Storytelling in Design: Why We Trust, Buy, and Connect Immediately
Do you know that 90% of people would listen to you more if you tell good stories. We all have atleast one very interesting person who we love having a conversation with. But have you ever thought why you find him/her interesting? Storytelling!
While talking about the day, he’ll take you on a journey where you will be laughing in one moment and then be feeling sad because now you also feel like being scolded by your boss.
Why do you miss the childhood stories of your grandmother? Because they were not just stories, you used to imagine yourself being there. Now brands are trying to do the same to you, making you experience their products even when you’ve not even bought them.
Storytelling is everywhere and the best brands are already leveraging it so why not you? A good story can land you that next job, help you crack your next exam, make you stand out on Instagram/linkedin, if not all this then definitely help you make better connections with people around you.
1. How Companies Use Brand Storytelling to Sell Products
The coca cola bottle that ronaldo demoted to promote a water bottle costed coca cola 4 billion dollars loss due to share fall, but wait, there is also another side of the story.
Even though Coca Cola’s shares fell but their sales still increased because a negative story was circulated in the market and the people who knew nothing about the brand also got to know about what coca cola is!
A story is a story no matter negative or positive. Short term loss, long term gains. In the longer period, human mind only remembers the name and not the notion behind it unless it is very personal.
Our mind is not designed to distinguish between good or bad which is why, if we hear a murderer’s side of the story in movies, we start empathising with him.
Nothing around us is white or black, everything is grey!
Some examples of brands That Sell you Stories
1) Kinderjoy: They don’t sell chocolates, they are a toy brand, children never bought it for chocolates.
2) Dyson: They don’t sell appliances/equipments/tools, they sell technology through design & engineering obsession.
3) Gopro: Ask a travel blogger what camera they use while travelling and their obvious answer will be Gopro. It is not a camera brand but an adventurous content creation toolkit brand.
4) PlayStation: They don’t sell consoles but a dream planted in our minds in childhood. Every guy wants it, the loop started with PSP and it has since then become not just a console but a nostalgic dream brand for all of us.
2. Out of the Box Storytelling Usecases
Resume – Life in One Page
A resume is a compressed story of your life. People will judge your skills and your life based on that one piece of paper so why not make it interesting and attention grabbing?
A resume that says “I designed 5 dashboards” is not engaging but just data. On the other hand “I designed dashboards used daily by 200+ users to reduce decision time” is a story with an outcome.
Always remember, people are attracted towards numbers and percentages, so make sure to leverage that in your resumes and utilise storytelling in design.
Good resumes don’t shout skills, they tell short stories,
Social Media
Do you still post travel photos or that tasty fancy food you ate last sunday on Instagram? Well, if you are then just know that 95% people do the same. Social media ‘was’ created for sharing photos but now it has moved beyond that.
Instead of sharing your photo on the top of a mountain, share the experience of how you felt when you finally reached there.
People are not interested in liking your photos on the top of a mountain but get a virtual experience of how the wind felt, how refreshing the oxygen was, how you saw a fallen tree in the middle of the road (and how it was removed).
Don’t make social media a repository of your photos. Make it a storytelling gallery of your life experiences.
1-to-1 Conversation
Every time a person unfolds their life story, they’re sharing moments, opinions, and vulnerabilities, not to get something in return, but to offer value and shared experience. When someone says, “I completed my Class 12 in 2019 and pursued graduation in 2020,” it doesn’t spark anything.
But when a good storyteller says the same thing, it sounds more like: “I was a pathetic student (laughs), but somehow managed to pass my Class 12. After that, I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. Everything felt uncertain, and that’s when I chose to pursue graduation.”
Do you see the difference? Great storytellers make even the most ordinary moments interesting. You probably connected with that story instantly and that’s the trick: relating your words to the lives of others.
Selling – Turning Price into Meaning
It’s often taught in marketing schools that people are more likely to buy when you highlight the usecase of a product rather than its features. People don’t buy features, they buy stories and experiences.
When two people sell the same product, the one who builds a compelling story around it is far more likely to make more sales.
A product backed by a story feels valuable because it carries meaning beyond its cost. When a seller explains why something is made, who it’s for, or what problem it’s solving, the conversation shifts from features to empathy.
Some examples:
• This fabric lasts for five winters (logic)
• This dress is handcrafted by a group of elderly Assamese artisans to preserve the art form from vanishing (emotion)
Dressing Up
The way we dress is a story we tell before saying a single word. Clothes communicate mood, intention, confidence, and identity.
Imagine wearing a suit to the beach, clearly a bad idea. Or wearing shorts to a wedding, also a no. If we instinctively know what to wear and when, why don’t we apply the same thinking to which colors to wear and when?
Dressing well isn’t about wearing fancy clothes; it’s about understanding which colors work together like which T-shirt pairs best with which trousers. By learning color theory, you can improve your sense of dressing(and your design skills) by a massive 80%.
Cooking
Cooking is storytelling that involves all five senses of our body. A dish is never about just taste, it carries nostalgia, culture of a place, and even the personality of a person which is why a recipe cooked by two people never feels the same.
A slow cooked dish tastes very different to a quickly prepared meal which is why we prefer that roasted chicken over quick maggie, prioritising patience and love over urgency.
A family recipe passed down generations is not valuable because it is tasty, but because of the history attached to it which in other words is a way to pass down stories to younger generations.
Similarly when a design is created with patience and infused with emotions and feelings, then people start noticing it subconsciously, just like that slow cooked dish.
Anyone can arrange elements on a screen but few are those people who express human emotions and feelings through storytelling in design.
3. How to Learn Storytelling?
Storytelling isn’t a talent that we are born with, it’s a skill that we learn by observing how people talk, what made them pause, and what are they likely to remember. Notice how a good storyteller always has context, emotion and punchy end. They don’t rush towards the end but start slowly and build on momentum so you also feel the journey.
The easiest way to learn storytelling in design is to observe elements and create a library in your mind. Experience the unexperienced, ride that rollercoaster, travel in a local train compartment in India, click photos of whatever intrigues you, read stories, watch movies, observe ads and most importantly, listen attentively.
Practice telling stories, even imperfectly. Write for yourself, be it a poem, a story, lyrics or anything then share your ideas with others to gain insights for improvement. Over time, you will realise how clearly you’re able to think, how improved your designs are, and how improved you are as a person.
In the end, good storytelling in design isn’t about impressing people; it’s about helping them feel understood. And the moment your work starts making someone feel something, you’re no longer just designing, you’re creating meaning.