Services — When the story needs fixing first.
Strategic Narrative Design
When the problem isn't the design — it's the story. A deep-dive engagement that starts upstream: audience, insight, message architecture, then visual expression.
Some decks can't be saved by better slides, because the problem lives upstream: the argument doesn't hold, the audience was never really defined, or the message tries to be everything to everyone and lands with no one. Redesigning those slides is redecorating a house with cracked foundations.
A Strategic Narrative engagement starts with a diagnostic — why the current story is not working, and for whom — then an audience workshop that surfaces what your room believes, what blocks them, and what has to change. From that comes the message architecture: the argument, the narrative spine, the one sentence that matters.
Only then does design begin. Which is why this engagement produces the decks people remember years later: the visuals aren't decorating a story — they're the inevitable expression of one. Chevron's New Energies narrative and Marriott's Luxury Group story both came from this process.
Deliverables
- Audience & insight workshop
- Message hierarchy
- Full deck design
- Presenter coaching notes
Process — 2–4 weeks
- 01 — DiagnosticWhy the current story isn't working, and for whom
- 02 — Audience workshop2–3 hours covering beliefs, blockers, what needs to change
- 03 — Message architectureThe argument, the narrative spine, the one sentence that matters
- 04 — Full deck designVisual expression of the new story
- 05 — Presenter coachingHow to deliver it, not just read it
Questions, answered
How is this different from hiring a presentation designer?
A presentation designer improves your slides. A strategic narrative engagement questions whether those slides should exist. It's closer to positioning work than design work — the deck at the end is the artifact, not the product.
Who needs to be in the audience workshop?
The people who own the story: usually the presenter, one decision-maker, and whoever knows the audience best. Two to three hours, remote or in person. Larger groups dilute it.
Can we do the narrative work now and design later?
Yes — the message architecture stands on its own and some teams take it in-house from there. Most come back for the design, because expressing a narrative visually is where it either becomes real or dissolves back into bullet points.
What does this cost relative to a standard deck project?
It's the largest engagement we offer — typically two to three times a standard deck, reflecting the workshop and strategy time. It's also the one clients describe as changing how their whole team communicates, not just one presentation.
Ready when you are.
A 30-minute intake call. No forms, no auto-responders — the project, the stakes, and whether there's a fit.
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