Posts in Collaboration
How to Use Storytelling to Present Your Design Work

Imagine this: you’ve been asked to share your design work with stakeholders, product managers, and engineers. It’s a big moment. Everyone’s looking at you, ready to hear your ideas and give feedback. But then it hits you, where do I even start?

You’ve got 15, maybe 30 minutes. What do you show? How do you explain your decisions? How do you make sure the feedback you get is actually helpful?

Well, here’s an idea: tell a story.

 

Start with the overview

Every great story has a reason for being told, and so does your design work. Start by setting the scene. Why does this project exist? What problem are you solving, and why is it important?

Share a few key points to give everyone the context they need. Maybe it’s a customer pain point you uncovered or a business opportunity that your design is addressing. This part doesn’t have to be long—just enough to get everyone on the same page.

 

Bring in the Customer

Your customer is the heart of this story. Help your audience see the problem through their eyes.

What are they struggling with? What’s frustrating or confusing for them? Use specific examples from your research—whether it’s a quote, a behavior, or a stat that highlights the problem. Then, zoom out a little. How does this challenge fit into the bigger picture?

By now, your audience should feel like they know the customer. They’re rooting for them, which means they’re rooting for your design to succeed.

 

Share What You’ve Learned and the opportunities

Next, it’s time to share the insights that shaped your work.

What did you discover about your customer that made you think, “This is what we need to solve”? Highlight the key takeaways from your research or testing that connect directly to the problem you’re solving. If it makes sense, show how these insights map onto the customer’s journey.

This part is crucial—it builds the bridge between the problem and your solution.

 

Reveal the Solution

Now for the big moment: your design.

Walk your audience through the features you’ve created. Explain what they are, how they work, and, most importantly, why they matter to the customer. Keep it simple and focused.

Show static screens or mockups—something visual that everyone can engage with. Talk about the flow of your design and how it solves the problem. And don’t forget the details—mention any edge cases you’ve already considered and invite your team to share more.

 

Wrap It Up with Next Steps

Finally, close the story with what happens next.

What’s your plan moving forward? Are there specific areas where you need feedback or alignment? Wrap up with a clear set of next steps and invite your audience to weigh in.

Storytelling doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does have to be thoughtful. By taking your audience on this journey—starting with the “why,” showing the problem, and then revealing the solution—you’re not just presenting your work. You’re helping everyone see the bigger picture and empowering them to give meaningful feedback.

So, the next time you’re asked to share your work in a meeting, don’t panic. Just remember: a little story can go a long way.

Yours,

Wynne

Design, Leadership, Collaboration, MentorshipWynne Leung
Radical Collaboration: Attitude and Intention

I’ve been reading the book Radical Collaboration and learned today about the different “zones” we choose to be in. I must say that as much as I desire to be in the green zone that’s what I aspire to be. But in reality I think I’m more in all of the zones at different times. The green zone is where I hope to strive to be, most of the time. Here are the different zones to explore:

我一直在閱讀 Radical Collaboration 這本書，今天了解了我們選擇進入的不同“區域”。我必須說，儘管我希望進入綠色區域，這正是我渴望成為的。但實際上，我認為我在不同時間更多地處於所有區域。大多數時候，綠色區域是我希望努力的地方。以下是要探索的不同區域：

A person in the green zone

  • Takes responsibility for the circumstances of his or her life

  • Seeks to respond non-defensively

  • Is not easily threatened psychologically

  • Attempts to build mutual success

  • Seeks solution rather than blame

  • Uses persuasion rather than force

  • Can be firm, but not rigid, about his or her interests

  • Thinks both short tern and long term

  • Is interested in other points of view

  • Welcomes feedback

  • Sees conflict as a natural part of the human condition

  • Talks calmly and directly about difficult issues

  • Accepts responsibility for the consequences of his or her actions

  • Continuously seeks deeper levels of understanding

  • Communicates a caring attitude

  • Seeks excellence rather than victory

  • Listens well

 

