Storytelling is a primal form of communication as old as humankind and may be the distinguishing factor that makes us who we are.
While storytelling is powerful, it is a seldom-used tool in the web designer’s arsenal.
Things change with time, but storytelling is something that’s likely to stay with us till the very end of existence as we know it.
Stories have been an intrinsic part of human life since we first showed up on this planet. As you know stories are the most effective way in which messages are conveyed to an audience.
It doesn’t matter which part of the world you come from; we’re willing to bet a good amount of money that you’ve had stories narrated to you since you were a child.
So, it’s only natural that we incorporate this practice into our communication strategies. But how do we do this?
Take for example your website– there’s a story being told through the design. The various elements of a website come together to enhance the message, which is, pretty much, how things work in a traditional story. When and if this occurs, the core idea gets reflected in the user’s experience.
By incorporating storytelling into a website’s design, you can offer a coordinated and smooth user experience.
Why content on the website is very important?
Storytelling is a powerful communication and connection tool.
A any story is often divided into some sections. Typically, there’s a beginning, middle, and end. If we broke it down further, we’d find that there’s an introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and conclusion.
Your introduction is your homepage. It’s probably the first thing that a visitor will see. Your homepage influences the thought process of the visitor in that it lets him/her decision whether or not they should move ahead.
When creating your story, include information that users might not already know about your brand or company.
This could be unique points about your brand, organization, and product/service. A CTA or “Call to Action” plays an important role here.
A Personality
Every brand has a personality. If you don’t have one, you need to develop. But make sure this personality goes with your brand.
The goal is for visitors to connect with the brand and see a bit of themselves in it. So, take the time to develop personas for your audience and website. Then, come up with a story that matches. The tone and the voice of your story must go with the persona.
Connect content words and Visuals
Storytelling isn’t just about content. For websites and digital media, stories can be conveyed on multiple levels, with content being only one of them.
Visuals are a significant part of web design. In this day and age, you just cannot survive with textual content only. Visual content is of the utmost importance.
Connect your images with words to deliver a clearer picture. Visuals can be exploited in many ways, creatively speaking. Choose images that are relevant to what you’re saying.
By understanding the story that we want to tell visually, we can use that to guide design choices of color, white space, typography, texture, proportion and hierarchy to powerfully communicate part of story without words.
All elements and principles that designers or consumers of design are well aware of. Elements that, when applied to a hyper-digital environment, gain a whole new dimension.
You could suggest that turning the leaf of a page is equal to scrolling down a page, in terms of viewer engagement. But unlike page turning, the actions of scrolling and clicking animate motionless design elements.