The Power of Visual Storytelling
Have you ever seen a movie and said, ‘’Oh crap, that person looks deceitful’’ or ‘’I think he is the killer’’? To put it simply, if you understand and follow what you see without anything being said, you have visually understood the story.
What is a visual Storytelling?
Visual storytelling is the art of using images, videos, graphics, and other visual elements to convey a narrative. It goes beyond words and text, tapping into the innate human fascination with visuals. This approach allows you to communicate complex ideas, emotions, and information in a more compelling and accessible manner.
As people are becoming more intolerant about marketing offers and the increased usage of ad-blockers, the use of visual media can help you grab their attention. However, there is a need to combine storytelling with relevant visual content.
Factors to create a great Visual Storytelling
- Real and authentic
What the people want to see is the reality and not false promises of what they see on screen. With that being said, use of imagery and graphics which depict authenticity is key.
- The message
What is that you want to convey? Carry an appropriate message, don’t just create bland visuals. The message is an integral part of storytelling and combining it with visual content can help you establish a relationship with the audience.
- Context is key
If you see a photo of a rock, you might not gather any inference. Now if you see a girl posing with a rock, you might gather as sense that she has gone on a vacation. To help people gather a visual sense, context is crucial.
The Evolution of Visual Storytelling
Some thousand years ago
The story of visual communication began with our ancestors painting figures on walls, with the desire to communicate. The artwork was created using stones to carve out the figures and marked the beginning of an art form with unlimited potential.
The Evolution of Communication – 150 A.D
Using art forms carved via rock became difficult to use and eventually outdated. Cai Lun, a Chinese official, invented the paper and transformed the world as more art could be created.
The rise of artists – 1350 — 1600 A.D
Medieval Europe saw great artists like Michelangelo, Da Vinci and Raphael who took art to a whole new level and experimented with different mediums.
Interactive experience – 1787 A.D
Robert Barker, an English painter, began to explore the possibilities of creating a 360-degree painting in a circular room. People became mesmerized and felt as if they were a part of the painting, making Robert a key contributor to the interactive experience we see now.
The first photograph – 1826 A.D
Nicéphore Niépce successfully produced the world’s first photograph. Nicéphore used a camera to capture the oldest photograph of a real world scene.
This marked the beginning of the rapid evolution of photography.
The world in color – 1861 A.D
The dream of viewing photos in color became possible after James Maxwell entered the scene.
He became the first person to produce a color photograph by combining three photographs with red, green & blue filters, however color photography was commercialized by the Lumiere brothers.
Moving images – 1892 A.D
Pushing visual storytelling further, the Lumiere Brothers created the Cinematograph. Eadweard Muybridge created stop motion photography using a horse combined with multiple cameras.
The World Wide Web – 1995 A.D
The Internet is born and is open for commercial use. With the web, unlimited possibilities for visual storytelling surface up.
New Visual Language – 1999 A.D
Shigetaka Kurita created Emojis, which opened up the lines of communication for people by removing the language barrier and encouraging cross-cultural communication.
The photo sharing app – 2010 A.D
Launched in 2010, Instagram became the ultimate photo sharing app. We saw the rise of visual imagery and how people communicate with each other.
Sharing stories – 2011 A.D
Visual storytelling reached the next level with Snapchat. Users could now share stories which disappeared after a stipulated period of time. With new geo-filters and stories feature, Snapchat became quite popular among the teenagers.
Social media sites to use a Visual Storytelling
With content being flooded on the web, having a differentiating factor to be recognizable is essential. As per LinkedIn, 4.6 billion pieces of content is produced every day.
To keep up on social media, your content ought to tell a story. Leverage social media to perfect visual storytelling and engage your audience.
Dubbed as the catalog of ideas for the world, Pinterest is your chance to shine at visual storytelling. Take advantage of Pinterest by including storytelling elements and cues in every pin.
You can shuffle the boards on the platform to display your most appealing content at the top. Pinterest has also introduced buyable pins to let users buy directly, so capturing the eye of a user with relevant imagery can help you capture a lead.
The live video feature along with catchy images make Facebook a great place to start your storytelling. As Facebook users check their newsfeed several times a day, you have a better chance to interact and tell relevant stories. Everyone loves a good story, with Facebook you can create an immersive experience and share your message.
Let’s say you are working on a product. You can post pictures of work in progress, behind the scenes to keep your audience glued to the story.
YouTube
Visual storytelling on this channel should include a cause related to your story. Adding a human element to the story will help you touch the audience’s emotion.
Recognizing how you can involve the audience in the story is the key to success. You can even collaborate with other YouTubers to create engaging videos. Discover more about video storytelling.
Instagram is the perfect tool for you to showcase stunning visuals. With appealing filters and easy to use the format you can easily attract an audience by sharing your story.
You can easily show people the product you are offering, open communication with your audience and find better ways to express your brand.
Snapchat
Now how can we forget Snapchat, right? The platform is quite famous among Generation-Z and is rapidly gaining popularity.
You can capture perfectly raw moments to show brands’ personality and give you an edge over others. For example, posting a story about an outdoor trip to depict the awesome work culture and encourage a meaningful conversation at the end of the story.
Tools for create a visual storytelling
Who doesn’t love bite-sized valuable information in an eye-catching format. Here are the tools to help you create killer visuals.
Magisto – Turn photos and clips into rich videos, giving you the power to create a magical experience and elicit an emotion response from your audience.
Canva – One of the easiest design tools out there to help you create professional looking graphics. With Canva you can access millions of stock photographs to create visually appealing graphics for social media, blog, marketing events and ads.
Picmonkey – With this free tool you can easily add filters, text, frames to the images. With Picmonkey you can easily touchup, edit, design and make photo collages.
Papermine – Helps you create interactive content so as to make the message memorable. It offers you to create rich content like digital magazines, booklets and catalogs.
Giphy – The best source for getting hilarious GIFs and stickers. As our eyes are drawn towards a moving object, GIFs are a wonderful tool to accomplish your goals.
Engage visually
Do the visuals used form a connection? Are the colors and designs authentic so as to evoke emotions?
One of my favorite examples of visual storytelling is the underwater scene from Mission Impossible, Rogue nation. The six-minute scene had Cruise’s character trying to access a computer chip while evading a rotating arm. Such a gripping sequence with no dialogue for several minutes.
The visuals you use, must put together an idea and convey a feeling to the audience. According to HubSpot, adding compelling visuals can boost your content views upto 94%. To master the art of visual storytelling, the key is to craft visuals that convey the audience regarding what you’re trying to say.
