Narrative Semiotics, Storytelling, and User Experience Design (UXD)

The application of semiotic theories and concepts when designing digital interfaces and evaluating their usability has been going on for decades by now. The semiotic concepts that, up until now, have been increasingly used in interface usability studies come mainly from the theories of signs and the theories of sign production and interpretation posited in the classics of the discipline, from both French structuralist and Anglo–American schools of thought. This essay proposes combining more recent ideas about UXD with a few concepts from the narrative theory of Algirdas J. Greimas, on the one hand, and that of Umberto Eco, on the other, reworking these concepts in a way that can be useful for contemporary UXD. The selection and combination proposed can thoroughly and systematically account for the idea of storytelling that, in recent years, has often been used both in academic research and in professional UXD practices.