Book in brief - Trustworthy: How the Smartest Brands Beat Cynicism and Bridge the Trust Gap - Boxes and Arrows

AirBnB's early videos were polished and polished, but made listings look less authentic. Hosts focused on the details they thought were important and filmed without format guidelines or keywords. Gone was the professional camerawork, or at least the qualities that hinted at it. AirBnB's videos are more relatable and authentic. The company switched ... See more

Abstraction offers another benefit: by sacrificing detail, the essence of your message becomes plausible, believable, and relatable. Good storytellers give us enough detail to see what they mean, but ensure those details are relatable enough to be relevant to the audience. Images and stories help us connect with bigger concepts. Airbnb's early work... See more

An overly detailed map won't be useful. Maps omit details that the artist—or user, if the map is interactive—deems irrelevant. In some cases, details are exaggerated to reflect importance. The map doesn't just need to be useful, but it needs to be usable. TED's Christina Wurman has created a concept model of the Tokyo subway based on a yin-yang.Whe... See more

Abstraction helps organizations move beyond overwhelming details to more actionable and trustworthy information. Fidelity is the degree to which a new version of an old version reflects reality. By finding a balance between telling the truth and omitting unnecessary noise, you empower your audience.

The sense of empowerment comes from making decisions and feeling good about them. By giving organizations a consistent visual and verbal voice, we can help them to regain trust.