Fortune recently covered Jack Dorsey’s latest venture, a service that promises to cause heartburn for the banking industry by essentially transforming the smartphone into a credit card reader.
From a communications perspective, the following visual caught my attention.
Click here for a larger version of this graphic.
The illustration reflects a classic storytelling technique we’ve touched on before, communicating the difference between “what was” and “what is” (or “what will be” if you allow me to go Beatles on you).
In the case of Fortune, they use the terms “Traditional Model” and “Square [Dorsey] Model,” but the concept is still the same. The greater the delta between the old way and the new way, the better the story.
That’s what generates the drama.
One final comment –
For the life of me, I can’t figure out why Fortune wouldn’t include this illustration in the online version of the article. The art department has already done the heavy lifting. Why not leverage the work in multiple channels, not to mention enhance the online version?
If you have a take, please weigh in with your perspective.