A storyboard is a sequence of panels illustrating how a user interacts with your product to achieve a goal — showing context, key actions, and the emotional journey. It makes abstract ideas concrete and reveals gaps before prototyping.
After ideation and before prototyping, to validate that a proposed solution creates a coherent and satisfying user experience.
- Define the user (persona) and the specific scenario
- Sketch 6-8 panels showing the key moments in the experience
- Include: trigger situation, first interaction, key action, moment of value, outcome
- Add brief captions explaining what's happening in each panel
- Share with team and users: does this feel realistic and desirable?
- Identify gaps — what happens between panels? What could go wrong?
Storyboard for Discover Weekly: Panel 1 — User opens app Monday morning, dreading the same music. Panel 2 — Sees 'Discover Weekly' playlist. Panel 3 — Hesitantly plays first track. Panel 4 — Surprised — it's exactly their taste. Panel 5 — Saves three songs. Panel 6 — Tells a friend. The storyboard reveals: Panel 2 needs more explanation — 'why does this exist?' is the critical UX moment.
Please contact the author for more information on these examples at linkedin.com/in/kshitijrege
- Making it too polished — rough sketches invite more honest feedback
- Skipping negative scenarios — what happens when the feature fails or user gets confused?
- Not sharing with real users — internal storyboards contain too many happy-path assumptions
- Change by Design — Tim Brown