A builder uses blueprints, a trucker uses a road map, and a successful graphic designer uses storyboards. It provides a narrative direction for design, documenting collective ideas and concepts that guide your projects from conception through completion. Here are five benefits of storyboards & visual storytelling for graphic designers.
A storyboard is both productive and practical, abstract and analytical — a graphic representation of how your project will grow throughout the design life cycle. No successful graphic designer would be without one.
1. Storyboards Provide a Road Map for Graphic Design
Graphic design encompasses UX design, web design, logo design, brand identity, packaging, and more. Designers in these specialties conceptualize projects by linearly presenting design objectives. Storyboards & visual storytelling optimize this process as graphic designers.
Think of a storyboard as a road map that documents the graphic design process from start to finish. It plots the scope and timeline of your project visually. It also outlines every element of the design life cycle, including product definition, creation, deployment, and delivery.
The storyboard is your most important planning tool.
2. Storyboards Let Graphic Designers Tell Design Stories
You’re not just a graphic designer but a storyteller. You create compelling narratives of how you will execute design projects and then share these stories with co-workers and prospective clients.
Successful designers use various graphical elements in storyboards, including images, illustrations, charts, graphs, and more. (Many designers use Visualmodo for stock photos, icons, and SVG animations.)
The result is like a storybook with a beginning, middle, and end. Graphic designers use storyboards to convey how their projects will flow from start to finish.
3. Storyboards Are Marketing Tools: Graphic Designers Benefits
Storyboards are more than visual representations of how your project will unfold. They are also marketing tools that target investors and stakeholders.
Research shows that humans process visuals 60,000 times faster than regular text. Storyboards, therefore, make it easier for investors to break down complicated design processes into digestible chunks. A storyboard could increase the chances of successful investment.
4. Storyboards Let Graphic Designers Share the Design Process With Teams
Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, many graphic designers are still working from home and are unable to facilitate face-to-face communication with co-workers. Some designers find it hard to convey design concepts — especially abstract ones — over the phone or on Zoom.
Storyboards provide a solution, letting you share design ideas with teams remotely. Team members can edit and change project elements throughout the design process and access storyboards wherever they are in the world.
5. Storyboards Save Time
A storyboard is a bit like a “to-do” list that you can reference during different project stages. It might not include specifics like a design brief, but a storyboard still provides guidance as you plan, create, design, develop and deploy with good graphic designers visual storytelling.
A storyboard references almost every component of a design project, showcasing critical workflows that turn your ideas into finished designs. You can use storyboards during design execution, presentation, and delivery.
The Challenges of Storyboarding
Despite these benefits, storyboarding proves challenging, especially if you are starting out or working from home. Without access to expensive software, you can’t pre-visualize projects in quite the same way as design agencies with multi-million dollar budgets. Some designers adopt the old-school approach of storyboarding by hand, scribbling design concepts with Sharpies on scraps of paper.
Unfortunately, this technique isn’t very professional when prospecting potential clients. Plus, it takes a long time. Manually storyboarding delays design projects and makes it more difficult to communicate ideas with co-workers, clients, and investors.
What’s the alternative?
Digital storyboard software expedites the design process and allows you to change project elements without having to start from scratch. These programs are critical tools for graphic designers in all industries.
One alternative to expensive software and manual storyboarding is using a useful graphic organizer template provided by the likes of Four Square. These PDF-based templates can be found online, often for free or at a low cost. With these samples, you can create professional-looking storyboards that are easy to share and edit, helping you streamline the design process and improve communication with stakeholders.
Boords is the free online storyboard creator for graphic designers that want to conceptualize thoughts without the fuss. Used by thousands of creatives worldwide, Boords has a broad range of storyboard templates that conceptualize your designs visually.
Here are some benefits of Boords for graphic designers:
- Firstly, purpose-built drawing tools for storyboarding, including camera move indicators and onion-skin mode.
- Secondly, automatic frame updates when designers change storyboards.
- One-click animatics.
- Finally, collaborative tools with private sharing links.
Are you looking for a free online storyboard creation tool that supercharges graphic design projects? Boords is the secure storyboarding software for designers of all stripes. Plan with a storyboard!
Benefits Storyboards Graphic Designers: Before You Go
Storyboards are visual representations of the design process that help designers visualize and communicate thoughts, ideas, and concepts. Graphic designers know storyboards influence the success — or failure — of their design projects. But storyboards take time and require digital tools for proper implementation. Using software like Boords streamlines storyboard creation for more successful results.
