The cliché about a picture telling one thousand words endures for a reason. A single image has the unique ability to convey complex concepts, often more effectively than the most well-written passages. That image can tell an entire story, immersing viewers and engaging them in the narrative.
However, where this cliché falls short is in the assumption that every picture tells one thousand words. A lot depends on how the image is crafted and whether storytelling is a priority. The goal is to create a visual story that is instantly discernible, not to mention, aesthetically appealing and deeply thought-provoking. This is a lot to juggle, but if anyone is capable, it’s today’s legion of passionate illustrators and graphic designers.
Understanding Storytelling in Illustrative Design
Storytelling brings simple visuals to life, capturing the viewer’s imagination and sharing meaningful messages. This simple concept can transform a static image into a dynamic representation, bringing a structured narrative to the forefront without requiring captions or other text-based explanations.
The Power of Visual Storytelling
Visual storytelling transcends text to form a deeply immersive and emotional experience. It goes beyond simply adding a picture to a text-based narrative. As former NPR Visuals editor Claire O’Neill explains, this involves “writing with visuals — showing rather than telling.”
Encouraging viewers to connect with visual cues, reveals the value of empathy in design, using evocative images to bridge differences in perspective that might otherwise be difficult to navigate.
The most meaningful images invite viewers to see the world through someone else’s eyes while highlighting shared elements of the human experience. Illustrators and designers understand this power and wield it with care.
The Elements of a Visual Story
Visual narratives can be powerful, but not all designs or illustrations live up to the lofty ambitions highlighted above. A lot depends on the deeper message and how it is conveyed. As an analysis of narrative structures (published in the peer-reviewed multidisciplinary journal Science Advances) reveals, the most impactful visual communication strategies incorporate these key elements:
- Setting:Creating a distinct environment, the setting reveals not only where the events of the story take place, but also, when these unfold (season and time of day, for example) and the general ambiance in that particular time or location.
- Characters: Fully fleshed figures drive the story’s narrative. Strong visual storytelling can convey their distinct personalities while making these characters as relatable as possible.
- Plot: Encouraging audiences to progress through the story, the plot represents a sequence of events revealing what happens and why. These events should feel connected. A single illustration can convey the plot by homing in on the pivotal moment in the narrative but also incorporating visual cues to highlight events that may have occurred earlier.
Techniques for Effective Storytelling in Illustrative Design
Illustrative design is wonderfully diverse, and no single technique promises consistently compelling visuals or narratives across all mediums. Still, illustrators tend to return to certain strategies, which make their work more relatable and their messages easier to grasp.
Character Design and Development
A strong character can help viewers place themselves within the world established by a given illustration. Small details can make a world of difference, revealing characters’ perspectives and how they fit into the fascinating world of the illustration. Characters can be infused with personality through their facial expressions, their clothing choices, or even their posture. The Walt Disney Family Museum also highlights the value of shape language, which can “tell a story, show personality, and elicit an emotional response.”
Composition and Layout
Composition in storytelling determines how elements are arranged within illustrative designs. This helps to guide the viewer’s eye while limiting the perception of visual clutter. Many designers abide by the rule of thirds, which is heavily utilized in photography but also relevant for storytelling in graphic design: draw attention to focal points by placing a subject in one-third of an image (on the left or right) while allowing the other two thirds to remain mostly open.
The Interaction Design Foundation mentions that visual hierarchies can also influence composition, with the size and positioning of various elements selected strategically to ensure that the viewer’s eye is drawn to larger and bolder images or text. These hierarchies can also be influenced by white space, color, and texture.
Color and Mood
Essential for evoking emotions, color conveys specific moods while also promoting visual interest through contrast. Warm colors like red tend to convey excitement, while cooler colors like blue feel calmer. That being said, these emotional responses can be culturally conditioned, as highlighted by Britannica. Color blocking can enhance the flow of the narrative by directing the viewer’s attention and by aiding in symbolism to deepen the meaning of the design and its central story.
