Nine steps to great storytelling

How to make your ArcGIS StoryMaps content sing

It's easy to throw together a story.

But it's not nearly as easy to create the Great American Novel, or an Academy-Award-winning movie—or a top-notch story. But by keeping a few principles in mind, you can get a pretty good start on the path to greatness.

Here's a handful of tried-and-true techniques that will make your story start to really resonate with your audience. Some of these are universal storytelling principles; others are more particular to our specific medium. Regardless, if you heed these tips, you'll be well on your way to being a great storyteller.

Ready to roll? Here we go...

Start with a bang.

Don't ease into your story. Grab your readers by the lapels with a strong image—and a strong title.

There's a reason we don't give authors the option of using a map as the title image. As much as we love maps, we feel that images or short videos evoke a more immediate, visceral response. Here's an example:

National Geographic explorer Paul Salopek chose this evocative pairing of image and title to begin his account of walking along an ancient trade route. The image perfectly complements the poetic and evocative title. It's hard to resist scrolling down to learn more about Paul's walk through the arid and mountainous landscapes of Central Asia.

A story by Esri's Vicki Lynn Cove adroitly matches words with a graphically striking image. It's often useful to incorporate a verb into your story title. Simple label titles can feel static and dull. And don't use the term "StoryMaps" on your cover—it's your message that matters, not the medium!

Add a hero.

People love people. We love to look at people, we love to read about them. If you can, find one or more interesting individuals to incorporate into your narrative.

The Grand Canyon Trust profiled five Native Americans in its wonderful story exploring how tribes in the region have long revered the canyon. "The Grand Canyon," the story explains, "is a spiritual home to Native peoples whose ancestors farmed along the river, built homes in the cliffs, and hunted along the canyon rims since time immemorial." The Trust could have taken a conventional approach to the story, but they wisely chose to let five individuals tell their own stories via embedded videos and  audio clips .

 The Epic Voyage of the Hudsonian Godwit , by Fundación Conservación Marina and the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network

Heroes don't necessarily have to be human. Fundación Conservación Marina and WHSRN teamed up to describe a year in the lives of Hudsonian godwits, which undergo an epic annual odyssey from coastal Chile to Alaska's Yukon delta and back, including a five-day, nonstop aerial marathon from Chile to the Texas coast. The story describes the birds' remarkable journey, highlighting key stopovers and describing the conservation efforts that seek to protect these vital waypoints.

Give your story rhythm.

This isn't appropriate for all stories, but having a repeating element or theme can lend structure to your narrative. Rhythm is comforting. Repetition enables your readers to settle in and anticipate a series of new items and new insights.

Our story on major religious pilgrimages has an internal rhythm. Each chapter depicts a pilgrimage route or destination; each opens with a title panel, an initial sentence, and introductory text with a photo or two. Then comes a large map, followed by additional text and images. The maps are tall; readers have to scroll to see the entire map images. This is intentional—the scroll requires readers to make a sort of mini-pilgrimage.

"Montana's Legacy of River Protection," by American Rivers, features narratives about six proposed dams that were never built. Each story begins with a title panel and introductory essay with accompanying river diagram. Then comes a map depicting the area that would have been inundated, followed by a description of the local economy and a "Local Voices" section featuring people and animals that thrive in the dams' absence. The repeated structure unifies the narrative, and deftly combines overview information with engaging local color.

Create a little world.

You want to immerse your readers into an experience. That means not just writing a good piece of text; it means striving to unify all the elements of your narrative into a harmonious visual and editorial whole. One of the most effective ways to do this is to use color consistently and judiciously. Try choosing a limited color palette, and then deploying it throughout your story—in type treatments, infographics, maps, and images.

This elegant story by Aaron Koelker combines science, history, and conservation into a seamless narrative that's stunningly beautiful in appearance. All of the maps and images are in black and white, with bright red accents in maps, art, and graphics throughout the story. The result is a seamless, immersive experience. There's loads of information in the story, but it's presented so simply that the reader never feels lost or overwhelmed.

 Segregation is Killing Us...  by Territorial Empathy

Territorial Empathy's "Segregation is Killing Us..." takes a dramatically different approach, employing a charcoal gray background to contrast with the bright, primary colors used throughout its infographics, animations, and maps. The story explores the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on poorer neighborhoods and people of color in New York City.

The ArcGIS StoryMaps builder assists authors in achieving a consistent, small-world effect. Six themes— Summit, Obsidian (the one you're viewing right now), Ridgeline, Mesa, Tidal, and Slate—enable authors to achieve a unified effect with a single click.

Better yet, you can use the  theme builder  to choose from hundreds of fonts and a near infinite range of colors. Your custom theme can match your organization's branding, or, like a stage set, it can provide a dramatic backdrop to your tale.

One size doesn't fit all.

We've worked hard to make sure ArcGIS StoryMaps works equally well on a variety of screen sizes—mobile, tablet, desktop. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be actively thinking about how your narrative will look in these various contexts.

