Workshop Dates: August 10-14, 2020

Enrol here!

Faculty: James Zhou & Ben Healy

What is this workshop about?

As designers we need to be able to write well so we can communicate: with collaborators, with users, with clients, and through whatever we design and build. Even so, many designers find writing intimidating or tangential to the design process. What’s more, writing and narrative can be powerful design tools that can help us understand and meet users’ needs in essential ways. Luckily, our brains are hard-wired for creating and understanding stories, and almost all of us are better writers than we think we are.

In this workshop, we will take a rapid prototyping approach to writing in order to address the anxieties and intimidation that we may often feel. Through a mixture of readings, group activities, and short writing exercises we will explore the ways we can benefit from strong writing skills at every stage of the design process, and learn how we can use the power of narrative to better understand and more effectively persuade the people all around us. 

What will you learn?

• How to write more quickly, recognizing that every draft is just another prototype


• How to use writing and narrative as design tools — in research, brainstorming, and prototyping


• How to identify narrative and character arcs in the stories we hear from users in service of deeper empathy


• How to make the language used in prototypes more realistic in service of deeper insight


• How to tell concise and compelling stories about the things we design

• Very short daily writing exercises will help you become more comfortable with writing quickly and creatively


• Short readings will expose you to a very wide range of storytelling and narrative techniques


• An overview of narrative structure will help you identify compelling stories in the world as well as create your own


• Group and individual storytelling exercises will help you find your own voice and learn how to hold your audience’s attention

Yes, if you want to improve your written communication skills and are interested in telling more compelling stories to colleagues, clients, users, and the wider world.

What you need to bring to this workshop:

A laptop

Enrol now: There is a maximum number of 20 places available for each workshop, first come first served. Enrolment will be closed when the workshops are full.