Presentation of Design Solution – Week 1 Live Session

In the eleventh month of the Media Design MFA program, we are developing and presenting our final thesis project. The first live session covered the best ways to prepare for this presentation.

CAST and the Visual Story Map

There is a science to how presentations can more effectively connect with an audience in order to CONVINCE, EDUCATE, or REPORT. In the book Stories that Move Mountains: Storytelling and Visual Design for Persuasive Presentations, Martin Sykes, A. Nicklas Malik, and Mark D. West present a Visual Story Map developed to illustrate the process for creating a visual story (Sykes, Malik, & West, 2012). The process is called CAST because the diagram is divided into four sections: Content, Audience, Story, and Tell. Stories that Move Mountains details each step of CAST to help designers present a clearer, more effective story.

CONTENTWhyWhatHowWhat If
AUDIENCEWhoLearning & Decision Styles
STORYStructureCharacterSense of UrgencyDelivery Plan
TELLDesignTest
CAST visual story map

Intentional Design

Sykes, Malik, and West (2012) also discuss how a presentation’s design should directly and intentionally contribute to the understanding of the story. They break the design process into five steps:

  1. Format: Whether it’s a poster, a web page, or a Powerpoint presentation, the format should fit your delivery plan.
  2. Ideation: Create many ideas and compare them side by side to find the most effective.
  3. Composition: Decide which content to include. If it doesn’t contribute to the story, leave it out.
  4. Content Coding: Colors, typography, and other design choices all convey meaning. Make sure that meaning supports your message.
  5. Writing: Language, like visual elements, conveys meaning. How something is said (or written) is just as important as what is being said.

Innovative Thinking

It’s said that everything is a remix, but innovation can be proven through comparison to similar, competing solutions in the same market. Innovative thinking in design is demonstrated by doing something in an unexpected or different way. Innovation does not have to be revolutionary so long as it demonstrates an improvement on existing solutions. It could be a novel idea or a new use of media.

Differentiation is essential in competitive markets. “To stay competitive, much less lead the market, organizations must foster innovative thinking in the workplace and individuals must remain open to new ideas, processes, and opportunities” (Parashar, n.d.). For these reasons, innovative thinking is more important than ever for today’s media designers in order to develop solutions that rise above competitors.

References:

Parashar, A. (N.D.). Innovative Thinking. http://dinghappens.com/innovation/innovative-thinking/

Sykes, M., Malik, N., & West, M. D. (2012). Stories that Move Mountains: Storytelling and Visual Design for Persuasive Presentations. John Wiley & Sons.

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