Look At Me When I'm Talking To You
In what is being marketed as the "first book on Instagram", author Jason Sperling partners with artist Nik Piscitello to discuss some of the challenges of working in marketing and advertising. Each day, a new "page" in Look At Me When I'm Talking To You appears on Instagram, featuring a brief animation and accompanying text. The book is 160 pages long, and gives the audience just a piece of the story each day. As the story unfolds, Sperling and Piscitello outline just how challenging it can be to get and retain the audience's attention.
In today's addition, the segment provides a succinct summary of how "audiences have taken control of the media channels, have become incredibly averse to the persuasion model and are highly adept at keeping brands at bay." Only 17 pages into the book, the authors approach this challenge head on and ask the readers to reflect. How do we facilitate the engagment of an audience that might not be interested in what we are saying?
The challenges of working in marketing and advertising identified in Look At Me When I'm Talking To You are strikingly similar to the challenges that educators and instructional designers face. Both fields utilize a storytelling component through multiple media formats with the intention of engaging the audience, or learner. Limited attention spans, lots of distractions, and the necessity of multitasking are also present in both worlds. Engaging in a story for an extended amount of time is a feat in today's world.
Through a digital storytelling lens, Sperling and Piscitello have done a remarkable job of telling this story. The bright colored and stylized animations are simple yet well thought out, and successfully encompass the overall message of the accompanying text. Piscitello's drawings exude a playfulness with a dash of humor and irony. The digital craftsmanship of the media is impressive without being overdone; the animations are a well balanced act that utilize multiple engagement techniques. Equally as effective are the concise yet approachable text passages that are accessible and relatable. Sperling captures the audience's attention with an original, direct approach, and continues to interact with those who follow, share, and comment on the posts. The story seems to evolve from day to day, growing and transforming into a collective look at how to approach marketing, all while exuding the supported principles in it's own design and implementation.
For more information about the book,
Story
***** (5/5)
Digital Craftsmanship
***** (5/5)
Originality
***** (5/5)
This critique was developed using the
