15 visual storytelling tools for content teams

Visual storytelling is a written narrative interwoven with expressive visuals to help convey meaning. Typically, visual stories can capture our collective attention far better than a story communicated through text alone. 

This is especially true on the web, where readers increasingly expect immersive and interactive elements. In the past, most visual stories would contain at most a handful of images. But with the rise of new platforms and web technologies, visual content is increasingly multimedia. Interactive stories, too, are becoming much more common. 

Visual storytelling has been embraced by a range of different content creators, from content marketing professionals to nonprofit marketers. Today, visual stories are becoming a core part of the digital marketing strategy of many organisations.

To create a visual story, you will need a canvas — that is, a base platform used to integrate the various elements of your story. Shorthand is one such platform, which can integrate with hundreds of third party tools and plug-ins, including many of those listed in this article. Learn more about choosing a platform here. 

A HTML5 platform like Shorthand will automate many of the web design elements, including layouts and responsive design. This simplifies the content creation process, and most likely means you won’t need to tap in a web designer. Other content creation tools — such as generic CMS like Wordpress — will likely require more investment in bespoke development and web design. 

Once you have chosen a platform and written a draft of your copy, you will most likely need to create a storyboard. This can be anything from sketches in a notebook to highly collaborative online mockups. The storyboard process is useful for engaging with stakeholders before you invest in creating or sourcing assets. 

Once your storyboard is complete, you can begin creating your assets. This might require graphic design, depending on how sophisticated your visual story is and what sort of visual elements you wish to include. Some visual stories use stock photos and GIFs — others incorporate custom videos and maps. 

 So, what tools can help you create compelling content that will captivate your viewers? Here are our recommendations for the best visual storytelling tools.

Visme

Trusted by boutique brands and Fortune 500’s alike, Visme is your go-to solution for designing elegant imagery for all your needs. Like Canva, seasoned designers and those who can’t draw a straight line will find it delightfully easy to transform data and ideas into visuals audiences can’t help but admire. You can create infographics, branded documents, presentations, short videos, animations, and more.

Expertise required: User-friendly for everyone from design novices to experts.

Cost: Free plan, with Pro starting at $12.25 per month.

Mapbox

If you’re looking to include maps that offer real-world visualisations (with topography!), tiling, geographically accurate streets, and more to your digital stories, Mapbox will be your new best friend. Non-techies will appreciate the professionally designed basic options, while the more creatively inclined can let their imagination run wild when creating a custom map in Mapbox Studio. It turns out it’s surprisingly easy to add stunning cartography to your digital stories when Mapbox is involved.

Expertise required: You’ll likely need a developer to make the most of Mapbox. While some of the maps are easy to add to digital content, others have more complex requirements. Keep in mind that you’ll need to use the Mapbox API to access the maps, which will more than likely require a developer’s help to connect to whatever platform you’re using to build your story.

Cost: Pricing varies by volume (eg, app users, monthly loads, requests, etc.), though all the map options start with a free tier.

Tableau

As a visual analytics platform that helps you make better decisions based on data, Tableau has long been a favourite for analysts. But it’s also an incredible solution for adding data visualisations to your digital story. Think of its creations as the more ornate sibling of charts, graphs, and maps. It’s a robust tool for transforming complex information into a readily consumable format that will add credibility to your digital story. (Note that only Tableau Public gives you the ability to share your creations with anyone other than those with a Tableau license.)

Expertise required: For most people, Tableau is not one of those programs you can pick up on the fly. It’s a formidable product (much like its parent company’s flagship product, Salesforce), so you'll need to be pretty tech-savvy to get the most out of it.

Cost: Tableau Public is free, with other plans starting at $70 per month.

Pexels

Another seemingly limitless repository of exquisite (and free) stock photography, Pexels is almost guaranteed to have what you’re looking for. Here you’ll find images of everything from ordinary kitchen utensils to breathtaking vistas. Like Unsplash, all photos can be used for anything you can dream up — Pexels allows both commercial and personal use. But beware if you’re on a deadline: you’ll find yourself mesmerised by thousands of images as you browse through an ever-expanding scroll screen.

Expertise required: Zip. Zilch. Zero.

Cost: Free as a bird! But make sure to attribute the artist for the best karma.

Adobe Stock

While Adobe may be best known for its mind-bending design and illustration software, its stock photography, illustrations, videos, templates, audio, and more are absolutely worthy of the brand’s knockout reputation. Give the search a whirl and see if you can stump it — with over 28,000 results for “paper towels”, you’re unlikely to find any emotion, geography, item, or situation unrepresented in its vast library.

Expertise required: The most expertise you’ll need is the ability to choose from thousands of options, which can be quite a challenge!

Cost: Subscriptions start at $29.99 per month and increase from there depending on usage.

Shutterstock

Shutterstock gives Adobe a run for its money with its vast library of stock videos, photos, music, and more. Its 4K videos alone run the gamut, from futuristic panoramas to doughnuts frying in sizzling oil. Like with Adobe, if you can’t find it here, you probably won’t find it anywhere.

Expertise required: Super easy to find what you need and download your assets.

Cost: A range of license and subscription options starting from $29-$49 per month.