Presentation on using digital media in storytelling for the Reaching Out Supporting Families storytelling workshop in March 2019.

1. Sharing Your Story Online
Digital media for storytelling.
26/03/2019

2. What changes and what remains the same?
• Technology changes every day - it’s important to ground
yourself in the elements of storytelling that don’t change.
• Relatability – we have a compelling need to tell and
share stories.
• Selection and emphasis
• Beginning, middle and end

3. Content Creator
noun
A content creator produces entertaining or educational material that caters to the
interests and challenges of a target audience. The content they produce can take
many forms, including blog posts, videos, ebooks, photos, and infographics.

4. What we’ll discuss
• Social media
• Videos: social and explainer
• Animations
• Infographics and data
visualisation
• Best practice tips

5. Using social media
to your advantage

6. Twitter
• How do you stand out on a social
network that has over 320 million
monthly active users?
• Attention grabbing, thumb-stopping
content
• Imagery is key
• https://spark.adobe.com/sp/projects

7. Uses of video
Content marketing
• Explainer videos
• Presentations
• Video blogs (vlogs)
• Webinars
• Adverts
• Interviews
• Live streams

8. Ask yourself
• Why do I want to tell this story?
• Who will be watching this?
• What’s my angle?
• What should they take away from this?
• Why will they care about this story?
• What value will this provide?

9. Video and Animation
Good for showing processes
Important to have a clear script and to
practice communicating it
• https://www.renderforest.com/
• https://biteable.com/animation/
• https://www.moovly.com/
• https://www.animaker.com/
• https://www.powtoon.com/home/
• Videoscribe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAICy
&t=3s

10. Social Video

11. Tweets with video get more engagement:
• 2.5 times more replies
• 2.8 times more retweets
• 1.9 times more favourites
(Sprout Social)

12. Keep it short
• Trend for shorter and shorter videos
• 45% of viewers will stop watching a video after 1 minute and
60% by 2 minutes, according to Visible Measures
• Social video should be watchable with the sound off
• Vertical videos
Livestreams

13. Tips
• Entertain, inspire or educate
• Be attention grabbing – have your main message in the first few
seconds
• Don’t require sound – imagine your own behaviour on social
media
• Add captions/subtitles
• Upload natively (uploading file directly, rather than linking it) –
more likely to be seen on Facebook

14. And visualising data

15. The value of data visualisation
https://vimeo.com/29684853

16. How do you decide when data will
benefit from visual storytelling?

17. Quantity & character
Quantity of data
• More than one number, usually
multivariate.
• Not just putting a number in a circle.
• comparison
• change
• composition
Character or type of data
• When visualising will speed up or deepen
understanding.

18. When data
visualisation
goes wrong

19. Colour
• Great when used well. Otherwise, it can
distract or misdirect
• Use a single colour to represent the same
type of data.
• Watch out for strong colour associations
• Select colours appropriately. Some colours
stand out more than others, giving
unnecessary weight to that data.
• https://color.adobe.com/
• https://coolors.co/

20. A
A
B
B
C
C
2012 2013
2012 2013
A B C D E F G
A B C D E F G
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
A B C D E F G
2012
2013
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
Change Comparison Composition Correlation
A B C D E F G

21. Using data to tell a story
1. Only visualise your data when it’s necessary.
Sometimes the information is stronger as text.
2. One story per chart/ infographic.
Audience, medium and subject matter will determine the size and shape of your story.
3. If your infographic has many sections, break it into
manageable chunks.
Think about how you memorise a phone number.

22. Resources
• https://www.columnfivemedia.com/
• https://www.canva.com/
• https://infogram.com
• https://flourish.studio/
• https://shorthand.com/the-craft/topics/tips-and-tools/

23. • Colour: Stick to a few colors within your colour scheme.
• Hierarchy: Lead your reader’s eye through your work.
• Illustrations: Make sure they complement content, not
overpower.
• Typography: Use one font family and consistent weights and
sizes throughout.
• Data: Visualise where it will help the reader, avoid redundancy,
and present the data in the most compelling format.
• Icons: Use icons that are clear
• Format: Know where your work will live, and optimise it for that
platform.
General design tips