Visual storytelling combines the power of human nature (how we establish patterns from experience to find meaning) with science (we retain 10% of what we hear, but 65% when visuals are included) to lead to greater engagement with audiences. Consider the value of tv commercials over radio ads:
- Visual storytelling helps understanding complex data efficiently by delivering more impact as the result
- Visual data provide a narrative that is more compelling and drives the audience to take actions
- The concept incorporates excellent writing, vibrant visuals that bring life to the entire atmosphere of the story
As an example for this Infographic, I looked at mental health from a non-profit perspective and used emotions to drive engagement.
5 Tips to Weave Emotions and Storytelling In Your Copy
- Make Your Reader the Hero
- Keep it Minimal
- Take Your Audience into The Moment With You
- Understand The Conflict in Your Audience
- Don’t Reinvent the Wheel – Use Story Frameworks
Lessons Learned
The hardest part of creating the Infographic was following my own advice. I wanted to include examples to demonstrate what I was referring to. For the second point, Keep it Minimal, I wanted to include that meme:
But that would have been about me, and not about them (the audience).
Conflict in Your Audience
For the fourth point, I wanted to provide an example of a current event, to show that putting mental health first takes strength, courage, and sometimes sacrifice. Here are the Tweet and news story that demonstrate that.
But I caught myself in time and entered some pictures of flowers and trees instead. Mental health can be about a lot of things, such as gender identity, grieving, disability, isolation, financial difficulties, to name a few possibilities. The Infographic is a roadmap; I had to remember that and remove references to destinations.
References:
N2016. AdEspresso. “Master the power of storytelling in your ads.” https://adespresso.com/blog/master-the-power-of-storytelling-your-ads/
2018. Infographic Design Team. “10 trends and principles of visual storytelling that every designer must follow.” https://www.infographicdesignteam.com/blog/trends-and-principles-of-visual-storytelling/
Zamperin, Rick. “Rick Zamperin: Simone Biles’ mental health is bigger than an Olympic medal. https://globalnews.ca/news/8063928/rick-zamperin-simone-biles-mental-health-olympic-medal/ Retrieved August 1, 2021.
EXSM 3989 - Digital Storytelling Class Blog 