How To Get Better At Telling Stories

Elements of Proficient Story Telling

How a story should be crafted — Thoughts by Aristotle

The story is a part of our everyday life. It plays a vital role in our growth and development. Stories help to develop imagination by introducing new ideas into their world — ideas virtually fantastical worlds, other planets, unlike points in time and invented characters. It'll encourage the children to realize that they can, and should, imagine anything they desire.

If you lot google Storytelling. This comes upwards every bit a first result:

Storytelling describes the social and cultural action of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics, or embellishment.

It means, that is an action, which involves the exchange of tales, experiences, and just data, from a person who is telling story i.e. A Storyteller to its Audience i.e. people who are receiving this information.

Storytelling…….It's Everywhere

Storytelling is a part of our basic human instinct. Whenever nosotros learn, we try to share it with everyone we can find. Nosotros want someone to sympathize our situation, we tell them a story.

The same principles go for Design as well. Because Pattern, itself is a process of telling a story. It has an Audition, Problem, characters, Backdrop, solution, and a conclusion. And that is what Design is. A Process that helps others to understand the Story nosotros created in the grade of Design.

The Storytelling

Storytelling is an aboriginal fine art. Beingness able to tell a story that audiences will enjoy, call up, and engage with, is both compelling and difficult to accomplish.

So how tin we meliorate our storytelling practices, what can exist improved and what we tin can add to make it more compelling to our Audition? Is there any cheatsheet or something like.

Every bit it turns out, The Fundamental Aspects of the Good storytelling was already been defined style back during 300–400 BC in Ancient Greece.

Aristotle — Greek Philosopher, Pupil of Plato, instructor of Alexander the Bully (quite the resume) who is still considered one of the greatest thinkers of all time, worked extensively in the fields politics, psychology, and ethics, was a peachy storyteller, Some of his most notable works include Nichomachean Ethics, Politics, Metaphysics, Poetics, and Prior Analytics.

During this lifetime, he came up with the list of central elements for good storytelling. And to my surprise, These fundamentals even so play a vital role in creating a compelling narrative.

Since I like to write about Design and stuff, and I came beyond this topic in a Design Lecture, The master context of the commodity and the examples used to explain elements volition be focused on Designing itself.

Only still, these fundamentals are applied to our all story-telling methods, such as Movies, Television set shows, Video-Games, even Music(somewhat) and of course, Design itself.

Elements of Storytelling

1. Plot

The plot is the most of import role of whatsoever story. It defines what story is all about. What the audition will experience. It sets up the motivations, challenges, the Goal, and the road people are taking to fulfill it.

Information technology helps the audition to empathize with the protagonist(User), connect and understand the underlying characteristics and details involved with it. A unproblematic plot is all that is required to build a good story.

For example — Judge which movie I am talking most from this Plot
A Scared Father goes on an extensive search to find his lost son beyond the entire world. And institute his courage and made new friends along the style.

From a design standpoint, information technology will help our team to become a articulate headspace on what elements to focus on and how to overcome the impending challenges.

2. Character

Characters are the elements who are living in the story. The people who are being afflicted by the Plot, who has motivations, traits, personalities, weakness, fearfulness, who takes actions based on their psychological traits. These are the element whose deportment determine the flow of the plot.

To build a strong story, the characters have to exist well-defined and consistent beyond the entire story because the audience can simply believe, understand with the characters if they tin deduce their traits and tin can relate to them and able to meet the justification behind character'due south activeness. That is how the Audience will be able to build their trust in the character.

One of the virtually well-defined character, in my opinion?

I won't even say his name

He is the about popular character spread across all mediums. And almost anybody knows what type of grapheme he is, what is his background, what are his motivations, why he does what he does and how he is able to beget everything that he does.

In the Design Thinking credo, The graphic symbol of a production is its users, Users who are in the eye of the entire blueprint process. Whose motivations, aspirations, bug and needs to justify what type of production or service we are going to design.

three. Theme

The theme is a give-and-take that can be defined in a few words

Setting where the Story is taking place.

The Importance of Theme cannot be understated. It has a peachy influence on way the plot is being perceived, Surrounding of a Story gives directly support to the grapheme traits and gives an opportunity for the Audience to empathise the underlying motivations and fright.

And it also enables us to reuse the plot and characters in different stories. Many stories have a somewhat identical plot, characters, motivations and such, only what actually makes a difference in those sort-of similar stories is the Theme of the story.

This is 1 of the main things that Disney used in their before animated movies to differentiate between One Disney princess from another. They inverse the Theme of the Story — and nosotros have 2 dissimilar stories to perceive.

Google and Bing — Oh Bing, when will y'all learn.

