Work Backwards

Crafting design narratives benefits from a unique advantage: we often know the ending before we begin. This familiarity allows us to employ a technique found across storytelling genres, be it fiction or nonfiction: working backward.

Even when a design remains unfinished or at the proposal stage, envisioning the eventual deliverable aids in structuring the narrative from its ending. This approach proves effective as it compels us to address pivotal inquiries such as the design’s purpose, its target audience, anticipated obstacles, the delineation of value (both tangible and intangible), the research influencing the final design, and the distinguishing features setting this design apart from competitive designs. Knowing your story’s outcome will give you all the clues and prompts necessary for a great beginning.

Consider the following points when writing backward:

•While we typically start design projects by defining user personas and archetypes, beginning your story from the end considers additional users, stakeholders, and investors that might have been excluded.

•Starting your story from the end informs backstory, foreshadowing, and exposition, influencing the level of detail needed at the beginning. An overabundance of exposition might cause an audience to lose patience and interest. This approach better informs precisely what is necessary in exposition.

•From the end, looking forward makes it easier to identify the critical problems and opportunities faced during the design process. Some will be worth mentioning.

•Beyond the primary design goals, exploring backward may reveal secondary and tertiary objectives, broadening your design’s appeal and consumer base.

•Starting from the ending often sparks greater creativity in crafting your story, possibly because it diverges from the conventional methods. It’s not about telling the story in reverse, though it can be effective; it’s about approaching storytelling differently, through an atypical lens.

•And finally, once you identify your ending, you will have a much better time crafting your beginning. If you capture your audience at once upon a time, you will likely keep them until you’re happily ever after.

Always remember exceptional endings will always bring your audience back.