To research how other designers have used storyboarding as a tool, do an online search for ‘storyboard’ and look at some of the images that you find. You will see lots of different styles of storyboarding from impressive ‘finished’ slick frames, to those with stickmen representing how a person moves around a space. Both are useful in working out the extent and functionality of a space and are helpful in exploring and defining a brief.
For this research task I simply googled word ‘storyboard’. Seemingly all image results were connected to video/ movie making.
The above example comes from a Dream Farms Studios Website, the article explains how storyboards can be used instead of a script in the process of creating an animation. The drawing clearly states the order of action, direction of movement with very clear arrows and a bit of text below explains the details and length of the ‘shot’. The drawings are a little crude, (the artist is just a little bit better than me at drawing human hand, which is my nemesis), yet they communicate very clearly the order and content of action in the film. In this little story the content is not as important as skill, the drawings certainly don’t need to be neat or perfect, they need to be easy to understand. I like the neatness of the design of this story board, with all rectangles being uniform in size and position. The squares are so neat I think they may have been drawn on the computer, printed out, and then artist drew and wrote on the printout.
Fig. 2 – 4 Choose a long life © 2018 Agnieszka Bielecka
Another storyboard I found was for a health campaign video, promoting preventative cancer testing. This example is quite nice as it comes with a video of the after product. The video can be viewed here https://youtu.be/VnRxhULO1Zk
In the video the woman says to the man (in case you were curious) ‘Dad, I have a gift for you. I had that test done (cytology), it’s all right, I am healthy’. The last shot of the video says, ‘I am planning a long life.’ I like this story board, it explains all actions and shots, using the arrows to show direction of movement. I quite like the box no 20, where it’s clearly shown to woman is speaking to her dad, even though we can’t know what she said, we can see emotions of happiness in the following boxes. The order is also very clear thanks to the numbers next to each box. I stumbled across this storyboard as I hoped it may be a bit more related to interior design, showing the house and interior elements. Even though it isn’t interior design related it shows the use of space and crucial elements within it. All the elements are Christmassy as the action is clearly happening at Christmas time, we have a Christmas tree, Fireplace with stockings hanging, large table and chairs to accommodate the entire gathering, the gifts are being exchanged. The video and the storyboard preceding it leave no doubt when and where it is all happening. It also shows the use of space, and how it is used at Christmas time, even though that wasn’t the intended purpose of it.
I tried looking for interior design storyboards but google seems to think that those are the same thing as mood or design boards, which they obviously aren’t. Then I stumbled across this Pinterest image; I am pretty sure it is interior design related.
I like the use of colour and the energy of these drawings, coming from confident hand. The wobbly lines and high contrast add charm and interest. I also like how the person on the last picture is sticking out from her square…
The internet is full of examples of storyboards, but I think I best stop here, it is so easy to get lost in the research.
Whenever I look at story boards, I can’t help myself but to think of comic books straight away. There is similar energy, especially in showing emotions and movement. All the little boxes are missing are speech clouds to rely detailed conversations…
List of illustrations
Fig. 1 Author Unknown (2022) Attack from Mars. [Storyboard drawing] At: https://dreamfarmstudios.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/example-storyboard_orig.jpg (Accessed 13/12/2022)
Fig. 2 Bielicka, A. (2018) ‘Storyboard “Choose a long life” Part 1.’ [Storyboard drawing] At: https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/014/891/775/large/agnieszka-belicka-1-10-v4-c.jpg?1546118094 (Accessed 13/12/2022)
Fig. 3 Bielicka, A. (2018) ‘Storyboard “Choose a long life” Part 2.’ [Storyboard drawing] At: https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/014/891/786/large/agnieszka-belicka-11-20-v4-c.jpg?1546117667 (Accessed 13/12/2022)
Fig. 4 Bielicka, A (2018) ‘Storyboard “Choose a long life” Part 3.’ [Storyboard drawing] At: https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/014/891/789/large/agnieszka-belicka-21-26-v4-c.jpg?1546117682 (Accessed 13/12/2022)
Fig. 5 Author Unknown (n.d.) Interior Design Story Board. [Drawing] At: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/4b/66/03/4b66031f89725d89bd68049e722b07fb.jpg (Accessed 13/12/2022)
Aggie's interior design journey 
