Dramatic Arc - Boom - Wow - WoW - WOW - BOOM - Ahh ...

Today, I attended a Service Design Workshop conducted by Adam StJohn and Markus Edgar where they shared many tools and tricks to come up with good design. One that sticked was the Dramatic Arc.

The Dramatic Arc goes like Boom - Wow - WoW - WOW - BOOM - ahhh... where obviously no. of CAPS in the letter suggests the energy in those phases.

He used the James Bond movie screenplay as an example to explain the Arc. It starts off with a Boom, an event out of the un-expected, medium in intensity, just like the opening scene of James Bond movie with car chase, scenic surroundings and a very high octane action.

After this opening Boom, it is time to get back to reality. James goes back to London, gets rapped by "M", finally gets a go ahead on a new mission. In the next few scenes we see the lul turn into Wow to WoW to WOW.

Taking the expectation down from the opening Boom, to Wow and then building up to WOW, we are ready to dazzle the audience with the final BOOM. This is more like finale, where you blast and burn the rest of surviving pieces of your set. Casino Royale, again does justice to BOOM, by sinking a complete building in Venice.

Apologies for low quality, but I couldn't get one with better quality on YouTube, let me know if there is a better quality, I will update the blog.

It is not over yet, we have the final Ahh... moment remaining. The one where you say Good Bye. The Ahh... moment should make the feeling of end sink in, and let you enjoy the few passing moment.

This sort of emotions graph is followed in many of Drama events, may it be a Rock concert, where you start off with a big hit, take the tempo down to build the momentum again, then a blast in the end with most awaited song of evening. In the end you sing in chorus, waving hands and feel your heart sinking and time passing by. The feeling of end, feeling of Good Bye, feeling of ...

What Adam and Markus suggested was to know and use this Dramatic Arc while designing services, either if you are designing a restaurant, or even a website.

My sincere thanks to both Adam and Markus for sharing this wonderful secret sauce of Service Design with us at ThoughtWorks Bangalore office today.

Keep Learning.
Amir