IN THIS SECTION, WE BUILD DIRECTLY UPON THE FOUNDATION OF explanatory sketching to develop visual stories—sketches that use narrative structure to tie multiple aspects of an idea together into one memorable presentation. Whether recording observed activities, describing product interactions, or envisioning future scenarios, visual narratives serve to emphasize the human experiences with design concepts. While the form of a visual narrative can appear as a diagram, conceptual map, and so on, this section focuses on a collection of basic ways to craft visual stories.

In literature, the written story presents accounts of characters and their experiences. Visual narratives are the visual equivalents to written stories; they reveal the contextual relationships of products, systems, and persons during an event. In forms such as storyboards that are used in planning animations or movies, they capture key moments of action or interaction (observed and/or envisioned). Visual narratives range from a structured single-frame scene (one vignette) to free-form, flowing layouts of multiframe vignettes that show a sequence or continuum.

Visual narratives are primarily drawn for a public audience but can also serve to clarify your own understanding of an idea. Often they present conflicts and problem areas, accompanied by opportunities to resolve them. Considering the audience’s knowledge of the subject, viewing distance, and how the visual will best support your argument are all important in deciding on how much to show and in what format.

5.1 PLANNING VISUAL NARRATIVES

TO TELL A good visual story, you must first consider what would cause someone to want to “read” your story. There must be an overarching idea to communicate, such as a problem, situation, message, or event that provokes thought. Once you identify your story, exploring different points of view and vantage points will help you determine the best way to “tell” this story (the message format). Since structuring content, setting each scene, and developing the drawing’s overall visual structure are important, keep your story brief and focused.

Telling a visual story can be challenging, because of the variables—how the characters are visually constructed, how you show what they are doing, what visual elements in the environment you reveal, and so on. Start with a flexible plan, and try some quick sketches to test your ideas. A sequential visual narrative should include a clear beginning, middle, and end—demonstrating key events in “chunks.” You may include some form of conflict resolution to show solutions or you might illustrate continuing problems through a subject’s emotional states. Communicating a sense of rhythm and movement with features such as repeated characters and visual cues to “stitch” scenes together will make for a clearer, more compelling account. There is no single, best layout format for making a visual narrative, but one convention is to use rectangular- or square-framed scenes arranged in a linear or grid structure. This is a basic form; you may need to experiment in layout to create a more compelling reading flow.

Storyboard from Doug’s 1st Movie, courtesy of Disney Television Animation

SKETCHING ACTION OVER TIME

Sketching events or actions across multiple frames depicts a story from beginning to end and may better illustrate the subtleties of interaction in a step-by-step manner. When you view a storyboard or other visual narrative, your eyes first scan the page to get an overall impression of the action and then focus on key points. Structured multiframe visual narratives use framing and layout to establish order, sequence, and hierarchy of images. Each frame provides a distinct window into the page space to better capture the audience. The spacing between frames may allow for the audience’s imagination to fill in actions intentionally not depicted; this may engage your audience if they have to work a bit (but not too hard).

VIGNETTES

The use of vignettes or still frames that capture moments in time presents an opportunity to closely mimic the animation of life and, by extension, the experiences that accompany it. The effect can be a synthetic yet evocative form of communication and investigation, providing the means to present an analysis of an event captured as a notable moment in time.

SINGLE-FRAME SCENES/VIGNETTES

Single-frame scenes are used to quickly represent action or interaction within a context. To expedite sketching, they are usually done from an orthographic (elevation or plan) viewpoint so that issues of foreshortening and perspective don’t compromise the intent. Single-frame scenes, also called vignettes, set up as a simple side view/elevation or perspective view must provide visual cues or props to fill in the background behind the subject to create a sense of context. Focus on simple messages to depict a single incident or a brief action over a short period of time. You might try some layering to develop the situation around the event with details, text, and perhaps breaking the frame edges.

It is often best to have the person (key player, user, subject, character, persona) serve as the focal point, because he or she is the active component. Construct the environment around the person to emphasize and situate the action/interaction.

Of course products can be the primary subject, too, which puts the human figure in the service of demonstrating the capabilities and performance of the product. A common example is an IKEA instruction pamphlet, where simple humanoid characters are often used to demonstrate how to carry, hold, position, and/or build the furniture components.

