Narratives, filters and connecting — what the hell is going on with people?

This is about a key element of design, communicating your intention to your audience. Maybe it can be applied outside of that context too, please feel free to take what you learn here and apply it at your own peril. [Yes you can and I certainly have used this in all facets of my life]

This is the first part of a five part series. Stay tuned!

First, let’s set the table for the words we’re going to use here, and the specific definition we’ll apply.

Narratives

This is simply a story. Some sequence which speaks to a flow or form and communicates some outcome or ending.

Filters

Well, it’s a noun and a verb. Considering the noun, one applies it to some thing and it removes some parts while allowing other parts to pass through without resistance. To filter, the verb, is the application of this notion. Filters can be physical, like in your drip coffee maker, the paper filter allows the hot water, that has steeped in ground coffee to pass into the carafe, while the ground coffee remains behind. Filters can also be virtual like you might see on a web site, where you can look up items on your favorite retail site and see only items between 20 and 30 dollars.