DESCRIPTION
Main message: “Show, don’t just tell.”
Visual Storytelling is a communication framework that uses visual elements mainly (images, graphics, video, diagrams, layout, color, typography, visual flow). Be brave: use AI for the final version of your communication or for agency briefing to reduce cost.
It works without audio, without sounds, without sound and without spoken narratives. The USP of Visual Storytelling is that it leverages how human cognition is wired (we respond more quickly to images, process them faster, remember them more) to amplify the impact of a story. That means greater engagement, clarity, recall, and persuasion than plain text alone. It helps with cutting through information overload, simplifying complexity, making abstract or data-heavy content digestible, and building deeper connections. In business, this method is especially useful for brand identity, presentations, reports, product demos, marketing content, investor decks, internal communications, etc. Even thought reducing the story to one sense and visuals only sounds simple, its especially hard as it has no acoustical “backup” to describe details or react on facial expressions.
ORIGIN
In the environment of business storytelling it has become a very broad “tradition”, but the real first visual story we know about is a cave painting around 51.200 years old.
The tradition of storyboarding in movies as a visual planning tool or drafting business slide decks by using digital or analog tools are omnipresent. The cognitive science findings that visuals are processed faster than text, that pairing images + words improves retention (similar to the results of Alan Paivic studies on “Dual coding”) underlines the power of visuals. Btw: if plain visuals works, it’s easier to add text or voice. 😉
USED BY
Brands and marketing teams creating ads, social content, video campaigns. Product teams, UI/UX designers, internal communications teams, design agencies and creative teams.
Approximately needed time
- Step 1: 1 hours
- Step 2: 1 hours
- Step 3: 1-2 hours
- Step 4: 1-2 hours
- Step 5: 1 hours
- TOTAL: 5-7 hours
METHOD
MATERIAL YOU COULD NEED: Mood boards, style guides, brand visual identity assets (logos, fonts, colors). Tools for creating visuals: graphic design software (e.g. Adobe Creative Suite, Canva), video tools if needed. Storyboard and layout templates. Image resources (photography, illustrations, icons) licensed, originals or self created. Data or content to visualize (charts, infographics). Platform and display medium responsible tot test (slides, report, video, website etc) and potential audience.
STAKEHOLDER GOOD TO KNOW: Content creators, designers, visual artists, brand, marketing managers, researchers, decision-makers, leaders, reviewers and testers.
STEPS
CLARIFY STORY & AUDIENCE
You need to know what story you are trying to tell, to whom, and why ( and which) visuals are needed. Clarity here helps decide which visuals will support vs distract and which “picture world” works best. If you don’t know your audience or your narrative goal, visuals might be pretty but irrelevant or confusing. Get the core message: what do you want the audience to know, feel or do? Set up your audience personas, emotional triggers, context (where, how, medium). Decide what role the visuals will play: illustrating concepts, evoking emotion, showing data, guiding flow, creating brand identity, etc.
Example: A SaaS product wants to show how its tool simplifies onboarding for new customers.
Audience: potential enterprise buyers.
Goal: show that complexity is reduced, time saved, user satisfaction.
So visuals will include simplified workflows, before/after comparisons, real screenshots or mock-ups.
SELECT VISUALS
You need raw material: what data, images, photos, case studies, examples, etc. Then selecting among them ensures only the most relevant, compelling visuals make it in. Overload of visuals or misaligned ones undermines clarity or dilutes message. This is what you want to avoid by all costs.Gather all possible relevant content: data, stories, customer quotes, use-cases, images, video, icons, brand stylistic assets. Review what visuals are existing vs need to be created and select visuals and style that align with your messages and discard or avoid visuals that are distracting, generic, clichéd, or off-brand.
Example: For onboarding story, collect screenshots of UI pre-onboarding, customer feedback quotes, usage stats, UI flows and choose correspondent images, pick clean iconography consistent with brand but also with the story you want to “illustrate” with visuals.
