Sagmeister is absolute right on the spot. The vague terminology which creeped in, in spaces such as design, development or architecture is a means to cover up ones own ignorance. Try telling an engineer you're solving the problem at hand by using "user experience" or "storytelling". You'll get ripped a new one, and designers should start to do the same because the problem solving requirements by using precision of language starts to decline in a manner in which it is impossible to articulate and solve the problem. Even pseudoscientific methods such as personas are being accepted as best practice by now, while there is zero empirical evidence for them to work: quite the opposite in fact.
This is a fair observation - everyone wants to be a storyteller and only a small percentage are actually good at at. With that said, I'd so much rather people try to tell me a story vs. wrap an idea in so much jargon and unintelligible detail that I'll never comprehend. Fact is humans are wired to understand stories, so why dissuade people from trying?
The biggest Problem is negativity. He recognized the Problem, and instead of looking for the reason of it and helping to find a way to be a storyteller, he talks about how bad everyone is. Be open and let the people be who they want to be. It's definitely the wrong way to not let people do the first step. ;)
Movie makers do think of themselves as storytellers (how I know? I work on movies) and people who write novels do the same (know plenty of writers), so made no sense to say they don't. This guy is missing what designers think about storytelling, the "storytelling" in design is there just to give a bigger meaning to something just so when you design its not all random, its not that you have to write a novel for every design you make its just that its good to know the story it has so you can create an appealing design that fits the context of what it will be used for. some quick examples: lets say Im design a house for a movie the first thing I will do is to think who lives there and what's the story of these people, and of this house (if the director has the story perfect if not I come up with a short one) them from there I can make the house on a certain color, age, or neighborhood, and have things that match the house and these people laying around, see its simple but it will make the house way better for the project and it will feel that it has a story because well it does have a story. now what if Im design shoes? them I think of someone who uses these shoes what kind of personality he/she has, and what kind of colors and style he/she likes is it a extroverted outgoing person, or a more quiet and elegant one? also I think how these shoes are being used, and how it will look after sometime, and from there I will decide the colors the type of curve it will have (on a movie the quiet shy hero will have different shoes from the strong villain for example). see its you just image this person walking around and create a little story for the design, its not like you are writing a 2,000 pages book. designers build a story around things just so they have its place, and more personality instead of making it random, by doing this it will create a better visual clarity and people will be able to identify themselves with it. its not like this guy thinks and no one is calling themselves writers they are just trying to create designs that are more meaningful.
the fact that i’ve sat through interview after interview hiring people for multiple positions and everyone Claims to be a storyteller with absolutely no evidence to back it up drives me up a fucking wall. people use this term as a get out of jail free card to not talk about what they actually DO
He's god's artistic manifestation on earth. He is one of the best graphic designers alive, he has done work for mythical bands such as The Talking Heads and has created breakthrough designs that defy the aesthetic canons. Sorry for my english, it is not my first language.
Esteban Muirragui He's just a quirky and way too honest person, but he's undeniably talented. If you have spare time, watch some videos here of him with her associate Jessica Walsh and I bet that'll change your point of view.
I planned to hate this (nothing’s better than great storytelling), but ended up loving it. He’s hilarious. Can Stefan use his straight talk to convince the dumb, deluded masses to strap on their damn face masks so all our precious grandmas can survive this plague?
I just heard about this video in a podcast about the rise of "storyteller." Gotta say I agree. I'm a writer, certainly not setting the world on fire or able to quit my day job yet, but I've been published a handful of times. I would never refer to myself as a "storyteller." I can't imagine any actual writer doing so. Maybe if your stuff is some folksy, campfire Garrison Keillor type deal, you can get away with "storyteller." Otherwise it's just corny. And the way these other people are using it is just lame. Edit: "corny," "lame"...tell me I'm NOT a writer, haha. Oy.
it's unclear whether Sagmeister's vicious critique of "fuckhead" storytelling is intentionally ironic or coincidental - either way a fairly entertaining 2 minute rant.
This is a level of gatekeeping that's kind of wild. Come on. If you create a narrative, you are at least attempting to tell a story. Why are you threatened that folks want to infuse their work with interesting narratives?
This guy's full of crap when he says that rollercoaster designers can't be storytellers & that the story they tell is bullshit. You're seriously gonna say that rides like Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Jurassic Park The Ride, and countless other rides don't tell a story or that it's bullshit? Get the fuck out of here dude.
