T O R Y T E L L I N G

Transcription

1 SVISUAL T O R Y T E L L I N G by Petra Sammer

2 pssst Visual Storytelling Workshop The aim of this booklet is to help you gain a better in-depth understanding of the basic principles of visual storytelling. So take a pen and try it out for yourself! Colors, shapes, sketches, notes anything goes! Boxes like this one indicate short exercises. Have fun doing them!

3 The flood of visual images

4 It's all simply much too much Every 60 seconds Google processes four million search queries, 204 million s are sent, 13.8 million messages are posted on WhatsApp, and Twitter users send out 277,000 tweets (or how ever this numbers are today. Every second they are growing anyway). We live in an age of information overload, with a new flood of data every single day. So it's no coincidence that two buzzwords are currently in popular use in the worlds of marketing and communications: "Big Data" and "Storytelling". It even seems as if both terms go hand in hand, because the more effective we are in collating raw data, the more we strive to achieve ascendancy over it and seek to condense it into meaningful stories. However, even well-packaged studies and analyses, exciting reports and stories are increasingly falling short as they reach the limits of our retentiveness. Accordingly, it must be possible to enable readers and users to absorb information more quickly and in more concise forms in order to have any impact at all on them. That's why we're so enthusiastic about colorful, attractive infographics which are so much easier to view. Photographers, for example, capture our attention with cleverly assembled pictures, while YouTubers can explain complex procedures to us in a matter of minutes by means of "How to" video clips. We are relying on and trusting visual images to an increasing extent.

5 The power of visual images

6 The world is getting faster and faster. It takes time to read texts. Visual images ensure highspeed communication. Visual images versus text The world is full. There is an information overload. With visual images we can make a direct impact. The world is complex. Texts are complicated. Visual images are straightforward. The world of communication is becoming more and more globalized. Text has to be translated. Visual images are understood everywhere.

7 How visual images work

8 Contours Corners and edges are what count. When we look at pictures, our brain sets to work. The information we receive from our eyes is divided into two strands of information: (1) "What?": All the information that is important for the identification of objects, such as the recognition of shapes, patterns and colors.(2) "Where?": All the information that helps us with the perception of movement and position. Part of the nerve cells in our visual system concentrate exclusively on the "What?" aspect in order to identify objects as quickly as possible. Our retina helps us differentiate figures placed against a two-dimensional background. The decisive factor here: the corners and edges. Contours define the boundaries between figures and background; only with the aid of contours can we distinguish objects from the surrounding space. We can only identify a lot of objects by way of their distinctive contours. Image: TDH

9 What outline emerges here? Join up the dots from 1 to 26. Thinking ofa frenchparfume

10 2 "Not Colors until I was at school did I realize that I am different from other people as far as these perceptions are concerned. When asked 'What is one plus one?' in primary school, my immediate answer was 'Green!'." Sabine Schneider, aged 31, is a synesthete. From her earliest days she has seen the number 2 as being green, while the number 8 is yellow. For synesthetes, arithmetic is not just a series of symbols, it is also a matter of colors. As if they were making a phone call and had a second call on the line. With this complex sensory phenomenon, the synesthete sees numbers, letters and even words in the form of colors. Synesthetes like Sabine Schneider show us that the world is not always what it appears to be: on the contrary, it is defined by the stimuli which our eyes send to the brain.visual storytelling means conjuring up colorful images eloquently and imaginatively by means of texts and at the same time creating new imagery with the aid of illustrations, photographs and films.

11 Bananas are very simple: Draw this banana in its typical color. Now draw the banana in a different color. Draw this banana is another color. This is how Andy Warhol worked. What is the effect of colors? Try it out for yourself.

12 Perspective Unless it has been intentionally outwitted, our visual system informs us reliably about foreground, background, perspective and proportions. However, vision is a twodimensional matter. The images imprinted on our retina such as the pictures in this booklet are two-dimensional (with the exception of 3D effects in image and film). In spite of this, our brain informs us reliably whether what we see is two-dimensional or whether the image has spatial depth, i.e. a three-dimensional effect. But sometimes we require a little bit of extra information for this. We know from experience what a cube looks life so we have no problem recognizing the drawing on this page as a three-dimensional cube. On the other hand, the two lines beside it do not bring to mind any previous experience. In this case we have to look very carefully to see which line is longer than the other. Or possibly they are both the same length?

13 Which is the biggest cylinder? Measure them exactly!.

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15 Visual storytelling tools

16 Authenticity An image is considered to be "authentic" if the viewer feels that what he or she is seeing is real and unembellished. Since the early 2000s, there has been a trend toward "realism" in advertising photography. Here the trendsetter has been the Dove cosmetic brand with its campaign entitled "For Real Beauty". Dove was the first cosmetic brand to advertise without using professional models, working instead with "real women" in its PR and advertising activities. Shortly after this, women's magazine Brigitte entered the discussion about false ideals of beauty: it too made the changeover from photo models to "realistic" amateur models only.