Above are two single-frame vignettes depicting common encounters we’ve all experienced (or witnessed) at Starbucks. Note the use of body position, expression, and scenery to enhance the communication. The use of text makes the second example more concrete, yet the abstract (props and body posture) add humor.

MULTIPLE-FRAME VIGNETTES

The size and organization of multiple-frame narratives may affect their interpretation and impact. Using multiple frames that are the same size sets an expected order where each frame is of equal importance; this is common practice. Organization with a grid establishes a linear progression that is dependent upon how your audience reads, such as left to right and top to bottom. Enhancing the layout with multiple sizes and treatments is dynamic, expressive, and makes the audience look for more meaning in layout. Such compositions emphasize the importance of an overall visual impression. Comic book and graphic novel pages provide excellent examples of how variable-size frames can provide interest and tension to a narrative layout. Consider sketching multiple frames in a variety of sizes and frame types, and employing visual techniques of drop shadows, title blocks, and text to enhance the overall impact.

Multiple-frame narratives are useful in illustrating sequences and scenarios. A sequence focuses on interaction and functional processes. Think of sequences as the protocol of action or interaction with a start/finish model. A scenario focuses on depicting contextual relationships or situations. Scenarios emphasize the interrelation of person, product, context, and interaction/action. Use of a multiframe narrative to show these interactions allows us to represent an event from the viewpoints of the different people involved, or from multiple viewpoints (human view, system view, contextual view). In the context of storytelling, this affords richer, more compelling descriptions of our ideas.

FREE-FORM VISUAL NARRATIVES AND SKETCH CLOUDS

Free-form sketching is a great method to capture ideas through a stream of consciousness. The flexibility and limitless boundaries should afford an open invitation to get your ideas out of your head and onto paper. A free-form (frameless) narrative can function as an effective overview “sketch cloud,” or seemingly unstructured blast of sketches on the page. Sketch clouds do not actually lack structure; individual sketches are linked together through scale, position, and proximity to provide visual organization and to create meaning. Sketch clouds may employ top-left to bottom-right sequential flow to promote readability and comprehension of order.

STORYBOARDS

Storyboards are conventional workhorse drawing forms used in the motion-picture and animation industries to systematize the visualization of events and actions over time. Storyboards, like all visual narratives, enable you to visualize key moments and to frame (compose) actions/interactions through particular viewpoints. As a standardized, rigid structure, a storyboard’s benefit comes from consistency. It is an organized, modular presentation form that expresses a clear linear reading pattern. When it is paired with title-block elements, a storyboard presents information in a formal fashion that suggests an authoritative view.

In this Jekyll and Hyde storyboard sequence, the creator, Dan Shefelman, guides the viewer’s attention with zooming, positioning, and camera movement (shown in red).

quick-start worksheets

Quick-start worksheets can help you move from words to images, making the sketching process easier and more comprehensive. These worksheets enable you to plan out the key moments in a sequence, scene, or scenario, and construct the visual narrative from lists. Each column represents a key moment and should be titled accordingly. In the brackets, you can list the elements and actions that are associated with each moment and would become the elements within a single-frame vignette depicting one scene. From this list, you can write a brief summary statement, sentence, or paragraph describing the scene. Then, inside the frames, make some visuals to illustrate the statement—trying alternative viewing angles can change/enhance the message. The goal of these worksheets is to assist in the transition from writing to sketching and to help plan richer visual stories. In a sense, it’s laying the verbal framework for the sketching. Of course, this process is flexible, and the visuals and writing should inform each other and, ultimately, the argument.

Try using the worksheets in the following order to plan and sketch out scenarios.

To download our Drawing Ideas Quick-Start Worksheet, please visit www.drawingideasbook.com. Alternatively, you might try developing your own. You may find that you need more or less frames per page or greater space for writing. Regardless, a template approach like this will help you to get your ideas down quickly and more completely.

