Where does the story live?

Picture this: a person cuts across the grass, avoiding the neatly paved corner of a sidewalk. Over time, others follow, and a natural trail emerges—simple, direct, human. These are desire paths, the unplanned trails created by how people truly want to move through a space. They reveal human intention and preference.

This is a concept I often revisit when thinking about how stories are told and experienced in different places. Because I’ve often found that we (the audiences) find and follow our own "desire paths" through narratives.

Where will the story live for the audience?

Does the story start on a webpage, maybe as a shared link? Or does it start as they walk down the street, and notice the sign hanging above the business? Perhaps it’s a magazine article that catches their interest? A smell when you walk into a room, or a printed T-shirt hidden within the folds of a friend’s closet? Maybe it appears in the opening credits of a film, or wrapped around a product at a farmers market?

The story location shapes not only how the story is told, but also how it is experienced.

When done well, the storytelling creates an immersive phenomenon. The different touchpoints of the story become an ecosystem, a world unto itself. There are several components to these kinds of stories—colors, typography, décor, sounds, smells, or lighting—each is selected, curated, or crafted to enhance or supplement the narrative.

It could be a mural that tells the history of a business, or a particular lighting that creates a stunning show. There are always opportunities to entertain, set a mood, or make your opinion clear, while still serving a functional purpose.

So, like I asked the visual communication students in my last seminar: where will the story live, and what can its setting reveal about the audience's journey? How we design that story—the trail they will follow—defines how they experience and remember it.

Food for thought.

If you’re interested in ideas about storytelling and design, feel free to get in touch with us to learn more about my workshops and seminars, or WhatsApp us at +94 77 764 7096

Who is telling the story?

The first slide was a question; my entire seminar revolved around it. I looked up at their faces and watched them start to think. I wanted to see if these young, would-be designers knew the answer. They thought about it for a while…

If your client’s business were a person, who would it be?

Who's telling the story?

When a business tells a story, it adopts a particular narrative. They (the business) act, speak, and portray the world from their perspective; this is their persona and way of doing things. The attributes of that persona, combined with the story facts, make a framework that tells me a lot about a business; from there, we where to start.

I use a framework to illustrate what’s at the heart of a business persona.

From the audience’s perspective, knowing who’s telling the story contextualizes the meaning. It legitimizes the story. When you look at posts on social media or read an article, do you ever consider who’s posting the story? When you search, does the platform matter to you? Do you check to see who the author of the article is?

Take, for example, these two memes (above and below), one has been used to sell fonts, the other to convey and share a feeling amongst like-minded people. Memes are inherently polyvocal—meaning the storyteller could shift depending on how the meme is consumed, shared, or repurposed.

I would say, that memes operate more like a co-authored story, where the creator and audience collectively shape its significance. In this case, the PangramPangram meme (the former) was made to promote a business. PangramPangram designs and sells fonts. A pangram is a sentence with all the letters in the alphabet. Font designers use pangrams to display samples of what all letters look like.

Now you know.

So what happens when there's no context?

I found this picture online one day (as you do); it immediately caught my interest. It’s from a 1960s book called Shindai: The Art of Japanese Bed-Fighting.

What beautiful photography; is this true? I wondered, so I went down the rabbit hole.

With a curious enough audience, narratives can thrive on ambiguity and absurdity. The lack of explicit context can lead to inspiration, entertainment, and even thought-provoking at times.

“But what happens if they don’t like the story?” Someone asked during the seminar.

Take, for example, satire stories; they are more engaging, but they require an understanding between the storyteller and the audience. When two people understand each other, there is room for ambiguity and absurdity.

Humour works especially well, but it’s risky.

For better or for worse, the story may get attention, but it doesn’t necessarily always lead to understanding; or guarantee fidelity. If the audience doesn’t get it, the story is ignored. Or it gets labelled as a lie, disinformation, and more of the Internet’s flimflam.

From my experience, who the storyteller is, shapes the outcome of a story. Regardless of the size or reach, a reputation influences the meaningfulness of the story.

Attention and understanding are not the same thing.

A new teacher asked me for advice after the seminar. They had a good industry reputation, and plenty of knowledge to share, but the students weren’t taking her recommendations.

“In the beginning, I think that’s to be expected; it’s difficult to take advice from someone you don’t know or understand yet,” I suggested.

Being good at something doesn’t necessarily make it a good lesson. In the same way, having a good business story doesn’t guarantee a sale.

Food for thought…

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This story was based on questions and insights uncovered at our last story design workshop. Get in touch to find out more about our workshops or with questions.

How Constraints Guide Creativity

Recently I spent an afternoon at a beachside restaurant; people-watching and scribbling ideas in my sketchbook. I was there to listen to a new playlist I had prepared for a client. Since they shared a space with another business they needed music that matched the vibe of both establishments while also synced to the time of day. So I made morning, afternoon, and sunset playlists. I set the criteria for each playlist according to the persona of each business and curated the music to play in sync with the different crowd vibes throughout the day.

Can you match my vibe?

Constraints help to identify what is appropriate; they also help us create things more efficiently. Take for instance the self-imposed constraints that made the iconic Penguin book covers so successful. By setting a framework to format each book using a designed template; they were able to maintain a fixed production price with the same quality. Templates are particularly useful for businesses with many stories. A well-designed template will offer just the right amount of rules to lower production costs, with enough flexibility to make each edition remarkable.

Freedom is an illusion; that is, until you learn to define your boundaries. - My Wife

Once you’ve determined the rules or what’s important, it is easier to identify what isn’t going to be appropriate and less meaningful. Part of the success of a storyteller is determined by how well they craft a desired emotion. I find it difficult to do this without the constraints of a framework. Particularly when it comes to making decisions. My artistic eye can easily find colours to work with but selecting the most appropriate one is another task. It requires criteria to make the final decision. Where will the colour live, who will see it, what is the desired mood, are there any preferred colours, etc.? Frameworks allow me to consider and recognize emotional states and perspectives beyond my own biases.

I cannot understand you. ‘Tis because you lean over my meaning’s edge and feel a dizziness of the things I have not said. - Trumbull Stickney

The complexity and difficulty of understanding what others will comprehend from an idea or feeling is difficult. We are limited by language. Full comprehension can be elusive and misunderstandings can arise from the gaps between what is said, what is felt, and what is intended. The meaning of an idea can be highly subjective and often depends on the individual's perspective, experiences, and context. The multifaceted nature of ideas emphasizes the importance of identifying a framework.

Food for thought.

Create a framework; use it as a tool. We’ve written about this before; read our brand articulation framework article for more information on using this for your business.