Communicating Complex Ideas Through Illustrative Design
Illustrative design can help viewers grasp difficult-to-understand concepts, which may be difficult to discern through text alone. The goal is to help viewers intuitively understand ideas by blending eye-catching visuals with narrative structures. We naturally interpret our world through stories, after all, and illustrators can guide this impulse by leveraging a variety of visual storytelling techniques.
Simplifying Complex Concepts
While it is easy to recognize the value of illustrative storytelling for children’s books or graphic novels, this extends far beyond the literary world to influence everything from branding to the dissemination of results for scientific studies. Effective storytelling removes visual clutter to reveal a central premise, conveyed through an easy-to-follow narrative that includes a relatable problem and a clear resolution.
Infographics and Data Visualization
Blending data and design, visualization tools such as infographics turn detailed information into compelling narratives. The Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRCA) magazine QRCA Views mentions that this uses data as a substitute for a conventional plot. The data drives the action within the infographic, revealing both the scope of the problem and the eventual solution. These may encompass timelines or comparisons of multiple sets of data.
Sequential Art and Storyboarding
Visual storytelling methods such as sequential art arrange images in specific orders to intuitively convey important ideas. Graphic novels provide the perfect example of effective sequential art; storytelling in graphic design calls for purpose-driven pacing so that the reader feels intrigued not overwhelmed. Britannica highlights how, while a graphic novel can technically be defined as “a type of text combining words and images…the term most commonly refers to a complete story presented as a book.”
Storyboarding techniques can be similar but are primarily used in advertising and film to map out scenes. BBC Bitesize defines storyboards as “pictures of what different scenes will be included and how they will look.” These storyboards distill the essence of narratives so that the main point remains top of mind as these scenes become fully fleshed.
Case Studies: Storytelling in Illustrative Design
Take a close look at your favorite children’s books, graphic novels, or even advertisements — you will see a variety of visual communication strategies in play. We will discuss some of the most influential visual strategies, along with interview-based insights from the field’s best and brightest.
Analyzing Successful Illustrative Narratives
Many dynamic illustrations demonstrate the power of storytelling in design, including a few groundbreaking works we’ve highlighted below. No single quality ties these together, but all have been carefully crafted to appeal to their target audiences and immerse them in evocative environments.
- The Arrival by Shaun Tan. Without using a single word, Shaun Tan’s graphic novel The Arrival weaves a compelling story, detailing the life of an immigrant in a fantastical world. Surreal settings instantly convey the overwhelming feeling of being in a novel environment. The lack of words also provides instant insight into the main character’s experience, not having the language available for verbal expression. As Elizabeth Blair explains in NPR’s All Things Considered, “Tan’s artistic universe runs the emotional gamut.”
- Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. As one of the most iconic children’s books, Where the Wild Things Are easily earned its Caldecott Medal. Its imagery is realistic, yet imaginative, featuring an evocative color palette and even texture to bring a tactile feel to the page. Paying homage to this beloved work, a BBC retrospective references the book’s evocative “depiction of perennial childhood joys like tree swinging and piggyback rides”
- The New Yorker Cover Illustrations. Capturing the ethos of the time they are published, the visuals in The New Yorker are, as NPR’s All Things Considered host Michael Martin explains, “devoured as soon as they arrive in the mail or online.” The cover illustrations, in particular, are grounded in the dynamic environment of New York, but often use wit or metaphors to draw attention to current events. Several of the world’s most iconic illustrators have contributed to these covers, including the boundary-pushing Saul Steinberg and graphic artist Malika Favre, who blends minimalism and pop art to great effect.
- The Snowman by Raymond Briggs. As one of the world’s most famous wordless picture books, The Snowman is beautiful in its simplicity. Telling the story of a snowman who comes to life, and plays with the little boy who created him, this picture book creates a whimsical, dream-like world but creates a winter atmosphere through the use of white and pale blue colors. The final images pack an emotional punch, referencing the fleeting nature of the snowman play date and childhood itself.
Interviews With Illustrative Designers
Viewing illustrations and designs can provide powerful insights into which techniques are most impactful, but it also helps to hear perspectives from talented illustrators and designers. Below, we’ve shared words of wisdom that reveal the how of storytelling through design.
