Guiding storytelling projects safely through the interactive wilderness.
By Eric Cade Schoenborn | Creative Director | Knight Foundation
As with any expedition, you need a guide. Your guide needs to know the landscape, what to expect -- even if you don't know exactly where you are going to end up.
Your guide sits on a pile of ideas, inspirations, media collections and can quickly remix the core elements into concepts.
This is someone who can effectively lead a wide ranging research and discovery phase around the initial story and design a vision for success.
Someone who is passionate about understanding the needs of the audiences.
Someone who can source their network for freelancers and specialists to round out the team based on the demands of the expedition.
Someone who can lead the group with clear direction while balancing an open, collaborative process.
The guide orients the team to the North Star and gets everyone working to their full potential, within the scope of the project.
As the group begins to coalesce around the vision, prototypes should be built and tested quickly. The team should make adjustments. Repeat.
The guide will need to make decisions to sacrifice features and requirements that may have to be thrown overboard to keep the project on deadline and on budget as conditions change.
As the team nears completion, the guide has a plan for a soft landing for the project, and knows to keep the team informed as tensions rise or adversity hits the project.
Everyone is counting on the guide to confidently guide the project to safe harbor.
The guide will ensure that when you hit the switch, the lights come on as planned.
