How designer-gangster Dieter Rams will teach you storytelling.
A is for ACCURATE
Introducing: Herr Dieter Rams, a man who made a lot of stuff.
Uncle Dieter was the lead designer at BRAUN
By the way, this is how you say it ⇩
Your German friends will like you better now. You're welcome.
At the top of his game designing home appliances for the world, this man foresaw the tsunami of stuff we love to make and buy.
Concerned by how the world was becoming a plastic dumpster fire. He asked himself:
Is my design good design?
And he came up with
Ten Principles for good design
Excellent question, Don Dieter.
You got me thinking:
Are my stories, good stories?
In the spirit of fan fiction, I'll plagiarize adapt Mr. Rams’ principles, but for storytelling.
Bonus: 10 of his best designs while working at BGHRRAUN!
1. Good stories are innovative
Your story doesn’t have to be always revolutionary.
Innovation can be the way how you tell it.
“Finding Nemo” and “The Godfather” are both about kids entering the real world. Just slightly different approaches.
Good stories are useful
Scratch an itch. Whether educational, entertaining, or inspiring, leave your audience feeling somewhat elevated from who they were before tuning in.
Good stories are aesthetic
Good stories are understandable
Your audience should finish your story able to describe it in one sentence.
Good stories are unobtrusive
A story should have space for an audience to discover things themselves.
A good story is honest
Good stories are long-lasting
Your manuscript is both good and original;
but the part that is good is not original,
and the part that is original is not good.
― Devastating shade, thrown in the 18th century
Good stories are thorough down to the last detail
Good stories are environmentally friendly
Edit ruthlessly so your audience doesn’t have to consume longer than they need. It saves time, trees, watts, and dolphins.
A good story is as little story as possible
Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials.
Back to purity, back to simplicity.
Number 10 has been copied Verbatim ❤️
Not more stories. Better stories.
Here is the original manifesto.
I would like to thank Dieter Rams for retroactively approving this message in case I get caught.
Sir: if you’re reading this. Thank you for your service. You’re the true O.G.
See you on Wednesday!
Matias.
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