carving out the narrative In an increasingly competitive design landscape, it's clear that if firms don't establish themselves as thought leaders, they're going to be seen as thought followers. The right design narratives can go a long way toward positioning a designer as an expert, but firms must strike a delicate balance between talking about their own work and sharing thoughts on the future of design. The strongest design writers have a keen understanding of how narrative works, a sharp editorial eye, and the ability to intuit what kinds of stories a firm should be telling in the first place. And while storytelling allows firms to provide new insight into their work, the design process remains non-linear, confluent and fast-paced. So perhaps above all, what design writers really need is a deft ability to distill information and an infectious enthusiasm for carving out the narrative. 50