📖 Design Like A Storyteller

If your brand looks beautiful but it’s not actually doing anything, as in not connecting, not converting, not pulling people in the way it should, then you’re going to love this episode.

I’m breaking down what it really means to design like a storyteller, and why so many service-based women end up with beautiful brands that still feel a little… meh.

Inside the episode I cover:

• Why your visuals might look polished but still feel disconnected
•  The “your clients are on the couch in their PJs” reality check (and your seven-second window to grab them)
•  How to make your colours, fonts, and photos actually say something
•  The three questions that reveal the real story behind your brand
•  The sneaky traps that water your brand down without you noticing

Your visuals aren’t decoration... they’re communication!

Let’s make them tell the story only you can tell.

x Morgan

Connect with me:

• Follow The Fearless Designer on Instagram
  @the.fearless.designer
  
  
• Head to The Fearless Designer Website for more info
  www.thefearlessdesigner.com.au

Transcript

Hello and welcome back to the Fearless Designer podcast. It's Morgan here, and as always today, I have a wonderful thing I want to talk to you about. It is, again, something that I've had come up with my clients. I love sharing these types of episodes with you because I feel like they're happening right now. They're going to be full of value for you. And this episode's title is Design like a Storyteller. And I have one client that does this so well. She is a storyteller.

Her content is amazing because it's storytelling. And I. I feel like, you know, there are so many people that, you know, the business looks perfect and on brand, but it feels flat, like it. It just doesn't have a vibe to it. The visuals are beautiful, the words are really clear, but, you know, everything technically works, but it's missing a pulse. Like it's just a little bit blah. So if you've ever looked at your own brand and thought, oh, it looks good, but it just doesn't feel like me, and maybe it's not standing out, well, this episode is for you. Because that disconnect is almost always a storytelling problem.

Somewhere along the way, the visuals have become a decoration rather than a form of communication. And when that happens, that's when your brand starts to feel less human or stop feeling human. So today we're going to unpack what it means to design like a storyteller, not just a decoration or a decorator. And how that shift helps your brand actually connect with the people that you want to reach. Hello and welcome to the Fearless Designer podcast. I'm your host, Morgan McDonald, aka the fearless designer, and I'm here to help you embrace your fears, level up your visual brand, and take your business to fearless new heights. For two decades, I've worked with business owners just like you, designing brands that are bold, consistent, and authentic. I've lived a profesh corporate life as a graphic designer, and I've also spent the last 13 years running my own brand and graphic design business.

So whether you're running a six or seven figure business, craving a brand refresh, or just ready to add a little more wow to your visuals, I got you. Each week, we'll dive into fearless brand strategies, design tips that you actually can use, live brand audits, and interviews with fellow business owners who have dared to do things differently. So if you're ready to stop playing small, take control of your brand, and lead with confidence, you're in the right place. Let's go. All right, so what does it really mean? To design like a storyteller. I know it sounds a bit weird, but I don't really mean that. You need to write these highly dramatic oversharing captions and share your entire personal history online. It's about intention.

It's knowing what your brand is trying to say before you decide what it should look like. So think of it this way. A decorator asks, does this look good together? And a storyteller asks, what does this make people feel? And I think that question changes everything. Because when you run a service based business, whether you're a coach or a strategist or a consultant or a photographer or a creative, people aren't buying a product, they are buying an experience. They're buying the way that you make them feel about themselves. So if your visuals don't bring that feeling, then something gets lost in translation. Your audience isn't looking for the best designer or the most qualified coach or the person with the prettiest brand. They're actually looking for the person that gets them.

Who gets them. The person who's brand that feels like home. And I think that's the power of design rooted in story. It helps people recognise themselves in your world. So I recorded an episode many moons ago around like having seven seconds to capture your audience. And nowhere is that more important than on social media. And you know, most of your clients are not sitting at their desks analysing your brand strategy. They're sitting on their couch, they're in their PJs there.

It's at the end of the day, they're tired, they're probably half watching Netflix. They're not reading your bio thinking, wow, that was so well crafted, or that awful, oh my gosh. They're thinking like, do I like her energy? Do I trust her? And you have seven seconds to answer that. Seven seconds to communicate. This is who I am, this is what I stand for, and this is the kind of transformation that I can help you create. And that's why visuals matter. Because they're not just showing off your style, they're setting the tone for your story. Most people are using social media socially.

They're there to be inspired, entertained, distracted, not to hire you. If your content feels purely transactional, they're going to keep scrolling. They're not sitting there typing best business coach in the world into the search. But when you tell your story, when your visuals help tell your story, when they see something that makes them feel something, you're bridging the gap between them, just sitting there scrolling and them going, oh, I need to know more. Your Posts don't have to shout to get attention. They just need to connect. So next time when you're about to post something, ask yourself this question, what story am I telling here? And what do I want someone sitting on their couch to feel when they see it? If you can answer that, then you'll start to use those seven seconds so well. So what's the story behind your brand? Every service based brand has a story.

