Understand why visual storytelling is worthwhile and how your organization can excel in using it effectively
Once upon a time… stories were the primary means we used to make sense of the world and convey important information. Stories give us a framework in which we wrap larger concepts and understand them. Journalists do this well by focusing on small, relatable details in order to tell a larger story – to humanize larger-than-us concepts. A story of a stray dog that a shelter was able to help because they lowered their energy bills when installing solar, for example. The larger story is big – the energy transition – too big to easily understand in its fullness. But helping a dog – that we get immediately.
Visual storytelling uses imagery to tell a story. This can take the form of photos, illustrations, video, animation, infographics, and even charts and graphs. Even experiential design or architecture is a form of visual storytelling.
Source: https://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/ever-realized-how-surreal-reading-a-book-actually-is-you-stare-at-marked-slices-of-tree-for-hours-on-end-hallucinating-vividly-264f7/
As an avid reader, I love the written word. To me there is not much better than sitting down with a good book and immersing myself. And illustrated books or graphic novels are even more exceptional, combining the written word, artist’s vision, and story unfolding in my mind.
If I find the written word so wonderful, why do I concern myself with telling stories visually? First, and foremost, I acknowledge the way I best take in information is not the same way everyone does. The more ways in which we can present content, the more of our audience has an opportunity to engage with it on their terms.
Why Visual Storytelling
In 2014, MIT released a study showing that the human brain can process an image even when the human eye only sees it for 13 milliseconds. Prior to this study, the standard wisdom was the brain can process an image the human eye sees for 80 milliseconds. For reference, in terms of video, that is around 75 frames per second. Most video we interact with is 24-30 frames per second.
Not only do we take in visual information quickly, but we form stories at lightning speed with that information. Humans typically shift their gaze three times per second, which allows a person to take in enough information for their brains to process surroundings and decide what to focus on next. The eyes take in a tree, grass, and a lion. Ack! Focus on the lion! In that second, we have told ourselves a story and have engaged with what we see – hopefully resulting in not becoming prey to the lion.
Consider how little time we often have to engage with our chosen audience – scrolling through social, a YouTube intro, the cover of a white paper, or walking past a tradeshow booth at a solar conference as a few examples. In that short window, we are trying to engage with them, impart information, and leave a brand impression.
We can take advantage of how quickly humans process visual information and get our message to our chosen audience in that short window using visual storytelling. However, there are several considerations to ensure our visual storytelling is effective.
Dos and Don’ts for Effective Visual Storytelling
Align the visual with your style guide and your brand values
(Your organization does have a style guide and knows its brand values, right?)
Style guides will give at least some instruction on visual requirements. Even for short shelf-life visuals, stay on brand. Every deviation makes it more difficult to build a cohesive brand.
Adhering to brand values for a visual that will be used once on social media may seem over the top. However, every visual builds your audience’s brand impression, whether short-lived or long-term. For example, if your organization has a brand value of inclusion, yet uses images with people only fitting a certain mold, your audience will pick up on the contradictory messaging and lose trust.
Tell a story or capture a moment in which the viewer can imagine a storyline
Imagine you saw both of these images without text in your social feed of choice. While the image showing two plants is lovely and well-balanced, it’s static. Our minds don’t “catch” on it to get more information. Whereas the image showing the girl in the helmet captures a moment in time. Our brains tell us to pay attention to figure out the story. And there is a story – there is clearly time before and after this image.
If possible, incorporate people
As humans we are so hardwired to look for faces that there is even a name for seeing faces in inanimate objects – pareidolia. We are far more likely to spend time analyzing an image if there are people in the image; most particularly faces. Those lovely, static product images just aren’t as engaging to our brains as images with people in them.
One final note in this dos/don’ts list: when using generative AI, be ethical in your choices. Many models were trained using imagery they did not have permission to use. Take the time to read the fine print regarding sources. No-one likes to think that their IP could be used without their permission. It’s the same with all forms of visuals.
Remember Small Bites to Tell a Large Story
The story of clean energy is incredibly powerful (pun fully intended). Using renewable sources, clean energy companies have reimagined how energy is created and distributed. With solar and batteries a homeowner can be completely in control of their own energy production, giving them the capacity to choose how and when to interact with their utility company. Businesses have choices in how they procure energy. And utilities can not only provide sustainable, clean energy to customers, but by the very nature of solar, energy storage, and wind, microgrids can be sited near energy users firming the grid in a way not previously possible with larger oil, gas, and coal power plants.
And that is large scale. There are so many individual stories from energy users to those who work in clean energy. Using visual storytelling effectively is a powerful tool for every clean energy company.