Structure your scientific communication using a clear and compelling story.
The Scientific Storytelling Canvas is a simple but powerful tool to help you communicate complex ideas clearly and persuasively. It guides you through the essential elements of your narrative, from setting the stage to identifying a key problem and presenting a solution.
Designed for scientists, engineers, communicators and entrepreneurs, this canvas will help you craft your story in a way that engages your audience.
It’s your go-to tool if you:
How do you use the Scientific Storytelling Canvas?
Every story follows a fixed, linear sequence known as the ’story arc‘. It always begins by describing the initial situation (setting), in which a central conflict or problem arises. This problem subsequently gets resolved. This three-part structure forms the basis of novels, films, plays, jokes and gossip, as well as the transfer of knowledge. For this reason, the Scientific Storytelling Canvas is divided into three columns. The initial situation (setting) is on the left, the problem is in the middle, and the solution to the problem is on the right.
Structuring of content is a creative process that is usually not linear. The canvas provides a framework to help you remember all the elements of the story and put them in the right order.
Start with the central problem that drives your story. With that as your starting point, you can work on the three aspects of your story in any order: explain the context, explore the problem in depth and describe the solution. The intro and outro, which are the short elements that come before and after the actual story, should be written after the story structure has been established.
Each box on the canvas represents an element that should be included in your story. To formulate each story element, answer the guiding question in the corresponding box. The level of detail in your answers depends on how much time or space you have to communicate your content. Apart from the three basic elements of context, problem and solution, not all boxes need to be filled in. However, in most cases it is recommended to do so, even if the information is very brief.
When planning a speech, write how long you want to spend on each element next to the stopwatch icon. Divide the total time available among the elements to keep track of how much you can say about each one. Tip: Only plan to use 80 per cent of your total time, as speeches usually end up being longer than planned. If you are creating a written concept, use the word count instead of the time.
Scientific Storytelling Canvas
Download the Scientific Storytelling Canvas now and start structuring your ideas with purpose. Whether you’re preparing a presentation, writing an article, or designing a poster, this tool will help you tell your story clearly and effectively.
If you would like to learn more about using the Scientific Storytelling Canvas to communicate scientific, medical or technical content, ideas and data effectively and clearly, please request detailed instructions here.
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