Interview With Oliver Jeffers (Children’s Book Illustrator and Author)
Known for his diverse use of media, children’s author and illustrator Oliver Jeffers believes strongly in the power of play. Saying busy illustrators need to commit to playing, by building it into their schedules.
In an interview with Procreate, Jeffers explains, “You have to leave time for play. A set time in the studio where there’s no agenda, there’s nothing that I’m specifically making for, I’m just making. That’s where you take little risks and experiments, and things happen that you really like.”
Interview With Yuko Shimizu (Illustrator and Comic Artist)
New York-based illustrator Yuko Shimizu draws heavily on her Japanese heritage and has earned the esteemed Hamilton King Award. This award is presented by the Society of Illustrators and is an annual recognition given to a top illustrator for outstanding achievement in a single illustration created during the year. In an interview with Creative Boom, she reveals the importance of “see[ing] the world differently, and provid[ing] that different viewpoint to the world as a form of art.”
Interview With Christoph Niemann (Illustrator and Visual Storyteller)
In an interview with the art blog Colossal, prolific illustrator and graphic designer Christoph Niemann reminds readers that no simple tricks can expedite the creative process. Rather, he highlights a precise and often, painstaking regimen that encompasses in-depth research.
By understanding the cultural landscape, Niemann feels better equipped to understand the accompanying visual language. He explains that for the viewer to “read the drawing,” the illustrator must speak a language shared by the artist and audience alike.
The Impact of Storytelling on Audience Engagement
Many organizations rely on illustrations to drive compelling narratives about their brands. These stories help audiences feel connected, thereby boosting engagement and increasing the likelihood that audiences will continue to interact with brands far into the future. Without an active approach to storytelling, audiences feel like passive viewers who are free to ignore the central message and are likely to forget the brand in question.
Building Emotional Connections
Often drawing on shared human experiences, brand-based storytelling builds emotional connections by encouraging viewers to identify presented feelings or phenomena in their own lives and to connect this to concepts conveyed through visual storytelling. Research from Frontiers in Psychology shows that branding and advertising are more effective when they evoke a clear emotional response. This impact on consumer behavior is best achieved through storytelling.
Enhancing Brand Identity and Messaging
Bringing different ideas and emotions together to form a cohesive narrative, storytelling for brands should distill a wealth of information to form a singular and memorable message that instantly conveys the values and vision of the brand in question. As the American Marketing Association (AMA) explains, this can be a valuable tool for establishing a brand’s identity and achieving consistent messaging to boost trust among both current and would-be consumers.
The Future of Storytelling in Illustrative Design
Storytelling has long been a cornerstone of illustrative design, and that is not about to change. That said, how these stories are told may shift as new tools and techniques become available, especially as illustrators uncover new opportunities to tell stories through design.
Emerging Trends and Technologies
Many cutting-edge technologies promise to bring illustrations into an exciting new era, revealing new mediums and audiences that can harness the power of visual storytelling. We have already touched on the growing demand for data visualization storytelling, but this will be accompanied by enhanced interactive elements, including animations and clickable features that grant viewers a more active role in the narrative experience.
Moving forward, combined formats will become more common, telling richer stories with a multisensory slant. As BBC R&D points out, “for the technology to be meaningful it must serve to deepen the audience’s engagement.”
Preparing for a Career in Illustrative Storytelling
If you love telling stories and are also drawn to artistic expression, you could have a bright future in illustrative storytelling. This can be a deeply rewarding field, but it calls for a diverse skill set that includes not only a strong command of visual storytelling, but also foundational drawing skills, software proficiency, and even collaborative abilities.
You can prepare by intentionally incorporating storytelling into your work. Additionally, a structured approach to developing artistic skills through a dedicated art degree program will be beneficial.
Bring Your Stories to Life With RMCAD
Are you eager to breathe life into your most meaningful artistic narratives? By studying with Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design (RMCAD) you can gain an extensive artistic skill set. Our Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustrative Design covers both the technical and conceptual sides of visual storytelling so you can transform your creative ideas into compelling illustrations. Get in touch to learn more about our online and on-campus opportunities.