A person in the Red Zone

  • Blames others for the circumstances of his or her life

  • Feels threatened and wronged

  • Responds defensively

  • Triggers defensiveness in others

  • Is rigid, reactive and righteous

  • Uses shame, blame and accusations

  • Is unaware of the climate of antagonism he or she creates

  • Has low awareness of blind spots

  • Doesn’t seek or value feedback

  • Sees others as problem or enemy

  • Sees conflict as a battle and seeks to win at any cost

  • Doesn’t let go or forgive

  • Communicates high levels of disapproval and contempt

  • Focuses on short-term advantages and gain

  • Feels victimized by different points of view

  • Is black/white, right/wrong thinking

  • Doesn’t listen effectively

 

A person in the pink zone

  • Sees conflict as a battle and seeks to avoid it at any cost

  • Blames others for the circumstances of his or her life

  • Feels threatened and wronged

  • Responds defensively

  • Triggers frustration and anxiety in others

  • Is passively rigid, reactive, and righteous

  • Uses behind-the-scenes shaming, blaming and accusations

  • Is unaware of the climate of frustration and confusion he or she creates

  • Has low awareness of blind spots

  • Is fearful of seeking feedback

  • Sees others as the problem or enemy

  • Can be superficially nice but doesn’t let go or forgive

  • Hides their disapproval and contempt

  • Focuses on short-term stress reduction and avoidance of conflict

  • Feels victimized and underappreciated a lot of the time

  • Can be very wishy-washy in expressing their point of view

  • Doesn’t listen effectively

Collaboration, PersonalWynne Leung
prioritize connection
prioritize connection

In the future interdisciplinary tech teams will work together in to solve abstract problems. To innovate and build together. What I witness in my experience are companies that silo their teams into disciplines. Sometimes it creates solutions that weigh on one discipline. Other times it creates solutions that neither solves the problem for the customer or meet business goals. Companies that I worked at understand this problem. I’ve been part of workshop seasons where hundreds of us come together in one place to create together.

Where we are today

  • Design is well integrated in the product development process = 66%

  • 5% of empowering design for the greatest benefits, 41% have significant room to grow

  • When design takes center stage it can have a direct impact on tangible results: revenue, valuation and time to market

  • 41% of companies surveyed are at level 1 - Producers of the design maturity scale, design just makes it look good

Yet to change the way a large company of over 500 employees to solve problems may take years. Not to mention the demands from our shared economy to innovate in a much faster speed than we used to. It will take much longer than a month or a season.

Today in addition to working on designs and making sure they’re implemented to the quality that it needs to be. I’m also facilitating multiple virtual workshops which require planning, attention, a deep sense of empathy and deep listening. Activities that consume mental energy on an unprecedented level. The way that I’m exercising my body is creating a sense of expectations for the outputs of the team and of the projects. It can seem at times that the enormous effort and sacrifices that I’ve made are making little change to helping our team mature.

Yet that isn’t true at all. The change is just perhaps not as significant. When I started we weren’t doing any design sprint workshops. Today we have two projects where we’ve completed two out of the five steps of the design sprint workshop. We also began showing work in progress with other teams and conducting way earlier in advance stakeholder check-ins. We have a schedule for UX design and working session between teams. We also have two mid-week check-in’s for design reviews.

It may take just as long as we took to get where we are right now at work, which is years of working the way that we do in order to transform into a new way of working.

Most of all I remind myself that I am experiencing unprecedented change. To not give up. To take deep breaths. That if I steps towards prioritizing my relationships and working deep empathy. I can be in this space with healthier expectations, patience and peace.

Wynne Leung McIntosh

Credits:

The Design Maturity Model - Invision https://www.invisionapp.com/design-better/design-maturity-model/
Leadership, CollaborationWynne Leung
Deliberate Relationship Building

I’ve been taking a course on Coursera called “Agile Meets Design Thinking”, and essentially a lot of it is about building closer relationships with our users, clients and how might we uncover and create hypothesis that will add value to their product and services.

At the same time, I’m also the sole caregiver to my aging mother, and have been looking into public programs for caregiver support. Thankfully there are many programs in BC and looks like the theme and intention of building strong relationships is coming up in public programs as well.

