I’m a storyteller. It takes one to know one. A good story leaves us affected. I left the Story of Stuff Project reevaluating many things.
They used media to bring light to riveting and relevant issues in today’s world –most of which the public doesn’t even know about. At least I didn’t. I knew about the water bottle scam, but never did I think cosmetics had toxins that were harmful. I use those products every day. What’s scary is, I probably will continue to do so.
Anyways, Story of Stuff Project did an excellent job pulling the viewer in and making them stick around. They used media to tell a story that would otherwise be boring for people of my generation. They used graphics and animation in a sophisticated way. Its simplicity and cleanliness made way for the real voice to come through.
That’s what I believe a well-done web designer does. The aesthetics are there to facilitate the content. The graphics in Story of Stuff are humble but without them the story wouldn’t be complete. They guided us from beginning, middle, to end graciously. Who wants to just see a talking head when they can see cool stick figures doing environmentally evil things? It puts things in perspective, especially for our generation – one who longs to be entertained. If Story of Stuff did it without animations, I guarantee any 20 something would’ve stopped watching after 10 seconds.
Moral of the story? Make things interesting, worthwhile, and clear. That’s a life lesson too.