Even if you have never written it down. It's the reason that you started your business, or the values that drive your work, or the way you show up for your clients. But most people really stop at that surface level. Like they know their mission statement, but they don't actually know or connect with the emotion behind their brand. When I'm working with my clients, I always ask three questions to get to that heart of their story. Number one, what's the shift you create for your clients? Your brand should really mirror that transformation. And if you help women go from, you know, chaos to clarity, then your visuals need to reflect that. If you help people take really bold action, your visuals should feel strong, you know, and vibrant and alive.

Number two, how do you want people to feel when they're in your world? Not what you want them to know, what you want them to feel. Is it safe? Is it empowered? Is it seen? Is it energised? Is it. It's that real emotional tone that makes a brand memorable. And number three, what's your energy as a leader? Are you gentle and grounding? Are you direct or motivational? Are you calm and confident or bold and disruptive? That energy needs to show up visually. So when people land on your profile, on your profile, they feel like they already know you. A really great example of this is Bel V, who has appeared on a previous episode of the Fearless Designer podcast. She is a branding photographer based in Perth in Australia. And she really embodies her energy as a leader and reflects that in her branding, her photography style, the colours that she's using, the fonts that she's using, they all work together to display visually that energy that she brings.

When you work with her, let's start turning that story into design decisions because this is where the magic really, truly happens. It all comes down to translating story into design. And the quickest, easiest way to communicate emotion is using colour. We all know, like soft neutrals can often feel really safe and grounded. Where high contrast feels bold and decisive, earthy tones feel trustworthy. Your colours should carry the same energy you bring to your client work. Typography, fonts, have a personality. A serif font may say wisdom or experience.

A clean sans serif might say, you know, I'm really clear and I'm modern thinking. Handwritten or handwriting style often says warmth and authenticity and that real, you know, that real individual touch. And if you choose fonts that feel like the version of you your clients meet on calls, not the version that feels really trendy and online and in the moment, a big one is photography. If your story is about transformation, show it. If you help people feel calm, show calm. Not chaos, not bold, not, you know, visually busy. And if you help them feel really empowered, show them movement and confidence and energy. And show yourself how you really are.

Not overly staged or posed, but just in your element. And finally, space and rhythm. The way you use space tells its own story. If your audience feels overwhelmed, give them breathing room. If your energy is high and motivational, your design can carry more movement and rhythm. When all of this lines up, your brand starts to speak, not just look nice. So you may be thinking to yourself, what happens, Morgan, when you get it right? Well, when your designs start telling a story, you stop needing to explain it so much. People feel the message.

They understand the transformation before you've said a single word. It's the reason why a brand can attract a client even before a discovery call. And it's the reason why someone can or will binge all of your content for minutes and minutes and minutes, even hours, and think, I don't even know why, but it just, it was so fun and it felt right. That's design doing its job. Because in a service based business, your brand is often the first client experience. It's the first conversation before you have ever met them. And when that experience feels authentic, it builds trust faster than any, any perfectly curated caption ever could. There are a few common traps that I see all the time that break the story.

And these things are things like copying someone else's energy. So it is so tempting to not mimic, but follow what others are doing. And especially if it's working for them, you can kind of want to get in on that action, but if it's not applicable to your audience, they can definitely sense that it's not yours. Another thing could be you designing for trends, not truth. This is incredibly easy to do, especially if you're using Canva templates. I know there's so many to choose from, but they're often very trend based. So if it doesn't match your brand energy, then it's actually noisy and it's not going to work. And the other big common trap that I see is my clients trying to show everything all at once.

So your story doesn't need to live in every post. It just needs to be consistent enough that people start to recognise you by feeling. So here's what I really want you to take away from today. It's that design isn't decoration. It's communication. It's visual communication. Yep. Like the subject that some of us did in year seven and eight, the graphic design.

Visual communication, it was called. And every visual choice you make is either moving someone closer to you or quietly, or not so quietly, pushing them away. If you've ever been feeling disconnected from your brand, it's probably not because you need a new logo or a new colour palette. It's because your visuals have stopped reflecting your story. So start there. Go back to what your brand really means and design from that truth. Because when your visuals tell us your story, in particular your story, really clearly, that's when your brand starts to feel like you again. Really grounded, really confident, and like, totally fearless.

And that's it. I want to thank you so much for being here today. I'll catch you in the next episode. And as always, feel free to send me a dm. Ask any questions, email, whatever you need to do. I'm always here. So I will see you all later. And that's it for today's episode of the Fearless Designer podcast.

I hope you're feeling really inspired, fired up, and ready to go make some bold moves with your brand. If you love today's episode, don't forget to hit the subscribe button so that you never miss a dose of fearless branded goodness. And if you're feeling extra generous, drop us a review. It just helps more fearless legends like you find this podcast. If you've got any ideas or questions for future Epps, please slide into my DMs or send me an email. I would love to hear from you. And until next time, keep being bold, keep being fearless. And remember, your brand is your superpower.

So go out there and dare to be different. Bye.