In the public medical field where general practice doctors refer patients in this case senior patients to speciality care; there is a need for them to be in better relation. Better relationships between the two types of doctors increases job satisfaction and makes work more meaningful and addresses burnout. Key parts to creating better relationship include:

  • A focus on respectful communication

  • Being compassionate with each other

  • Communicating clearly

  • Engage in deliberate relationship building

  • Have day in-person interactions

  • A need to embrace a team approach with timely communication and role clarity

What does it mean to have respectful communication?

First let’s look at what incivility looks like:

  • Skipped hello

  • Talking over, down, being condescending

  • Sarcasm

  • Eye rolling or other demeaning gestures

  • Showing little interest in someone else’s opinion

  • Rude use of technology

  • Calling someone out, blaming publicly

  • Demeaning or derogatory remarks about a person

  • Doubted a person’s judgement in a matter in which they have responsibility

  • Not answering calls or delaying doing so for intentional miscommunication

  • Impatience

  • Yelling

And, on the other hand here are five fundamentals of civility:

  • Respect others and yourself

  • Be aware

  • Communicate effectively

  • Take good care of yourself

  • Be responsible

It is very interesting to see the similar need for closer relationships in both product design and in public programs. I wonder if our digital transformation and the speed in which we can communicate effects our habits in creating meaningful relationships?

Either way, I think I’m excited and feel glad that theses topics are being discussed in the public space and are being addressed to improve our care and relationships.

- Wynne

Source:
Michael Kaufmann, Ontario Medical Association Physician Health Program, multiple publications
“Event April 29, 2019, Coordinating Complex Care for Older Adults.” Event April 29, 2019, Coordinating Complex Care for Older Adults | Shared Care, www.sharedcarebc.ca/results/events-and-outcomes/event-april-29-2019-coordinating-complex-care-older-adults.

Collaboration, Leadership, PersonalWynne Leung
Collaborations For Shared Resources

I grew up in a family that wasn’t mine. I was kind of like adopted with love to my aunt and uncles who were all engineers. Cousins that I grew up with were also focused on math, sciences and engineering. I struggled, every year to compete with them in grades but I would always be second, third or fourth place. Yes, that is a real thing though not sure if it just made me feel worse :D

I loved the arts. I just did. I loved making it, drawing, colors and painting. But nobody else in the family did. Through learning math and art I found myself in the field of design. For years I wondered where are my people at! Where are all the painters and artists? However, knowing how to do math, did help in design. As I learned I equally enjoyed making something that is fully functional, works and is beautiful :) Like a real Marie Kondo kind of sparks joy.

During my time in San Francisco I explored that a lot hoping to love the two different pieces of myself completely.

I am so grateful for the friends and co-workers who joined in to explore that together and made me feel less alone. My friend Ann and I organized a series called Sip & Sketch; where we would create art in tech companies and at the YMCA. I didn’t know it then; but I know now that I did it hoping to find people like me; who were also interested in both art and engineering.

The world of public arts is still unfortunately not well funded at all, compared to the amount of money in tech. I joined a fellowship called Emerging Arts while in SF that was funded by the city. They gathered twenty five public workers such as teachers, program directors and gallery managers. Once a month we met at a warm public space that is donated by the city. Depending on where we got space sometimes the gathering was in SF, but sometimes we would need to travel to Oakland or other parts of the city like the Tenderloin. When I opened the fridge in those spaces I usually saw neatly packed lunches and maybe sometimes I saw milk. This made me feel shocked. Compared to the daily fresh free meals I received working in tech and all the free snacks. It just felt confusing how different those two worlds were. How can this be, if both worlds needed each other that one didn’t have the same as the other? Experiencing those two worlds I often felt guilty for having so much for free yet knowing there is another part of me that also belongs to a place that doesn’t have the same resources.

I wonder what will happen to us in the future? I hope that both worlds come closer together. I think they are. I’ve seen more collaborations between the arts and tech companies in the last year. Such as commissioning large murals and more artwork in tech spaces. I guess we’ll see.

Wynne



Collaboration, Design, Art, PersonalWynne Leung