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18 Cultural relevance But not only the authentic style how things are depicted but also the pictorial motifs what is being depicted contribute to the visual strength of powerful images. Cultural relevance is one of the decisive factors in the success of a picture. What is required is not stereotypical situations but rather special moments which represent reference points in the life of the observer, which are close to actual situations in life, and which reflect the spirit of the age.

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20 Stimulating the senses The more we surround ourselves with technology, the more we long for things which we can feel, taste and smell. Things which stimulate all our senses. The corresponding trends are: nostalgia, vintage, country living, and do-it-yourself. Everything that has edges, corners, scratches and creases has immense appeal. Everything that is handmade and natural. Everything we can touch and feel. Images which stimulate the senses give us the feeling that we are really getting our hands on something we are actually touching, smelling and tasting.

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22 Archetypes of storytelling The warrior, the healer, the conqueror, the magician these and numerous other figures are archetypes which we use in order to categorize stories and their heroes. These traditional storytelling templates are also to be found in imagery. According to an analysis carried out by Getty Images, one of the most successful archetypes is that of the "protector". An example of this a mother bending protectively over her child or a young man helping an elderly person to cross the street. Like all other archetypes, these exemplars succeed in arousing our attention and generating the corresponding story in us. Images trigger stories or else they induce us to anticipate a new story that fits the picture.

23 Elements of a good story

24 TOP TREND: ADULT COLORING "Adults are turning to coloring books and sets of pens as a means of relaxing. Adult coloring is the name of the trend. The only prerequisite: you mustn't go over the lines. ( ) Among Amazon's 100 highest-selling German books there are ten coloring books for adults. In the foreign-language section there are no less than four in the top ten. ( ) A lot has already been written about this remarkable phenomenon of adults choosing to return to a childhood pastime to a pre-digital era. Why do mothers and managers reach for pen or pencil when their work is done and proceed to draw patterns? Most of them would point to the stressrelieving effect which this has: by concentrating on the pictures and colors they can forget everything else: their pulse rate and their breathing gradually slow down a simple, agreeable method of relaxation. ( ) Coloring-in doesn't require any prior knowledge or any talent: it's not like yoga where you need to be lithe or autogenic training for which you must have discipline. Anyone who can hold a pen and can see the outlines to be colored in is sure to succeed. And nowadays that is top priority even in our leisure hours." ZEIT online,

25 1. Every story has a good reason to be told. 2. Every story has a hero. 3. Every story begins with a conflict. 4. Every good story affects us emotionally. 5. Good stories are passed on to others.

26 1. Powerful images have a good reason to be shown. 3. Powerful images stimulate us by means of contrasts. 2. Powerful images have a focus. 4. Powerful images affect us emotionally. 5. Powerful images are vibrant and viral. Photo: Red Bull Strato

27 Visual success concepts

28 Eyecatchers are surprising irritating provocative visual exclamation marks visual overexcitement images with a 'wow' effect beyond conventional viewing habits and guarantee the question: "What happened here?" Bullets are fast efficient simple downsized logical focused and guarantee the realization: "So that's how it is. I've got the message!" Eyecandys are esthetic beautiful pleasing soothing clear passionate love of detail sensuous

29 Door openers are fire the imagination arouse curiosity trigger stories invite us to dream disconcert us positively projection screens, brainstorms and triggers Zeitgeists are subtle and subversive humorous and ironic courageous and shameless a quote and a reference intertextual combining and copying mashup and remix pop art and contemporary history Meme hijackers are in real time emotional and likeable flexible and spontaneous humorous and with a twinkle in the eye very short-lived

30 Now it's your turn. What characterizes the six concepts for success? Join up the boxes! attracts with visual stimuli Bullet Zeitgeist switches spontaneously to trends and memes invites imaginatively into a different world gives the eye a treat recites / talks about well-known things targets the brain effectively Eyecandys Eyecatcher Meme hijacker Door opener

31 What are the strong points of each of the pictures? Assign the 6 different success concepts to the pictures. Eyecatcher Bullet Zeitgeist Eyecandy Door opener Meme hijacker

32 pssst Petra Sammer strategies stories trends phone: ++49 (0) web: blogs: linkedin: twitter: xing: books: Storytelling, O Reilly 2014 / 2017 Visual storytelling, O Reilly 2016 linkedin trainings: Storytelling, Visual Storytelling, Storytelling für Führungskräfte zu finden unter Gestaltung: Julia Abel