STORYTELLING-FIRST DESIGN

Constraints are intentional limitations or default states designed into a product that create recurring definitions in the way people use an app. They often seem counterintuitive, play psychological tricks on users, or seem reductive in capabilities.Examples: 180 character limit, 10 second exploding photos, etc.

I think if you're working on some form of consumer media product ask yourself what kind of storytelling or communication you are looking to unlock? Play with a variety of constraints and see what behaviors it unlocks or incentivizes. Add different source material components across the creation cycle to see how it changes things like propensity to c... See more

Source material are resources designed into the creation process that add value to the end production or help guide users towards a better creation end state. The recurring theme across all of them is they make all content more compelling, interesting, and expressive. Examples: Photos as background for texts, filters to make you look hawt, etc.

I've seen hundreds of pitches in the consumer and new media space in my life. Often, many of the pitches are centrally focused around things like an emerging technology or a new financial model. I am not here to argue against the value of building these ways. I do think it's more productive to approach building products from a storytelling first pe... See more

Snap: A text messaging app that adds expression, emotion, and nuance to each message through a background photo. Adding a photo allowed the same text to have a variety of meanings with a change to the background photo. This is a source material that took a normal boring text to a whole new level. Meanwhile, ephemerality was a constraint that unlock... See more