As you're working on your story, take a frequent look at how it works in various screen sizes and proportions. The ArcGIS StoryMaps builder makes this easy: just click Preview in the header bar for a quick but accurate look at how your story will look on desktop, tablet, and mobile, portrait vs. landscape views. One of our goals is to make your story look just as great no matter what device you're using. Still, it's best to check.

Think big. Think small.

If you're into maps, you know that scale is really, really important. A small-scale map provides an overview; a large-scale map shows local detail. Changing scales also works as a storytelling technique. Starting with a local or individual example, then "zooming out" for the bigger picture, can be an effective way to introduce a general topic or issue. Conversely, you can start with an overview, then come in close.

 The river roads of India  by Paul Salopek / Out of Eden Walk

Paul Salopek's story on the immense water crisis that looms over the Indian subcontinent skillfully mixes macrocosm—regional river basin maps and accompanying descriptions—with microcosm—vivid encounters with individuals as he traipses the breadth of the sprawling nation.

Paul is walking across the world tracing the human diaspora—and practicing "slow journalism" along the way. He weaves his experiences into a rich tapestry, humanizing big-picture issues with intimate encounters with local people. We may not be able to match Paul's writing skills or the ambition of his project, but we can emulate his storytelling techniques, regardless of the topic.

Use active and passive maps.

Maps can serve lots of purposes within stories. They can play bit parts, such as simply locating where a story takes place. They can play starring roles, showing interrelationships or visualizing complex analyses or datasets. And they can play various supporting roles. For more on this, check out our " Maps in Dramatic Roles " story.

 A World of Forests  by Esri's StoryMaps editorial team

We've all used interactive maps, where you can pan, zoom, and click for pop-ups. We love interactivity, but we've come to realize that interactive maps aren't always essential. Creating a custom, static map lets you present to your readers exactly what you want them to see, without risk of distraction. The maps above are static, but scrolling from one to the next provides a rudimentary form of interactivity. We could have enabled panning and zooming, but in this case the purpose was to display and compare global patterns. Enabling close examination seemed beside the point.

The advent of ArcGIS StoryMaps, Esri's second-generation story map product, brought with it a new mapping option: express maps. They allow storytellers to implement simple maps showing one or several locations, routes, or areas, as well as labels, leaders, and arrows.  Creating express maps  is easy and intuitive—no specialized skills required. Our team's story on giraffes includes web maps displaying range data and other information, as well as express maps such as the one above.

Keep it short and sweet.

We know you love your work, or your hobby, or your cause. And we know you can describe your passions in endless detail. But many of us don't have the patience to dive deep into a lengthy story—especially on the web, a medium that is rife with temptations to click away.

 The Diversity of Life , by the Esri StoryMaps team

Our team produced " The Diversity of Life " as part of a series of stories on the profound impacts of human activities on the natural world. It's a pretty long piece; we've risked scroll fatigue in order to cover a big topic in a single narrative. We employed several techniques to keep readers engaged, including using various immersive formats and mixing photos, videos, maps, and infographics.

On the other hand, this story on  17-year cicadas  by team member Ross Donihue is short and sweet. The insects' life cycle might be lengthy, but the story is a quick and elegant read.

If your story is well told, if its images are beautiful, and if its subject matter is compelling, readers will likely stick around, more or less regardless of length. Our analytics show that stories keep people engaged for an average of six minutes, which is far longer than a typical web page. Still, it's best to strive for brevity. If your story is nearing novel length, consider splitting it into a series of stories and  featuring them in a collection .

Make a call to action.

Now that you've inspired your audience, don't leave your readers hanging! Give them something to do—even if it's just providing a link to more information. If you're telling a story about a cause or issue, it's doubly important to conclude your narrative with one or more calls to action. A successful story inspires readers; you want to turn that inspiration into action.

A call to action might be as simple as a Donate button. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds added a button link to a special albatross fund at the end of its story, " Turning the tide for the albatross ."

In " Tracking a wilderness icon ," Wildlife Conservation Society Canada concluded with a list of links to articles about wolverines by its scientists.

A " Preventing Plastic Pollution " story concludes with a graphic urging readers to make lifestyle choices to reduce use of plastic.

The Piedmont Environmental Council and the Virginia Scenic Rivers Program partnered to produce " 50 Years of Scenic River Protection in the Piedmont ." Its appeal lists suggested actions and provides links to a dozen partner organizations.

A caution: giving readers too many action options may depress response rates; research indicates that people may opt out if given multiple choices.


We hope you'll find these tips helpful. We've realized there's a bit of a learning curve involved in mastering the mechanics of building a story. But the greater challenge, and the more exciting one, is in creating a narrative that captures readers' hearts and inspires them to action. Storytelling is an art. As with all artistic endeavors, success rarely comes without careful planning and repeated polishing.

This story was created with  ArcGIS StoryMaps . We urge you to try it, and to give us your feedback. Happy storytelling!

Get more information about ArcGIS StoryMaps  here .

Get more information about ArcGIS StoryMaps  here .

 The Epic Voyage of the Hudsonian Godwit , by Fundación Conservación Marina and the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network

 The river roads of India  by Paul Salopek / Out of Eden Walk

 The Diversity of Life , by the Esri StoryMaps team