Context

Method partnered with SFMOMA to define, design and prototype a proof of concept for a digital platform for telling stories within and around art. The goal of the initial prototype was to illustrate the experience for authors and use it as a tool to assess the concept’s suitability towards their storytelling style, content and intent.

Project goals

1. Architect a conceptual framework and interaction model that supports a variety of narrative types and allows for intersecting narrative arcs.

2. Design an engaging narrative experience that elevates art assets (content) to their position and merit within the context of the narrative.

3. Define and build a proof of concept of the experience, incorporating real stories, for testing within the museum’s lab setting.

4. Tell the story of the story - capture our process as an innovation case study, for use by SFMOMA and Method.

Approach

We began our process by working to understand the different types of storytelling structures we needed to support and how narratives might fold into one another. During our initial conversations with SFMOMA authors, we quickly realized many of the authors had little experience telling stories within a digital, interactive and multi-media context. Given our time constraint, we decided to work with one author as a sort of test case to determine several things:

1. To identify the impacts of translating a written story into a story told through multiple medias. Findings from this would help the SFMOMA determine what type of coaching and editorial support they would need to provide future authors who wished to produce stories for the platform. 

2. Identify the various types of content combinations that platform should be able to support.  

During this process, our designers became pseudo co-authors, helping the SFMOMA author to re-craft their story for this new, content rich context. 

Final Concept

The learnings that came out of this collaboration heavily informed the foundational structures and patterns for the storytelling platform - both on a practical and strategic level. 

Key insights and decision drivers

1. Crafting a digital storytelling platform requires a multifaceted approach. The interplay of multiple media types and the affordances provided through devices impact how the story is told, constructed and received. Consideration of how the design would impact an author’s process and intent was key.

2. Given the diversity of the stories, the platform needed to support both linear and non-linear narratives. The flexibility would also give author’s the freedom to go as wide or shallow as they wish when crafting their story.

3. Digital storytellers build narrative through the interplay of multiple content types, each with their own language. Just as the novelist carefully selects his words, the digital storyteller must carefully select and curate from a variety of content to tell their story. Each media type - text, video, image and sound - lends itself to a certain mode of engagement meaning author’s must also consider how content influences the pace, intent and cadence of their story.