I piece together new stories out of bits of old ones. I make up stories about my own observations and experiences. I use these stories to generate discussion, to inform, to persuade. I notice that other designers have their own collections of stories as well, and often use them in similar ways. Stories are very powerful tools.
Stories are subjective.
Stories are ambiguous. Stories are particular. They are at odds with the scientific drive towards objective, generalizable, repeatable findings. So what I want to do is talk about how I use stories in the design process, and consider some of the properties that make stories such useful tools. However, before getting to stories, let's step back, and talk a bit about design.