Find interesting people, tell their stories and the stories will be interesting. That is what I learned in my filmmaking classes so many years ago. It’s a formula that has worked for Dirty Harry, James Bond and many other classic characters of books and movies. This formula was successfully used in the movie No Reservations with Catherine Zeta-Jones, a film about the head chef of an upscale bistro that adopts her niece after a tragic auto accident. Kate, the head chef, is a perfectionist that ensures that everything is pristine. Not just the food, but even the way she ties her apron with exacting precision.

The world of Kate is turned upside down with the addition of her elementary grade niece Zoe to her perfect and ordered life. While taking time to get her new life in order, care for Zoe and learn the ins and outs of being a parent, the restaurant hires a temporary chef, Nick, that begins to threaten all that Kate has worked for. Exploring the world of Kate, Zoe and  Nick, for who they are, was a rather classic, and somewhat over-told, story of tragedy, boy meets girl and fairy tale ending all rapped into one cliché filled movie.

So why do writers continue to write these cliché filled formulaic movies and producers continue to produce them? People are interested in the stories of interesting people. And this case, we get a glimpse into an interesting world, the daily life of an executive chef. As you probably know, I am a sucker for great food, fine wine and the stories of interesting people. I often forget that the elements of great design are similar to those of telling classic stories.

In design, we seek out interesting people engaging in the issues of the day to day grind and listen to their stories. Our solutions are built on the needs that pour out of the allegories that best describe the pain. Solutions that would be ill-conceived if we did not take the time to understand who would be using our creations and the new stories we want them to be telling. All this to say, in my opinion, great designers should be great story tellers. We need to tell the stories of the as-is today and the story of the to-be tomorrow. And these stories have to include interesting people, just like these cliché filled formulaic movies.