Minimum Viable story

In the world of information and data visualisation, enormous care is given to accuracy, aesthetics, and technical execution. We refine visual hierarchies, optimise legibility, and ensure statistical integrity. Yet the narrative spine that determines what an audience ultimately understands is often left implicit.

When a story is not intentionally shaped or when there are gaps in its structure, the human brain goes into autopilot. It fills those gaps on its own. The result is simple. The message taken away is not necessarily the message that was presented.

This workshop introduces the idea of a Minimum Viable Story, the most basic narrative structure required to avoid a message being diluted or misinterpreted. Rather than treating storytelling as embellishment, the session positions narrative as a structural responsibility. Just as visual contrast makes data legible, story structure ensures insight is understood.

At the centre of this approach is the core insight. Before design decisions are made, before sequencing is finalised, before aesthetics are refined, one question must be answered clearly: What is the non-negotiable idea that must be understood? From that anchor point, the narrative can be reverse engineered by priming the audience to receive the insight and organising information in a way that supports it rather than competes with it.

Participants will work with shared material and reshape it around a clearly defined insight, observing how structural choices influence interpretation. The emphasis is not on making information entertaining, but on ensuring that it is understood as intended.

This workshop centres on foundational narrative structure. It may be less useful for practitioners who already employ established storytelling frameworks or who are deliberately experimenting with unconventional narrative forms. It is particularly suited to those whose primary focus lies in data analysis, craft, or visual design, and who are looking for a clear structural approach to presenting their work so that their intended insight is understood.

Designed for data designers, information designers, journalists, and visual communicators working with complexity, this workshop reframes narrative not as decoration, but as cognitive infrastructure. If visual design determines what we see, narrative structure determines what we understand.