Getting the tools out of the way of the storytelling

Storytelling has been around since man first scratched out stick figures on a cave wall. It has endured because humans love to communicate by telling tales.

I have thought a lot recently about how the actual “story” part of storytelling has been overshadowed by the technology, or the means by which the story is delivered. It seems most efforts lie at the ends of a spectrum. On one end you have technically beautiful and amazing presentations that lack an inspiring or moving story. At the other end are great stories that are tough to get through because of the poor presentation, functionality, or both.

It’s rare to find a great story with a great user experience.

Tools getting in the way

The tools are a blessing and a curse. They allow anyone to tell a story. But in order to help anyone tell a story, the systems become complicated or the technology dumbs down so much that it defeats the purpose of creating something as elegant in its function as it is in its form.

I’m using WordPress for this site. It keeps getting better. But I would not characterize it as easy to use. You have tinker. You better have a baseline technical aptitude and a good dose of patience. That takes attention away from the storytelling.

Technology that puts the storytelling first

I also use the Linkedin publishing platform. It’s simple. And it’s responsive so it’s easy to read on mobile. I’d say the same for the Medium platform.

Now along comes Adobe Slate. It’s a publishing tool that is pushing the storytelling platform to the next level. It intuitively gives you an elegant interface that helps amplify your story.

Plus, it makes it easy to get visual. And the motion effect of the scrolling adds to the richness of the experience. Best of all, allows you to spend less time trying to hack a platform, and more time telling a compelling story.

I’m excited about the possibilities. Because it allows us to get back to putting the effort in on telling a great story. It’s what we need more of. And it’s really what you wanted the technology to help you do in the first place, right?

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