storytelling

name

storytelling

description

Use this skill when creating the narrative, emotional journey, copy direction, visual direction, or section sequence for high-end interior decorator, interior design, spatial design, architecture, staging, furniture, decor, showroom, gallery, or luxury home websites. Activated by "story", "position this interior brand", "portfolio narrative", "make it feel seductive", "spatial storytelling", "copy direction", "visual thesis", or any task where rooms, materials, transformations, proof, and inquiry must become a coherent website experience. Do NOT use for backend/API/security work or for writing final long-form copy without first defining the spatial narrative.

Storytelling

WHEN TO USE THIS

• Load before visual concepting for interior decorators, spatial studios, showrooms, and luxury home brands.
• Load when the site needs sensation, taste, authority, transformation proof, and inquiry sequence.
• Load when converting diagnosis and a creative brief into candidate narrative forms, controlling arguments, proof timing, and inquiry posture.

NEVER DO

• Never structure a spatial brand as hero -> services -> portfolio -> testimonials -> contact.
• Never write copy direction before naming the controlling argument and the job of each chapter.
• Never make the brand the hero; make the visitor imagine their space transformed.
• Never flatten projects into "beautiful work" without decision, constraint, material, and result.
• Never use generic premium adjectives without sensory or proof evidence.

STABLE COMMUNICATION JOBS

Interior and spatial brands commonly need some combination of the following jobs. They are not required sections and they do not have a fixed order.

Stage	Story Job	Spatial Translation
Atmosphere	Make the visitor feel the world	Entry room, threshold, light, silence, dominant material
Taste	Show the designer's eye	Curated rooms, furniture/object choices, material pairings
Transformation	Prove change	Before/after, problem-to-resolution, styling intervention
Proof	Make quality credible	Project facts, client context, press, constraints, outcomes
Method	Show control	Process, fit, collaboration, timeline, decisions
Inquiry	Invite the right client	Selective next step, calm expectations, concierge tone

CANDIDATE NARRATIVE FORMS

Choose or combine a form only after the diagnosis and creative brief make its priority defensible:

• Atmosphere-led: Atmosphere -> Taste -> Transformation -> Proof -> Method -> Inquiry.
• Transformation-led: Weak state or tension -> decisive intervention -> reveal -> evidence -> fit -> inquiry.
• Point-of-view-led: Conviction -> examples -> implications for the client -> proof -> method -> inquiry.
• Material/process-led: Material or constraint -> design intelligence -> finished atmosphere -> proof -> collaboration.
• Project-led editorial: One representative project opens the argument; broader work and method follow.
• Proof-first: Credentials, rigor, or project facts establish trust before emotional immersion.
• Founder-led: Creative authority leads only when the founder's judgment is itself demonstrated proof.

The page may be quiet, still-led, editorial, cinematic, or hybrid. Narrative difference must come from what this studio needs to establish first, not from rearranging decorative sections.

CORE ARTIFACT CONTRIBUTION

Contribute the following to creative-brief.md, concept-directions.md, and experience-blueprint.md (or approved equivalent documents):

• One thing the site must make the visitor feel.
• Controlling argument.
• Audience and desired self-image.
• Brand tension: what the client wants to escape.
• Candidate narrative forms and why each fits.
• Selected chapter sequence and the job of each chapter.
• Transformation proof sequence.
• Project proof strategy.
• Method reveal.
• Inquiry posture.
• Copy rules and banned phrases.
• Stillness and motion posture: what should remain still, what may move, and why.

Legacy projects may keep spatial-story.md or story.md when those files contain equivalent approved content. Create scroll-storyboard.md only when authored scroll timing, pinning, continuity, or media choreography makes a beat-level contract necessary.

STORY DISCOVERY

Extract these before writing directions:

• What types of spaces does the designer transform?
• What taste world do they own: quiet luxury, layered eclectic, sculptural minimal, heritage restoration, warm modern, art-led, hospitality, family sanctuary?
• What material language repeats?
• What light quality defines their work?
• What client anxiety do they resolve?
• What project proof exists: before/after, process photos, floor plans, press, testimonials, budget level, location, timeline?
• What should wrong-fit clients understand immediately?

CONTROLLING ARGUMENT AND CHAPTER SEQUENCE

Write one controlling argument. Then build only the chapters needed to prove it. Rooms and thresholds are useful spatial metaphors, not mandatory labels.

One possible atmosphere-led sequence:

1. Entry threshold - atmospheric first room.
2. Taste room - strongest finished work.
3. Transformation room - before/after or problem/solution.
4. Material room - texture, palette, furniture, lighting logic.
5. Proof room - press, client words, project facts.
6. Method room - how the studio thinks.
7. Inquiry room - calm invitation.

If a chapter can be renamed for a SaaS product without changing its evidence or experience logic, rewrite it.

COPY DIRECTION

• Use short atmospheric lines in visual chapters.
• Use precise captions for project proof.
• Use restrained authority for method.
• Use selective, warm inquiry language.
• Replace "beautiful spaces" with concrete transformations.
• Replace "bespoke" with evidence of fit, sourcing, constraints, or process.
• Replace "luxury" with material, light, craft, or restraint.

PROOF CHOREOGRAPHY

Choose proof based on the brand:

Proof Type	Use For	Presentation
Before/after	Transformative decorators/stagers	Cinematic reveal with decision captions
Project gallery	Portfolio-led studios	Curated procession before index
Material/process	Craft-led designers	Macro textures, sourcing notes, sketches
Press/social proof	Premium authority	Quiet ribbon, editorial citation, not logo soup
Method	High-ticket inquiry	Step sequence, expectations, fit rules

ANTI-PATTERNS

Anti-Pattern	What It Is	Fix
Pretty Rooms, No Argument	Images do not explain taste or transformation	Add decision captions and proof sequence
Bio First	Founder story appears before atmosphere	Lead with spatial world, then authority
Service Menu Too Early	Packages/services precede desire	Move services after taste and proof
Generic Luxury Copy	"Elevated, bespoke, timeless"	Use material, room, decision, client tension
Portfolio Dump	Grid of projects with no pacing	Use gallery procession then index

REFERENCE LOADING RULES

Load references/resource-index.md when the task needs examples, specialist criteria, implementation details, or domain-specific diagnostics beyond this core workflow. Select only the references whose indexed purpose matches the task; do not load the package wholesale.

OUTPUT SHAPE

Narrative direction: One feeling -> controlling argument -> candidate forms -> selected chapter jobs -> proof choreography -> inquiry posture.

Artifact contribution: Narrative sections for the creative brief, concept directions, and experience blueprint; legacy story files remain valid equivalents.

Audit: Missing story stage -> generic copy risks -> proof gaps -> spatial rewrite direction.

NON-NEGOTIABLE CHECKLIST

1. The narrative form follows brand evidence and first-known priority.
2. The controlling argument is specific and testable.
3. Candidate forms are structurally different, not reordered labels.
4. Every selected chapter has a communication job.
5. Proof timing matches the brand's trust burden.
6. Copy direction bans generic premium language.
7. Inquiry posture is selective and clear.
8. Scroll storyboarding is conditional, not universal.