The Toolkit / Research / The Storyboard
Research · Tool 02 of 16
The Storyboard
Find the humans behind the trend.
Find the real people driving each trend, and understand their world and their pain before anything else.
The board
Ten sections on one page
Print it, fill it in, and score each section from 1 to 5. Your score is out of 50.
How to use it
The ten sections of the Storyboard
What to do in each section, and what a 1, a 3 and a 5 look like. Score yourself honestly; the low scores tell you where to work next.
- 1
The trend
Which trend on the Compass this hero is driving.
Pick the trend from the Compass that this hero is part of.
- 1Started
- A topic, not a trend from the Compass.
- 3Good
- A named trend from the Compass.
- 5Excellent
- A named, rising trend from the Compass, with the signals that point to this hero.
- 2
The hero
A real person driving the trend.
Name a real person in the trend: someone who posts in public, or who agreed to talk to you.
- 1Started
- A type of person (“small business owners”).
- 3Good
- A real, named person, with where you found them.
- 5Excellent
- A real, named person, with where you found them, what they do and why they belong in this trend.
- 3
Their world now
Where they work and live; a normal day.
Describe their world as it is today: their work, their days, the tools and people around them.
- 1Started
- A line or two of guesses.
- 3Good
- A clear picture of a normal day, partly from what they've said.
- 5Excellent
- A vivid, specific picture of their world, built from what they've said and done, with sources.
- 4
What's in the way
The practical problem.
Write the practical problem that stops them, in plain words.
- 1Started
- A vague problem (“it's hard”).
- 3Good
- One clear, practical problem.
- 5Excellent
- A clear, practical problem, with examples from their own words and how often it happens.
- 5
How it feels
Frustration, worry, embarrassment…
Write how the problem makes them feel, in their language.
- 1Started
- A generic feeling (“annoyed”).
- 3Good
- A specific feeling, linked to the problem.
- 5Excellent
- Specific feelings in their own words, with the moments that trigger them.
- 6
Why it's wrong
Why it shouldn't be this way.
Write why this problem is unfair or shouldn't exist, as they see it.
- 1Started
- Left vague.
- 3Good
- A clear reason, in plain words.
- 5Excellent
- A clear, felt reason, in their own words, that anyone like them would recognise.
- 7
What's at stake
What happens if nothing changes.
Write what they lose if nothing changes: time, money, people, pride.
- 1Started
- A guess.
- 3Good
- One clear loss.
- 5Excellent
- Concrete losses, big and small, in their own terms.
- 8
Where they want to go
What success looks like to them.
Sketch where they want to be, in their words. Nothing about us.
- 1Started
- A wish that's really our product.
- 3Good
- A clear goal, in their words.
- 5Excellent
- A vivid picture of success as they would describe it, with no product in it.
- 9
From → to
Who they are now, and who they want to become.
Write who they are today and who they want to become.
- 1Started
- Two labels.
- 3Good
- A clear before and after.
- 5Excellent
- A before and after they'd recognise, in their own words, showing the change in who they are.
- 10
Their words
Quotes, each with its source.
Save what they say, word for word, with the source and the date.
- 1Started
- Paraphrases.
- 3Good
- Several quotes, each with its source.
- 5Excellent
- Quotes for every section of this card, sourced and dated, in their own language.
How it works
- Made inStep 02 · StoriesFind the real people driving each trend, and understand their world and their pain.
- What it's forFind the real people driving each trend, and understand their world and their pain before anything else.
- It feedsThe MapInvent the journeys they'd love.