DESIGN VISUAL NARRATIVES
You need a plan of how the story unfolds visually: tool, sequence, pacing, transitions, how visuals & text interact. A storyboard or layout ensures coherence, logical flow, and that the narrative arc is preserved visually and also helps anticipate where visuals need to guide attention.
Sketch storyboard, wireframes or slide layouts (pois-it method would work) and map how visuals & words will progress. Define hierarchy (what gets visual prominence), pacing, transitions and lan where to use graphics vs photos vs data visualizations vs illustrations vs pictograms. Decide for color(s), typography, setup templates and more corporate brand elements if needed.
Hint: if the story is “visual only” spend most time in this step to ensure correct visual decisions.
Example: A presentation might open with a striking visual (an overloaded dashboard), then transition into a simplified dashboard mock-up, then into workflow diagrams, then case study photos, then outcomes shown via infographics; storyboard laid out slide by slide.
PRODUCE VISUALS
Once layout/storyboard is set, you need to build or source the visuals, polish them, ensure consistency, ensure quality. Refinement ensures clarity, appeal, brand alignment, and that visuals really support the story (not just decoration). Create or commission visuals: illustrations, graphics, photos, video, animations, etc. if needed and edit/adjust visuals: by cropping, correcting colors , setting style, ensuring legibility. Ensure consistency: style, fonts, color palettes, iconography, layout spacing, alignment thru all steps.
Example: Designing icons that match the brand style and producing infographic charts with correct scales and clean design. Edit photos to match mood; ensuring all slides follow color, font, logo style, etc.
FEEDBACK & TWEAK
Even well-designed visual stories need to be tested with real audience or pilot to ensure they land as intended. Feedback uncovers issues: confusing transitions, misinterpreted visuals, load times, readability. Iteration improves impact, ensures delivery medium works well, ensures consistency. Deliver drafts or pilot versions to colleagues or small audience and observe reactions, collect feedback. Test usability and readability: Is text legible? Visuals load properly? Animations smooth? On intended devices? Refine based on the feedback: maybe adjust sequence, remove or simplify visuals, adjust coloring, pacing, etc.
Example: Share the slide deck or video with internal team and get feedback that one graph is confusing, or a photo feels off-tone., then adjust. Test on different devices such as projectors, big screens, mobile and adjust layout if needed, to ensure transitions are smooth and as intended.
Some visuals need to be simple to work (internationally), such as airplane evacuation cards as those you find in planes.
If the story is “visual only”, spend most time on step 3 to ensure correct visual decisions.
Visual Storytelling works particularly well when combined with narrative frameworks. The “Dual Coding Theory” (Alan Paivic) in cognitive science: combining verbal + visual information helps in keeping information longer (around 60%). Be mindful of cognitive load: too many visuals or too complex graphics can overwhelm and kill intended simplicity instantly. Accessibility matters: ensure visuals are accessible (alternative text, contrast, font, font size etc.) and challenge used platform: what works visually for social media vs printed reports vs big screen presentations vs mobile
PROMINENT BRANDS USING IT:
Apple: product launches with strong visual storytelling, dramatic clean visuals.
Nike: ad campaigns use strong imagery + narrative.
Dove: (“Real Beauty” campaign) with raw, emotionally powerful visuals supporting message (especially against “body shaming”).
ANECDOTES:
The oldest known cave painting is a narrative scene of a wild pig and human-like figures discovered in the Leang Tedongnge cave on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, dated to at least 51,200 years old (latest studies from 2024 show) , with another painting featuring human figures hunting pigs and buffalo at Leang Bulu’ Sipong dated to a minimum of 44,000 years old.
A startup offering agricultural sensors used visual storytelling in their funding pitch. They showed side-by-side visuals of fields suffering vs fields thriving, with simple infographics of moisture data. That made the difference that an investor said “I don’t need all the technical specs, because I see what you’re enabling.”
