Looking for Storyboard Software

Hi Shiva,

Here's the rule of thumb I use for storyboards:

• Match the document to the needs of your reviewing audience.

The worst storyboard formats I've seen for reviewers of content are the most common. Those that have 15, 20, 30, or more fields to contend with. You can only guess what happens to a reviewer after the second or third screen of storyboards. They tune out. It's too much mental energy to contend with so much irrelevance.

I use 6 fields with most audiences. Only two of these fields are intended for focus based on the design of the document. These two fields are:

• Audio Narrative
• On-Screen

In the early versions of the boards, the Narrative may be the only field we fill. This forms a single "story" for the flow. Since the main reviewers will stick with the process throughout the storyboard development phase, this also provides a nice anchor.

I design the doc to present these as two side-by-side columns. Above or below these columns I provide these fields to frame the experience and provide reference points.

• Screen Title
• Section Title
• Screen ID
• Prompts

The best advice I can provide is don't overload your reviewer with irrelevant fields. If you need to add programming notes and all of the other fields necessary to guide your development teams, add those elements after the boards are approved or better yet run those in a separate document.