Storytelling For Content Design Neil Petty

At SXSW 2023 last week, I attended all the AI panels I could. I heard from everyone from Open AI to Twitter and thought leaders from some of the top design agencies across the globe. Clearly so much is still in flux with AI, but a few common threads rose up that content designers (or anyone) should start to track. In this episode, I took some time to curate all my SXSW AI notes into 4 pillars of thought that start to cut through the noise and lift the curtain on areas where we can all have a stronger POV when it comes to AI. Tune in — no badge required!

What are your thoughts on brand purpose? Ignore or embrace? I like talking about it in the context of product design. While most product and tech orgs don’t mess with brand purpose, when it’s honest and created authentically, it pulls your product storytelling out of the jargon and gets your teams pumped to do their best work (I've seen it firsthand). As brands and tech products embrace AI, I believe the best companies will have a strong "why", and position their AI tools in a way that ladders up to the brand purpose. We’ll cover the tips and tricks to writing and excavating your purpose internally and how it can be a powerful tool for aligning teams and making decisions. Thanks for jamming!

Happy 2023 from SFCD! We’re coming out of the gate with a hot skillset for your ChatGPT-isms: Screenwriting. Screenwriting tools have so many tie-backs to brand strategy, content design, and especially emerging technology like AI and AR. In this episode, Neil chats about screenwriting tools like series bibles (using an example from Paul Fieg’s Freaks and Geeks), the 3-act play, and how these can bring your teams together and make your voice and interactions stand out from the noise. Whether you’re a marketer, writer, or UX designer, there’s something for everyone in this episode. Now, kick back, go watch your favorite show, take notes, and give a salute to the screenwriters who build stories we love!

What if there’s yet another job title emerging called the “Storytelling Designer”? In this episode, Neil dives into his predictions for content design and copywriting with the rise of AR, metaverse, and ai. Spoiler: it might look a lot like screenwriters and game writers (after all, they’re a lot like content strategists). In a not-too-distant user experience where we’re all interacting with personalities and bot characters, things like world-building, persona-building, and dialogue will matter. We’ll talk about conversational designers who are doing this right now, spark questions about what our jobs will look like, and how writers can get into the conversation.

…and we’re back with Part 2: How to build your brand voice. After a (hot take) copy audit of the Gucci Vault x Sandbox metaverse experience (with a typo!), Neil gets into the nitty gritty for building actual rules and personality traits of a brand voice. Using J Crew as a faux brand case study, he goes step-by-step through creating personality traits that guide your writing, plus more essentials that will help you get support across the organization for your brand voice principles. This episode has all the hidden gems, while at the same time, we have a little fun creating the voice of J Crew. Rejoice! Now you have the tools you need to become an expert in your brand voice and persona building for the metaverse, ai, and all the mediums ahead (more on this in an upcoming episode).

In part 1 of this 2-part series, I’ll walk you through what I’ve learned when it comes to building your brand voice. Personality and voice frameworks (aka “persona building”) will be crucial skills for content designers in the future, as our experiences become filled with ai bots, metaverse characters, and elements that need a personality to stand out and stay on brand. We'll start with some first steps to consider, whether you work at a tech corporation or a mid-sized startup, including analyzing your own ux writing, mining for research, and kickstarting the convo with other teams. We’ll also discuss the best approach for data-focused companies vs. emotive or founder-driven companies. Hope you dig it.