skills/product-idea-pack/references/formats/product-concept-scamp.md

# Format: Product storyboard

## Use when

The question has moved from whether an idea is interesting to whether it could become a believable product experience in context. The storyboard is credible enough for serious stakeholder discussion but remains visibly conceptual.

## Deliverable character

- editable 16:9 board;
- one clear proposition and one principal interaction;
- believable interface geometry at roughly 60–75% of production density;
- a sequence of connected moments using only the frames the narrative needs, usually two to five;
- one hero moment or surface with clearly subordinate supporting moments;
- no more than three mechanism → value annotations across the board;
- assumptions and unresolved states visible in the interface, not hidden in footnotes.

## Patterns

- **Situated hero:** context or trigger leads into one decisive product moment and its consequence.
- **Value transformation:** today’s friction beside the changed experience.
- **Product sequence:** context → trigger → action → product response → changed outcome.
- **Human hand-off:** a user-facing moment crosses an approval, uncertainty, failure or service boundary.
- **System made human:** a user-facing sequence connected to the few system capabilities needed to explain it.
- **Artefact in context:** an in-world notification, receipt, letter, status or document is shown at the moment it affects someone.

Use the simplest pattern that exposes the learning question. Do not force the editorial wrapper's three beats into three screens, or create several minor UI states when one situated hero sequence is clearer.

Do not default to three equal cards. Use an equal triptych only when side-by-side comparison is the learning device; for an ordinary sequence, vary scale, crop or context so the decisive product moment is visibly primary.

Use an artefact in context to make a social consequence tangible, not as evidence that the future is predicted. Label speculative content and distinguish current evidence, extrapolation and invention.

## Interface treatment

- Use a coherent neutral product shell, adapted to supplied brand context without copying an existing product pixel for pixel.
- For a feature-scale idea, include only enough of the familiar host surface to locate the feature. Do not design an entire surrounding product to make one intervention seem substantial.
- Include only controls needed to explain the proposition.
- Use one primary action and one visible system response.
- Show realistic content and data only when supplied or plainly marked as illustrative.
- For AI, show input, interpretation, proposed action and confirmation or evidence. A sparkle icon is not product behaviour.
- Keep difficult states—uncertainty, failure, approval and hand-off—visible when they are central to trust.
- Make the transition between frames explicit without implying that a static board has tested the interaction.

## Layers

Keep editable:

- canvas and composition;
- UI components and interface copy;
- headline, annotations and truth labels.

Use generated imagery only for setting, emotion, metaphor or product context. Never generate the complete board as a flat image.

## Discussion value

The storyboard must expose a meaningful choice or assumption. A visually attractive but unchallengeable proposition has failed.

## Output and QA

Produce:

- editable SVG;
- presentation PNG;
- any generated illustrative assets as independent files.

Score proposition, visible value, decisive interaction, focus, conceptual honesty, editability and discussion value from 0–2. Target at least 12/14 with no zero in proposition, value, interaction or conceptual honesty. Revise even a numerically passing board if it depends on generic equal cards, repeated tinted panels or an editorial accent that overwhelms the host product.