Designing Empathetic Service Experiences Using Storytelling Approach: A Case Study

ABSTRACT
Storytelling is a well-known technique to emphasize emotions. This paper explores the
integration of storytelling techniques into service design to cultivate empathetic service
experiences. Emphasizing the significance of emotional connection in social service contexts,
we designed services for Adolescents Living with HIV (ALHIV) in India. Due to a lack of
awareness and social stigma, ALHIV are unable to make timely and responsible life decisions
around intimacy and HIV status disclosure. We designed services that disseminate essential
information and enable ALHIV to make informed life decisions. The solution is an interactive
story media where users make decisions around in-design encounters that parallel with
possible real-life encounters. As a result, they get to explore multiple possibilities in a safe
space, leading to improved real-life decision-making. This paper demonstrates the replicable
framework of orchestration of human and technology touch points through multiple dynamic
and choice-based scenarios. The study examines the synergy between service design and
narrative frameworks. Through a detailed case study, the research underscores the pivotal
role of storytelling in fostering genuine user engagement by infusing empathy-driven
narratives into service encounters. Overall, this research contributes a novel perspective on
designing empathetic services, demonstrating the role of storytelling in crafting meaningful
service experiences.