Storyboarding: How to turn ideas into scenes people can see

The idea is clear in your head. Now you need to communicate it to everybody else. A planning doc isn’t enough. Storyboarding gives everyone the same picture, frame by frame, in the order the sequence happens.

Map out a story this way, and you gather reactions before anyone edits a launch video or builds an onboarding flow. Below, we cover how storyboards work and how to build one in Figma Weave.

Read on to learn:

• What a storyboard is and how the practice moved past film
• The three main types of storyboards and where each one fits
• How to build a storyboard in Figma Weave, step by step

What is storyboarding?

A storyboard is a series of frames that lay out a sequence in the order it happens. Each frame captures a moment, like one camera shot or one screen in an app, plus a few notes on what happens and when. Storyboarding is the work of building that sequence and reworking it until it’s right.

Storyboard meaning can vary depending on what you’re making. A film storyboard breaks a scene into camera shots. UX designers storyboard onboarding flows to catch where a new user might stall before anyone builds the screens. Motion designers plan animations the same way, mapping which elements move in each frame and how long each transition runs. And product teams use frames to show stakeholders how a feature will feel before a working build.

The main types of storyboards

Every storyboard follows the same sequence logic, but the frames hold different details depending on the output. The three types below cover most of what teams need.

Type 1: Traditional storyboards

Ideal for: Launch videos, brand films, and animated explainers

Traditional storyboards started in film and animation. They have the most detail per frame of all three types. Each frame shows the composition of one shot, with arrows marking camera movement like a pan or a zoom. Underneath, you note what happens and who says what, along with the sound cues that land in that moment.

Type 2: UX storyboards

Ideal for: Onboarding flows, feature releases, and cross-team alignment on a user experience

UX storyboards follow a person through a product. Each frame holds one screen or one step, with notes underneath on what the user does and where they’ll land next. Laid out in order, the sequence shows the shape of the user flow, including the point where someone might stall.

Most teams build one of these before design work starts, when the experience is still up for debate. The frames give product and engineering partners something concrete to react to.

Type 3: Motion and marketing storyboards

Ideal for: Animated UI, ad creative, and short-form video

Motion and marketing storyboards add timing to the sequence. Each frame captures a key moment in the animation, with notes on which elements move and how long each transition runs. Arrows between frames show the direction of travel, giving a reviewer enough to picture the motion before anyone renders it.

The frames usually run in whatever aspect ratio the final piece needs, since a 9:16 social cut and a 16:9 hero video hold different amounts of information. Marketing teams use the same setup to block out ad creative, mapping the shots and the copy that lands on each one before production starts.

How to create a storyboard in Figma Weave

Figma Weave is a node-based canvas that connects AI models and editing tools into a workflow. Each node passes its output to the next. For example, one node generates a frame, and the next adjusts the lighting.

For storyboarding, that means your first pass at a set of frames takes minutes, and you keep the workflow for your next project.

Step 1: Start with your story or user goal

Define what the storyboard needs to communicate. A launch video aimed at customers needs different details than an onboarding flow headed into a design review. The final format decides your frame shape.

Write the beats out as plain sentences first, one line per frame, in the order they happen. This takes a few minutes and saves you from generating twenty frames of a story that falls apart on the second read.

Step 2: Set up your references

Reference nodes keep your character looking like the same person across frames. Add a character description, a few visual references, or a style guide, and they stay wired into the workflow as you generate.

One reference can feed several models at once. Generate the same frame through two or three of them, compare the results side by side, and pick the one that fits the story. Set this up before you build a sequence, since unreferenced frames drift apart.

Step 3: Generate your frames

Work through your script line by line, generating a frame for each one. Different moments call for different models, so an establishing shot and a character close-up can run through separate models inside the same workflow.

Try a few variations at once for any frame you’re unsure about. The outputs land side by side on the canvas, so the differences are easy to spot.

Step 4: Refine and annotate each frame

Your first pass will get some frames right and others wrong. Go back and fix the ones that need work, using masking, color grading, compositing, inpainting, and relighting built into the canvas. You can adjust one frame without exporting it to another editor.

Then add your notes. With a shot description and the prompt sitting next to each frame, you get the scene and the method behind it in one place. That context matters more than drawing quality when you’re deciding whether the story works.

Step 5: Package the workflow for your team

Once you get a sequence of frames you like, save the workflow. Figma Weave lets you wrap it in a simplified interface, so a teammate sees one input field instead of the whole workflow.

The next storyboard starts from the workflow you just built. Swap in a new script, and your character and lighting references carry through.

Storyboarding FAQ

What does a storyboard look like?

A storyboard looks like a row or grid of boxes. Each box has one image with a few notes underneath. The shape matches the final format—a widescreen video uses 16:9 and a social cut uses 9:16. The drawings stay rough, since composition matters more than finish.

How do you storyboard an animation?

Storyboarding an animation adds timing to the sequence. You draw the key poses, then note how long each shot runs and where the sound lands. Those notes feed an animatic, which plays the frames at the right pace so your team can check the timing before animation starts.

Do you need to know how to draw?

No. A storyboard carries sequence and composition, so a legible frame beats a pretty one. Labeled frames and arrows describe a scene well enough for your team to react to, and AI generation can handle any frame that needs more polish.

What’s the difference between a wireframe and a storyboard?

A wireframe shows the layout of one screen, covering where elements sit and how the hierarchy works. A storyboard shows what happens across screens and in what order. Product teams use both, sketching the sequence first and then designing and prototyping the individual screens.

Start storyboarding with Figma Weave

Storyboarding gives you room to explore. Reorder the frames, cut one entirely, open somewhere unexpected—all before anyone builds a screen or renders a frame. Figma Weave puts the models and editing tools on one canvas, so you can try several versions in minutes.

Here’s where the rest of Figma fits, from first sketch to handoff:

• Sketch the sequence with your team in FigJam while the story is still up for debate.
• Draw frames by hand in Figma Draw, where vector brushes and dynamic strokes live.
• Build the screens your frames describe in Figma Design.
• Animate the transitions your frames call for with Figma Motion.
• Prototype the flow in Figma Make to see how it feels before engineering picks it up.