5.2 PREPARING TO DRAW VISUAL NARRATIVES

WHEN PREPARING TO sketch a visual narrative, you might get ready as you would for writing. Consider if you are telling a simple short story or a lengthy elaborate composition. You must also consider the overall message of your piece as a guide for constructing key points. In other words, you might create an outline for your sketch that highlights the key moments with notation for suggested visuals. The quick-start worksheets offer you a format to quickly thumbnail scenes and consider alternate views. Following are some further considerations for planning your visual narratives:

WORKING QUICKLY WITH THUMBNAILS

Making thumbnails of scenes is a great way to try out ideas and determine the best composition to illustrate your story. While thumbnail sketches capture ideas in a rough form for yourself, consider trying a variety of levels of detail and refinement to experiment with enhancing content and accessibility. Since figures are very telling components in any visual narrative, you might start with roughly shaped silhouettes to show body position and gesture and then work toward more concrete representations demonstrating facial structures, clothing, and emotion. Of course, one of the most important aspects of creating a visual narrative involves picking the right paper. Typically, 11" × 17" (ISO A3) bright white copy paper is sufficient for pens, pencils, and markers; however, for presentation-style drawings, a higher-quality pen or marker paper will enable cleaner lines and a higher fidelity drawing.

FILTERING IDEAS

It is always good practice to generate more sketches than needed for later editing. Having a greater pool of visual alternatives from which to choose enables a more informed selection. Structuring the content of the visual narratives to create a compelling storyline may create a more complete story by including multiple threads and different points of view (person, system, product).

It is also important to pinpoint the key moments that enable you to craft the strongest visual story. In this sense, being able to quickly generate alternatives will help you become more agile in your process.

Consider using Post-it notes as a planning tool.

LINEAR PROGRESSION OR NOT

Telling a story in a linear manner from beginning to end is a very functional approach. Try revealing the “answer” first and then going back to revisit earlier points in the sequence. When designers present their work, they often show research and premise claims first, then progress to concept generation next, and then reveal the final concept. This, again, is a functional sequence. Consider alternatives. Revealing the conclusion first in some detail may serve to ground subsequent sketches and ideas. This provides a frame of understanding for the audience to reference as it views the narrative. Building sequentially from the “end” through the beginning and then back to the “end” may have more impact as the audience will understand process or sequence from a more informed standpoint.

Sketching on separate pieces of paper allows for quick reordering to find the right sequence for your visual narrative.

EFFECTIVELY NARRATING TO YOUR AUDIENCE

As noted in the Explanatory Sketching section of this book, the relationship between content and audience is extremely important. This is equally true with visual narratives. Setting goals of a few key points to raise for discussion or to illustrate in the context of a larger presentation will keep the narratives on target to complement research and design activity. If your audience is knowledgeable about the subject, visual narratives can be used to support existing knowledge or highlight overlooked areas—emphasizing either high-level strategic ideas or low-level tactical concepts. A novice audience may be more inclined to focus on the details of the narrative itself. In both cases, it is imperative to understand the visual “intelligence” of your audience as well as their expectations. A well-crafted, well-rendered visual narrative can be compelling, but for expert audiences who demand more, layout and composition of the narrative may have more impact in the transmission of your message. Effective visual narratives can function on their own without the assistance of verbal delivery.

INTENT

A question with any visual narrative is “Why draw the story?” If a narrative can be made more effectively with photographic images, video, or other means, then use them. Drawing is not suitable for every narrative situation, but a hand-drawn visual narrative can set the stage nicely for discussion. As noted earlier, hand-drawing shows a lack of “finality,” so it invites comments, criticism, and discussion. Hand-drawn visual narratives leave more to the imagination than photographs because of their focus on the overall incomplete idea itself rather than concrete detail.

FINDING AN APPROPRIATE LEVEL OF RESOLUTION

Consider how much detail you want or need to show. Presenting a highly polished rendered concept sketch very early in the creative process can be both stifling and invite negative criticism, as it is likely to appear too concrete. Similarly, using a rough sketch to show a final concept may represent an idea as being unresolved. There is a spectrum of roughness to precision, and your sketches should reflect this. Looking back at earlier sections of this book, you will find many examples of sketches used at various stages of the design process plus some techniques for making your sketches look intentionally rough. Given your audience’s knowledge and visual proclivity, you can figure out an appropriate level of precision necessary. Note how the detailed drawings synthesize information to show how the entire system may function.

In this rough concept sketch for a restaurant generated during a brainstorming meeting with a client, the simple, quick nature of the sketch facilitated conversation.

This example sketch of a cooking theme depicts a higher level of resolution employing color, detail, and composition.

SETTING THE SCENE

A compelling visual narrative shows peoples’ activities with products within an established environment or system to provide context. A scene can be completed with objects, people, environmental elements, and cues for interaction. When sketching a scene, ask yourself the following questions: Who are the subjects/players/cast members? What are they doing? How are they doing it? Where are they doing it? When are they doing it? And most important, why are they doing it?