As a Designer, Theme helps you differentiate your product from your competitors. Both products may have the same plot, same characters, but the concept and the surrounding between two products is the difference that the audition is looking for. And that can requite your product an reward over its competitor.

iv. Dialogue

Information technology is the way how characters connect with each other and to you lot, The Audience. The choice of words used in the story. The tone used, the words being used and how information technology caters to the Audience it has been designed for. Considering this chemical element enables the story to resonate with the intended audition. The factors that touch on the Dialogue of a story ranges from:

The Audience
The Message
The Platform used for Distribution of Story
And the Brand story is under.

Every bit a Designer, this element converts in the manner the product speaks to its intended audience. Is the audition expecting an authoritative and helpful phonation or they are thinking along the line of a Friend? Practice the syllables used are easily understandable by the Audience in their natural settings or not?

The tone of the dialogue of a product depends upon the solution it is providing for the user and nether what circumstances. If a product is providing help for a task, It is necessary for the product to utilise a tone that suits the situation which is calm and easily understandable.

5. Melody

By hearing the give-and-take Melody, almost anybody thinks of — the Music, the Tune or some Audio. True to the point, they are in fact correct. Melody provides familiarity with the audition near the story and what they are about to perceive. It also helps to trigger certain emotions into audition psych and the audition tin can recognize or get an idea of what they are about to perceive and what they can await.

For instance, A beat of John Williams's Star Wars theme is enough to let the audience know that "They tin can look a Space Take chances, or run across, Darth Vader, choking someone while telling them not to asphyxiate on their aspirations."

Darth Vader

From a production perspective, Tune translates to the familiar set of patterns, color schemes, placement of interface elements, and recognizable layout, for the product or service. The form of presentation, content that is being presented, the presenter itself, everything that the user exposed to, should exist familiar and recognizable. And then that user can accept articulate expectations.

This is where a consequent Design system of a Brand comes into play for an Interface Design.

half dozen. Decor

The Decor translates to the Visual aesthetics of the Theme. The graphics that are being used to support the Theme, that has a certain look and feel.

Humans are visual learners, we come across things, and that'due south how we larn and think stuff. So the graphic in storytelling plays a really of import part in establishing the world in which our Plot and Character accept place.

One Edifice (LOTR) vs Entire Urban center (Sin Urban center)

From a Product standpoint, It ranges from Mod Design, Simplistic, Intensely Detailed, Brutalism, or to-the-point. Depending upon your audience'due south taste and what bulletin product/service wants to convey.

A Production'southward Decor is the Graphic Design.

Heed you, Decor can likewise exist painted using the words also. A Adept story-teller knows how to plant the decor from their words and pigment the picture clearly inside Humans' brains.

7. Spectacle

The spectacle is something of an event that is memorable, unexpected and left the audience wondering about its appearance.

In order to create an impactful spectacle, it needs to be unexpected, yet meaningful, for the audience. But equally Aristotle described, It should not be allowed to control the entire story. The plot should always be potent enough to bear the Story, not relying entirely on Spectacle.

Coming dorsum to our Star Wars illustration, One of the major spectacles we encountered was in Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.

A spectacle for those who know what this means.

Reveal was shocking, but Information technology didn't affect the entire storyline as a whole. Storyline maintained its ability and delivered an awesome movie. (Star Wars is Good).

For a product, Spectacle is the feature that stands out your product. Its the stuff people talk about when they are not using the production/service. The Minute surprises, small app bubbling, and helpful notifications.

For example, Uber giving y'all a small notification to let Passengers Know When Surge Pricing Ends.

For a product, Special Features are its Spectacle.

Conclusion

And there you have it, the Ancient Greek wisdom past Aristotle himself, condensed into this pocket-size article.

The story is great, everyone has ane, and anybody wants to heed. But it takes special skills to Tell the Story. It takes effort to engage your audition, even if the size of the audition is one.

Same goes for design, Blueprint is a field, which heavily relies on Designer'south ability to tell a story through its pattern.

If you want to be a good Designer, Be a good storyteller.

How to exist i? Soak in this Greek wisdom and tell your story…and do.

Specify your target audition, Make your plot as simple as it gets and compelling. With the characters well-defined traits, motivation, and goals. Think of your theme and the decor that goes with it to get in authentic and believable. Use the Dialogue which fits perfectly with your audience. The melody that makes your Story familiar and recognizable with the brand. And when the audience feels like everything is getting recognizable and familiar in the story, surprise them with a spectacle.

Am I a Expert Storyteller? Exercise let me know most that and any feedback, thoughts, criticism in comments.

I share more of my piece of work on my website. If y'all take time, please check it out.

Thanks

Ankit Passi