Play of the Week newsletter by Chris​ ​ ​​​​

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Newsletter issue: #169
Read time: 1m 06s

Nobody gives a damn about your designs.

[You gasp. I nod knowingly]

"But Chris, I spent hours perfecting that drop shadow!"

I know you did. And it looks amazing. But…

Your stakeholders don't care about your clever interactions. They care about THEMSELVES and their problems:

• Execs want to know it moves revenue
• Engineers want to know it's feasible
• PMs want to know it hits their KPIs

Design without story is just decoration.

Beautiful, maybe. But forgettable.

People remember stories, not screens.

When I finally figured this out, my presentations went from "please approve this" to “let’s hire this guy”.

Real talk: I left my agency design role (as a UX Manager) to join a client’s company (as Head of Product Design).

Here's my dead-simple framework:

1. Start with the problem (not your solution)
2. Show the pain (use real quotes, make it hurt)
3. Reveal what's at stake ("we lose 2 of 3 customers here")
4. THEN show your design as the hero that saves the day

BOOM!

Let’s use Super Mario 🍄 as an example.

Your stakeholder is little Mario (powerless), your design is the mushroom, and your story shows them becoming Super Mario (kicking ass).

This isn't just presentation skills. It’s difference between your work gathering (digital) dust or actually changing how people experience your product.

I've seen so many brilliant designs die because the designer couldn't tell a compelling story.

Don't be that designer.

Your drop shadow looks great, though.

I learnt 3 storytelling techniques that helped thousands of founders raise millions of dollars during my time at Antler (a startup incubator). Read it here: