When was the last time a document of yours was shared virally within a client organisation? Pinned to walls? Or even just read by all the client stakeholders? Comics are a powerful communication tool that can have a role in boardrooms as well as playrooms. Words and pictures shown in sequence are easier and faster to understand compared to traditional documents. They can be used throughout projects to engage audiences and stakeholders. And people love reading them. This session will explore why people like comics and how they can be used effectively within user experience tasks. We will focus on how journeys, events and scenarios can be shared using more than just words. We will look at how comics use non-verbal communication that helps readers to empathise with stories. I will share examples of how comics have been used as a fast and easy way to explore ideas, share information and increase empathy with audiences and teams. You’ll get to see real comics I have made for clients, as well as ones by other comic makers. I'll also give you a crash course in how to get started making your own comics. This includes basic drawing skills (suitable for the terrified as well as the confident artist!). Session outline: Comic history Communication within comics Comic anatomy Case studies How to make a comic

1. BONNy COLVILLE-HyDE
#UXPA@ALMOSTEXACT
UX COMICS:
COMMUNICATING
EXPERIENCES & SHARING
IDEAS

2. COMMUNICATING HUMAN
EXPERIENCES IN
DOCUMENTATION IS HARD.

5. BORING

6. “A lengthy description
of a glass of water is
no substitute for the
experience of drinking
a glass of water”!
Ivan BRUNETTI!

8. MOTIVATION & PROJECT ENERGy

11. THE SECRET TO SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS
Caring about audiences comes naturally to us; it
doesn’t for everyone though.!
!
We need to help our stakeholders and team
members learn why caring, and empathising
with people is essential when it comes to
creating meaningful, positive, memorable and
successful experiences.!

13. WHAT ABOUT BRAND EXPERIENCES?

16. BUT WHy COMICS?

17. COMICS ARE PART OF OUR
VISUAL CULTURE

21. COMIC HISTORy

22. 4000 BC!

23. 1070’S!

24. 1740’S!

25. 1950!

26. 1961!

27. 1976!

28. 1985!

29. 2005!

30. NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

31. VERBAL
NON-VERBAL

32. TyPES OF NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION
Facial expressions: smiling, frowning, scowling!
!
Eye contact: gaze, eye movements, pupil size!
!
Body language: posture, open/closed actions!
!
Gestures: hand movements, speed, flow!
!
Speech: tone of voice, speed !
!

33. NON-VERBALS & COMICS

40. “Words and pictures
can combine to create
effects that neither
could create
separately”!
Scott McCLOUD!

41. THE POWER OF SUGGESTION

43. Great!
I’ve booked
my train home!

45. That burger
was amazing!
5 Stars!

47. Dad would love
that burger
place – I’ll send
him the details

48. “…COMICS ARE FOR KIDS,
CLIENTS WOULDN’T GET IT…”

49. Charles Schulz

50. ANyONE CAN MAKE A
MEANINGFUL COMIC

51. …yOU DO NOT NEED EXTENSIVE
ARTISTIC SKILLS

52. SKILL:
DRAWING FACES

54. LOOKING AT THINGS

55. LOOKING AT THINGS

56. SKILL:
DRAWING EXPRESSIONS

57. CREATING FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
… EYEBROWS AND MOUTHS ARE VERY
IMPORTANT!

58. SKILL:
DRAWING FIGURES

62. ADDING WEIGHT TO THE SKELETONS
1: Skeleton 2: Sausages 3: Details 4: Inking

63. ADDING WEIGHT TO THE SKELETONS
5: Erase pencil 6: Vector-ise 7: colour

64. MAKING CHARACTERS IDENTIFIABLE

65. GET TO KNOW yOUR CHARACTERS

66. GET TO KNOW yOUR CHARACTERS

67. THE LANGUAGE OF COMICS

68. “Comics have a vocabulary that
doesn't even require language. In
fact, many of its symbols could be
considered a language of their own
that requires no teaching or
explanation”!
Kevin CHENG ‘See what I mean’!

69. SINGLE PANELS

70. STRIPS

71. PAGES

72. GUTTERS

73. GUTTERS

74. FRAMING

75. SPEAKING

76. IT DOESN’T EVEN HAVE TO BE WORDS!
? !!!

77. SKILL:
STORyTELLING

78. STORyTELLING: THE BASIC ARC

79. THE FIVE C’S OF COMICS
Calligraphy!
!
Composition!
!
Clarity!
!
Consistency!
!
Communication!
By Ivan Brunetti

80. SCENE SETTING
Key rules to note:
• Use simple props to set the scene!
• A few, key items are better than loads of
detail (it just creates noise)!
• Consider each item’s role in the story!
!

82. Matilda’s Dad helps her play
games on their iPad.

83. UX COMICS IN THE WILD

88. PRACTICAL USES FOR
COMICS:
CASE STUDIES

89. SPEC WORK FOR PITCHES
THE PROBLEM:
Need to create ‘something’ for a pitch – there is no time or budget to
do proper research.!
!
Speculative work can come back to haunt you.!
!

90. Camera Shop
The
EXAMPLE CLIENT:

91. GETTING STARTED:
The client’s brief describes how they currently have a well
developed customer base of professional photographers, but they
want to increase the number of amateur photographers shopping
with them. !
!
We could ‘guess’ what amateur photographers want, or, we could
look for evidence to spark our ideas.!

92. FINDING AN IDEA
Via the Money Saving Expert forum

93. WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?
‘Bob’ wants to buy a new compact camera.!
He has shopped around, but has been overwhelmed by the variety
and choice of cameras.!
He doesn’t want a lot of fancy features, but he does care about the
image quality.!
He has up to £100 to spend.!
He is looking for help to make a decision.!

94. MAKING THE STORy
Bob wants to buy a new camera because his current one has
broken. He wants to replace his camera before he goes on holiday.!
He has looked on several websites, but has been overwhelmed by
the choice. He needs help to refine appropriate cameras into a more
manageable shortlist, or even to find the best one for him.!
The site or app needs to allow him to control his searching and
browsing so he can manage the volume of results. It needs to give
him choice but not overwhelm him.!
He needs to be able to look at cameras based on their size (he wants
it to be compact), their image quality (it needs to take nice pictures)
and its price (it must be under £100).!

95. PLANNING THE COMIC
1. Introduce Bob
2. Bob’s camera has
broken
3. Bob looks for
cameras online
4. Bob gets
overwhelmed
5. Bob finds The
Camera Shop
6. Bob finds ‘The
Compact Camera’
finder
7. Bob filters
compact cameras by
price and size
8. Bob finds a camera
he is interested in
9. Bob browses
photos taken with the
camera from Flickr
10. Bob feels
satisfied and
purchases the
camera

98. COMIC BENEFITS:
• We have evidence behind our assumptions and
ideas about the audience!
!
• We can talk confidently about a scenario, without
having to commit to details!
!
• We still have something visual to show to clients
in a pitch!
!

99. EXPLORING IDEAS
THE PROBLEM:
As a team we need to see how an idea could work as a complete
product.!
If we focus on designing the interface too soon, we may miss
opportunities to refine the process, or improve the structure.!

100. User Registers for
‘My Training
Buddy’
Dashboard
Sets Goals
Find Friends
Track
Performance
Track Friend’s
Performance
Issue
Performance
Challenges

101. Comic created for conceptual iOS fitness app ‘Training Buddy’

102. Comic created for conceptual iOS fitness app ‘Training Buddy’

103. COMIC BENEFITS:
• We can test the comic with target users and get
feedback before we create wireframes or a prototype
(faster, cheaper)!
!
• Helps all team members understand how we’re
proposing a process works – little imagination is
needed!
!
• We have a visual document that can be easily shared
and reviewed with clients!
!

104. EXPANDING PERSONAS
THE PROBLEM:
Personas have a mixed reputation. !
They can be hard to empathise with.!
Communicating a persona’s core tasks and their setting helps build
understanding. !

105. MEET ‘DENISE’:

109. COMIC BENEFITS:
• Easier to engage stakeholders and team members
with a comic than a ‘flat’ persona!
!
• Comic story can trigger more questions and feedback
– meaning the team is sharing more information!
!

110. COMMUNICATING RESEARCH
FINDINGS
THE PROBLEM:
Long reports require a lot of effort to read!
Getting things done can mean leaving out the little details!
‘Seeing is believing’ !

115. COMIC BENEFITS:
• Faster to read than a report!
• Subtleties can be communicated with facial expressions and
body language!
• Brings people to life (important if stakeholders & team members
didn’t attend any research sessions)!

116. TESTING IDEAS WITH USERS
THE PROBLEM:
You’re not a unicorn!
and/or!
You don’t have time to prototype!
You want to test an existing product, before it gets re-developed!

118. COMIC BENEFITS:
• Fast!!
• Participants enjoy working with comics!
• Rapid iterations!

119. SHARING INFORMATION
THE PROBLEM:
You don’t want to write yet another blog post!

120. Across the UK and around the world there have
been over 80 colloquial names recorded that
people use to describe this common land-based
crustacean.
How woodlice can help
your website
The humble woodlouse is
known by many names
Depending on where you go,
you can hear people talking
about woodlice using vastly
different names, for
instance:
'slater' (scotland),
'Grammersow' (cornwall)
and even
'Boat Builder' (CANADA).
Did you know?
roly poly
Slater
Butcher boy
But why should this
matter to you?

121. SEVEN RULES OF
(UX) COMIC MAKING

122. PLAN yOUR STORy:
IF yOU FAIL TO PLAN,
yOU PLAN TO FAIL
RULE 1:

123. KEEP IT SIMPLE:
FOCUS ON WHAT REALLy
MATTERS
RULE 2:

124. DEVELOP yOUR CHARACTERS:
MAKE SURE THEy ARE A FAIR
REPRESENTATION OF
AUDIENCES
RULE 3:

125. CREATE EMPATHy:
LOOK FOR WAyS TO GET
READERS TO EMPATHISE
WITH CHARACTERS
RULE 4:

126. DON’T BE AFRAID TO FAIL…
THAT’S WHAT ERASERS ARE
MADE FOR
RULE 5:

127. CUT OUT
UNNECESSARy
WORDS
RULE 6:

128. GET FEEDBACK:
CHECK yOU’RE TELLING THE
STORy yOU THOUGHT yOU WERE
RULE 7:

129. HAVE FUN
BONUS RULE!:

130. WAIT FOR INK TO
DRy BEFORE USING
AN ERASER!
BONUS BONUS RULE!:

131. ESSENTIAL READING
Understanding Comics, Scott McCLOUD!
Making Comics, Scott McCLOUD!
See What I Mean, Kevin CHENG!
Cartooning: Philosophy & Practice, Ivan BRUNETTI!
!
TOOLS
Comic Life, Plasq!
!

132. COMIC LIFE

133. THANK yOU!
@ALMOSTEXACT
#UXPA
Hire
me!