The storyboard as a project tool: Rediscovering the audiovisual and advertising contributions and their contexts of use in design

Abstract

The creative processes conducted by designers are a very specific construction of knowledge that we call a project. It can be observed through what is nominated as design strategies: instruments or tools that are applied in order to organize ideas throughout the development of a project. In this article it is discussed one of these instruments used by designers: the storyboard. In order to do that, it is discussed different aspects about its characteristics through contributions from audiovisual and advertising fields. After this, it is analyzed some theoretical approaches from design perspectives, presetting some case studies. Although this research finds itself in its early steps, it is able to present and discuss a group of 18 projects from a class of senior design students from a university. The analysis is in an early phase and shows very specific case studies but it is possible to articulate comments on similarities and differences regarding the ways the storyboard proprieties are brought into the design project process. By the end of the article it is reinforced the importance of scientific research on the advance of the debate about the project process, as it is understood that the analysis upon design strategies makes these instruments a privileged arena for the understanding of the designer praxis.

Key words: process, design tools, storyboard.