You may also find it helpful to create a visual inventory of all the pieces/parts and players in the narrative. A visual inventory is more than a list and may include loose groupings of objects, diagrammatic representation of processes, and some sequences of human interaction. The goal is to get the problem space into visual form to reveal connections, natural pairings, and sequences to spark innovative design thinking.

ADDING IMPACT TO NARRATIVE SKETCHES

IRREGULAR FRAMES AND BREAKING THE GRID

Employing overlapping frames, sequential frames, linked frames, or irregularly shaped frames—or breaking an established grid or breaking free from the frame—can all aid in establishing narrative hierarchy and add interest to a drawing. Shown in the following image an incomplete rectangle and vertical lines create a bounding frame that adds visual interest and suggests context.

ZOOMING

The position of the frame (zoomed in, zoomed out) has a profound impact on the presentation of the subject matter, particularly on the emotive level. Scale can evoke feelings of intimacy, aloofness, solitude, or increased activity.

PUSHING THE BACKGROUND BACK

It is very easy to overwork a drawing with too much color and tone, making it muddy and confusing. How much color should you use? Not much but just enough to draw attention to key areas. Spot colors can serve to highlight arrows, transitions, materials, and elements that are noteworthy or important for the understanding of the message. Subdued tones (pastels and light grays) can be used to push the background “back” behind the subjects, giving more emphasis to the elements in the foreground. So the biggest question to ask yourself when picking color is “How will the use of color clarify the scene to enhance the communication of this idea?”

ARROWS AND GRAPHIC DETAILS

Incorporating arrows as background elements to link frames together creates a more dynamic flow between drawings. Irregularly shaped graphic elements can also be useful in creating visual interest and depth within the drawing. Supplementary textual information, such as title blocks, callouts, arrows, and diagrams, will enhance the richness of a visual narrative. The interplay between text and sketch will engage your viewers in a variety of ways and keep them working through the narrative. Breaking the grid or established structure will add visual interest and support a hierarchy of the overall message.

5.3 APPROACHES TO STRUCTURING VISUAL NARRATIVES

VISUALIZING A STORY through sketching can be a daunting task. In some cases, the story may not be easily articulated or able to be clearly articulated into key moments. Using a formal structure or framework may prove useful in keeping your narrative organized and on task as you sketch.

Beginning your visual narrative with a blank template—with frames in varying sizes—can help establish hierarchy of key moments in a story.

using a formal framework to guide your visual narratives

AEIOU is an interrelated framework that guides designers in thinking through a problem or scenario from a variety of perspectives: activities, environments, interactions, objects, and users. It is originally credited to Rick Robinson, Ilya Prokopoff, John Cain, and Julia Pokorny from the Doblin Group in Chicago. Rick Robinson then carried the framework to E-Lab LLC, where it was made available through company promotional materials. (For further information on this approach, please see Universal Methods of Design by Bruce Hanington and Bella Martin.)

AEIOU differs from our Drawing Ideas Quick-Start Worksheet in its formality and strict adherence to these five dimensions of a design space. Elements within this framework together help to form a more complete view of a design scenario and are useful in both field research and ethnographic work as well as concept generation. While the general idea of AEIOU may be helpful in thinking through and generating ideas, using a structured format, such as the Design Thinking worksheets shown on this page, developed by Mark Baskinger and Bruce Hanington, are useful in organizing thoughts, observations, and ideas into distinct categories.

As you work through the AEIOU framework, you can synthesize your sketching onto a larger sheet of paper to bring the various aspects together into a cohesive statement.

putting it all together

Drawing visual narratives can be an effective means to summarize findings in research, to provide a simple overview of complex sequences or scenarios, or to foster a deeper conversation among team members. Visual narratives serve best to show the connectedness of designed objects and systems with people and context, and enable you to consciously edit the story to create an effective message.

While frameworks like AEIOU and our Drawing Ideas Quick-Start Worksheet are effective in organizing your thoughts into a more complete ensemble, remember that design concepts are best explained as stories to which we can all relate. Look to comic books and graphic novels for further examples of visual storytelling, and see how the narrative unfolds through character depiction, context setting, actions, interactions, and more. You may find that drawing ideas is as much about visual storytelling as it is about actually drawing your ideas.