. Thank you!
PeteBrown1
10 years agoCommunity Member
Hi Alyssa
Whether it saves time probably depends a bit on whether you're building something for someone for the first time, or whether it's part of an ongoing relationship with the commissioners of the work. I.e. you get a good feel for each other's expectations as the relationship matures. The size of the piece of work might also sway me as to whether a storyboard or prototype was going to be more useful.
Generally I'd prototype for commissioner agreement on wider functionality (e.g. look and feel/navigational metaphor, particularly on early projects with the commissioner) or to win the commissioners' hearts, then storyboard for the content in a format that the SMEs can easily amend or comment on right there in the storyboard. If there was a particularly complex screen, i.e. one with a lot of complex interactivity, I might prototype that to:
1. Prove to myself that it can be done, or at least give myself more time to come up with a good way to achieve it, and
2. Demonstrate to the commissioner what I'm talking about (assume that the commissioner of the work has no imagination; most storyboards won't do a complex screen justice - a storyboard 'tells', a prototype 'shows'.)
I think there's no definitive answer as to whether storyboarding, prototyping or just jumping in is the best approach. It'll depend on some of the factors above.
Whether it saves time probably depends a bit on whether you're building something for someone for the first time, or whether it's part of an ongoing relationship with the commissioners of the work. I.e. you get a good feel for each other's expectations as the relationship matures. The size of the piece of work might also sway me as to whether a storyboard or prototype was going to be more useful.
Generally I'd prototype for commissioner agreement on wider functionality (e.g. look and feel/navigational metaphor, particularly on early projects with the commissioner) or to win the commissioners' hearts, then storyboard for the content in a format that the SMEs can easily amend or comment on right there in the storyboard. If there was a particularly complex screen, i.e. one with a lot of complex interactivity, I might prototype that to:
1. Prove to myself that it can be done, or at least give myself more time to come up with a good way to achieve it, and
2. Demonstrate to the commissioner what I'm talking about (assume that the commissioner of the work has no imagination; most storyboards won't do a complex screen justice - a storyboard 'tells', a prototype 'shows'.)
I think there's no definitive answer as to whether storyboarding, prototyping or just jumping in is the best approach. It'll depend on some of the factors above.