A software user interface is a human-to-human communication medium. Behind every user interface there are individuals on a development team who are trying to tell us something. 'Click here' or 'type there' or 'drag this' and 'drop that'. A user interface is like a game of charades and we, as users, have to guess what the software developer is trying to tell us.

But software developers often don't realize they are communicating with us. They frequently see their task as trying to get the computer to do something, not the end users. This is unfortunate because it overlooks the essential purpose of any application – to help users get stuff done.

All too often, developers focus primarily on the functional aspects of the software. That is understandable because building functional systems is a challenging task. In fact it's so challenging that the user's concerns (and the entire matter of usability) is often treated as a mere afterthought. I remember one software team leader, who kept postponing the implementation of a user interface design, saying he would 'deal with the fluff later'. That application never made it to the big time.

When developers focus solely on functionality, to the exclusion of nurturing a proper user experience, they lose sight of the fact they are in an active dialog with their end users. All too often they hide behind the mask of the 'computer intelligence', never taking responsibility for their end of the conversation.

A somewhat rude message from the developers

Developers typically don’t sign their names on dialog boxes or speak in first-person terms in a user interface, or offer an apology when a user fails to do what they were 'supposed to do'. There is a common tendency to make it look like the computer is doing the talking by assuming a sort of 'neutral' computer-ish voice in their outbound messages. Why? Because I think we have grown used to this way of pretending that the computer is the source of these messages, like we see on Star Trek or countless other works of technology fiction.

An fantasy message from a person on the development team

Fortunately this is changing and some software vendors get it - especially with web interfaces. Look at this screen shot of Google's Ad Words help page.

Someone has taken the time to craft a set of visual and textual cues that guide the new user through the rather complex task of building ads for their account. The resulting page is remarkably clear and respectful of the user's time and concerns.

Part of the success of this interface is the clean graphic design, but no less important is the story that Google designers tell on this page. Granted, this is primarily just a Help page but look at this next screen shot of the account set up system and you'll see that similar care is taken to tell a clear story.

The idea that software creators are storytellers is a powerful and, I think, largely untapped concept. Many user interface designers don't go past the stage of designing and arranging screenware – i.e. the various UI components and widgets that allow users to manipulate data in the application. But at a deeper level, these components actually fit into an implicit work flow that can best be described as a 'User Narrative'.

The User Narrative is the story that is told, implicitly or explicitly, by the sequence and arrangement of parts on a user interface. If this User Narrative is constructed intentionally, and in such a way that the user can relate to it, then the user experience can be enjoyable and productive.

The User Narrative is like a script that the application designer would like the user to follow. It exists whether it is designed intentionally or not because consciously or unconsciously, we as users, look for this 'stage direction'. In our heads (or even out loud) we may be asking ourselves "where do I go now?", "what should I click?", "where do I type?" or perhaps even "WTF do I with this mess?"

Some sort of answers to these types of questions are formed in our minds as we parse through the interface. But without help from a clearly designed User Narrative, we have to work too hard, we feel too stressed and we will frequently not achieve what we are supposed to do.

Here's an example of such a discordant interface where the user is left to their own devices to build a meaningful narrative from the bits and pieces thrown onto the screen:

This screen has a seemingly random collection of functional interaction parts arranged in a haphazard manner around the screen. It is intended to be an online tool for managing stock options and includes some important functionality such as entering hypothetical selling prices and projecting gross and net earnings – potentially very useful for employees trying to put together a pension strategy.

At a glance, it's not apparent how to perform this or any other task. Besides the generally appalling layout, there is something desperately wrong with this screen – it is devoid of meaningful text cues.

Meaning is what connects the intent of the user interface designer with the intent of their target user. A meaningful user interface is one that matches the goals that the user has in mind as they use an application. If a user wants to buy tickets to a concert, the User Narrative of the interface should tell the same story. There is a harmony to it all. The application designers and the end users are singing the same tune.

Meaningful prompts and text cues are the backbone of a well formed User Narrative. This is perfectly logical because User Narratives are stories and stories can be told powerfully through the use of well crafted words. Look at the Google interface again and notice how finely their textual components have been tuned - even to the point of reintroducing a humanity to the voice. Ad Words are an important income generator for Google – of course they are going to get this right!

But this is also true for any other company who seeks to do business through the use of web or other software applications. In practice a User Narrative is a story told by the software designer and it occupies a precious period of time within the user's daily life. The story of the User Narrative interweaves with the user's personal story. So if a company wants to get people to do business with them on line, they had better find the right story to tell them in the User Narrative. That story is the script that must show a user how to play the Role of, say, a customer. Getting the right User Narrative for the user Role is an important part of achieving business goals through software applications.

Interweaving User Narratives and User's Stories

Discordant User Narrative		Harmonic User Narrative
User Story: User wants to buy a product but can't find the item price They switch to Searcher Role.		User Story: User wants to buy a product and finds everything they need to make the transaction.

The same principles apply to non e-commerce sites also. It is equally important to create strong and clear User Narratives for production oriented applications. An example would be a content management system. Ideally, a user interface system for content management will go beyond focusing merely on the functional elements and will introduce a User Narrative that supports a well defined user content manager Role. If this harmony can be achieved, the application will become a significantly more productive tool for anyone trying to carry out that Role.

The concept of User Narratives is a powerful tool in the hands of UX designers. Unfortunately, UX designers often cannot gain control of the narrative because of restrictions in the implementation of the software. This is a deeper problem that I will talk about shortly, using the Drupal content management platform as an example.