Grab your lab coats and start the bunsen burners, because I’m sharing a personal experiment.

A little context:

Technology, like nearly everything, has one thing at its core: it’s serving a larger story. Ideally, the story of the people benefiting from said technology.

The cornerstone to building software successfully is understanding the story you’re telling.

I’ve been a story nerd for much longer than I’ve been a Product Designer and technologist. I love the craft of bringing a story to life through words, visuals, and with talented artists.

That’s why I’ve always been inspired by storytellers who are also technologists and builders. Creators like Rob McElhenney with Adim, Jon Favreau with Golem Creations, Joseph Gordon-Levitt with HITRECORD, and, of course, George Lucas (along with so many others). They all actively push storytelling forward with bold ideas on and off the page and screen.

We also have incredible teams out there leading with technology to innovate the world of storytelling, like Wonder Dynamics and Story (again, along with so many others).

This intersection of technology and story is innate because storytelling is fundamental to the human experience.

And yet, the landscape and tooling to be a storyteller is all over the place. Whether it’s an array of skill sets needed to craft a story through the various software necessary to produce something sharable, or the gatekeeping that keeps good ideas from “taking off” – it’s tough to navigate.

From a technology perspective, does it have to be that difficult to go from idea to sharing a story with your audience?

What would it look like if we took something like Figma’s accessible UI3 and turned it into a digital studio?

I’ve been experimenting with this idea and believe it should exist.

There are a litany of reasons, but here are three:

1. The tech is good enough. We can create 3D environments, characters, and so much more right in our browser now.

2. People don’t need hyper-realistic graphics, it’s all about characters and story. Just ask any YouTube animator channel.

3. AI is a tool. This is a much larger, complex, and nuanced topic, but the thing software builders need to do a better job of is making people feel empowered with AI as an assistant and tool. AI is as relevant in storytelling as it is in any industry.

This exploration was a blast. I think it’s where creator tools, and entertainment, are going, and I know from countless personal conversations that a lot of creators are excited for that day.