Storytelling through design

Design Management Journal, Fall 2003 by Sametz, Roger, Maydoney, Andrew

Of course, voice matters greatly. Telling the story in the third person and never referencing the role of the listener-audience creates distance, and die-includes the listener you're trying to engage. While not always appropriate, the closer the story gets to first and second person-me and you-the more the audience is encouraged to see themselves in the story.

The effect of imagery is largely determined by how imagery is executed; different choices will tell different stories. How an image is rendered can either reinforce desired brand attributes or undermine them. If the intent is to present a high-tech product as cutting-edge, it might be harder to communicate this if the image is rendered in soft focus, in pastels-though it then might be seen as accessible and friendly, a different story. Similarly, presenting a group of people who are "there for you" might not be as convincing if the lighting is harsh and there are angular shadows across faces. (While these two examples play to stereotypes, stereotypes do inform the context people bring to hearing a story.)

Choice of media is very important. Often, illustrations are as much about the style of the illustration as the content-and the story may then be driven by the illustration style. How an image is cropped, if it's silhouetted or in the context of a background, choices around color and focus, whether the image is crisply stationary or blurred and on the move-are all choices that either reinforce a story or work against it. Content and execution must both work toward the same end.

Space and time, though often thought of as options available only within richer media, are important building blocks in print and presentations, much as they are in film and video. Decisions around space create hierarchies of information and emphasis. (In a story that involves a product and user, if the user is several times the size of the product, the story is more likely to be about how the product affects the user. If the product commands significantly more real estate than the user, the story is probably about "speeds and feeds"-and will be less about the customer and benefits.) Choices around space and time help to set the pace of the story-is it drawled out or communicated with a sense of urgency? Together, these building blocks also establish a structure for how the story is experienced. Is there one linear story? Is the story to be experienced on multiple levels, expressed in running, contrapuntal voices? Are there resting points or decision points along the way? The disposition of space and time can also help to clearly set up the story's beginning, middle, and end.

Making Choices: Interaction

Much as the live storyteller combines words, differing voices, gestures, and body positions-and modulates the performance to best engage the listener-the communication designer needs to consider the building blocks both singularly and as a system, checking that the interaction among the content and execution of the different building blocks increases the likelihood that the intended constituent(s) will find the story relevant and compelling, see their own interests and needs reflected, and make the desired decisions. The listener experience has to be aligned with the goals of the storyteller.