To start, I believe that in order to fully understand something complex, you must be able to communicate it simply, and so I start with my simplified explanation of what I believe graphic design (or design in general) is.
Graphic design is process and storytelling.
No matter what level of graphic design you are working at or type of project you are working on, you are going through a process to produce your work which you then need to explain to someone. Whether it’s your teammates, friends, clients, or employers, you tell a story about what you made to get input, feedback, criticism, acceptance, or rejection. That’s the job.
But both those things seem pretty open-ended, right? Process can mean a lot of things, and what does storytelling have to do with graphic design? I’ll break down both the process and the story, then conclude with how they come together in the following 3 brief sections.
Section 1 of 3: Process
Process is the way you come up with your design. How you take a bunch of words (creative briefs, client meetings, etc) and turn them into something visually attractive and contextually relevant (visual identities, marketing campaigns, websites, etc).
There is no right or wrong process. There is no one-size-fits-all process. And I dare say, there is no best process. You can have one process that you adapt and hone your whole career, or you can have a library of processes that you add to and pull from on different projects. Everyone is different.
It’s a process of keeping what works, and removing what doesn’t – but ultimately, it’s the series of actions or steps you take to create and test your work.
Everyone has to go through a process to come up with a design concept. Whether your process is intentional, blindly unknown, or totally intuitive, it’s your process that determines the outcome of your work.
So with that in mind, graphic design is [the] process [of creating your work] and storytelling.
Section 2: Storytelling
“Best Selling Author doesn’t mean you are an exceptional author, it means you sold an exceptional amount of books” – Robert Kiyosaki, a best selling author – possibly paraphrased.
The point is that you can have the best book, product, or design in the world but if you can’t sell it, then no one’s buying… and that’s where storytelling comes in.
Whether we are aware of it or not we are creating a story around our work every time we think about or share our design. Maybe the story is pretty boring and just about color choices and meaningless layout decisions, but it’s a story nevertheless… and, It’s how everyone sees and understands our work.
Let’s take a look at two very common but very different scenarios and I’ll try to illustrate why developing a good storyline is so important… 1) you’re sharing your work with a colleague for input, and 2) you are presenting your concept to the client.
For your colleague, explaining your work in the context of your overarching story will help them see things from your perspective and ultimately give you input and feedback that is more relevant and useful, helping you strengthen your story and design concept.
For the client – if you’ve done your job right – your story explains how your design meets strategic goals, how it will connect with the audience, and how it expresses the tone and voice of the subject it represents. Your story is the beating drum of your sales pitch and if presented eloquently, can get people excited, talking about your work, and the story behind it. Allowing the design to sell itself.
And if that’s not good enough, it can also help keep review and feedback conversations centered around conceptual execution and strategic relevance, instead of subjective opinions and derailing discussions.
Good storytelling saves you a lot of stress convincing people about your design choices, and if you’re thinking about it from the start, makes your design more relevant and effective in the end.
I may write an article on my approach to storytelling one day, so send me an email if you are curious and I’ll put you on a list of some sort.
Section 3: Conclusion
Whether we are conscious of it or not, we go through a process to produce our work and tell a story when we share it with others. It’s a simple but honest lens to view design through, and one that I believe improves the outcome and process of a project.
Perhaps this is just another theoretical article for some, or perhaps it’s sparked a few ideas of your own. For me, this has been a fundamental part of my approach to design work, and the storytelling aspect has been instrumental in creating productive review periods, smoother project timelines, and earlier client acceptance – not to mention a more effective product.
I hope you found this insightful.
Thank you!