Storytelling is a strategy or method of creating imagery, emotions and understanding of events through an interaction between a storyteller and an audience. This strategy is the original method of passing down information from one generation to the next. Storytelling can be done orally or digitally, but good experiences require certain elements: setting, characters, plot, invisibility, mood, and movement. Each of these elements contribute to the evoking of emotion from the audience.
Example from Original Source:
Source: Universal Principles of Design
Example from Different Source:
Source: Reuters News
Real World Example:
Source: The Alchemist from my bookshelf
This is a big one! From a very young page, humans learn and take part in the creation and sharing of stories, so in some ways, this principle is hard to wrap your head around because it can include so much. As Amir described, it’s an act of understanding, and I’d add – interpretation and sometimes wisdom-sharing – between the storyteller and the audience.
The example that immediately came to mind for me was 1) the genre of the fable and 2) the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. As a “design”, the fable seems both effective, accessible and convenient. In a short story starring animals, creatures and sometimes even inanimate objects, a moral lesson such as “sometimes, it’s better to take your time and act deliberately than to rush around with no direction” is conveyed.
Thanks for your comment Katherine! I appreciate your example because storytelling is a critical component of the human race. History is also an example of how stories have helped carry on the lessons of the past into the present, with the hope that we don’t make the same mistakes over again. I also like the point you make about interpretation because that can introduce bias or the audience’s perspective that the storyteller may have not considered.