Entertaining introduction to new feature

October 5, 2010

I like this video explaining the new Priority Inbox feature of Gmail. It is one of the most entertaining introductory videos that I have seen. The music was fun. It had nice sound effects to enhance the presentation. I believe it did a great job of explaining the new feature.

I think this works well for 2 reasons. First, it uses cartoons. Cartoon or comic illustrations connect more with people because we can see ourselves and it puts us in the story. Scott McCloud makes this point in his book, Understanding Comics.

Second, this video uses a narrative or story to inform. Stories are more memorable, fun and engaging than just presenting information. The music and sound effects add to the fun of this video. It entertains as it informs. One of the things I want to think more about is how to use narrative and story in Web sites to help achieve business goals.

I had recently read part of the book, Resonate, which addresses using narrative in presentations. I want to dive more into this book and think about and how to stories and narrative it in the experiences I create online.