Telling immersive travel stories with Shorthand

Travel stories are well-suited to multimedia storytelling the Shorthand way, with autoplay video, full width images and interactive effects coming together to create an experience that transports the reader to another place. 

Here are three stories created with Shorthand to indulge your wanderlust, covering Myanmar, Nepal and an epic four-year roadtrip across six continents.

Tip: Images are cropped to the centre by default, so remember to check how your story looks on a smaller, portrait screen and upload an alternative crop if necessary

INTREPID TRAVEL – NEPAL, ALWAYS

Intrepid takes a look at post-earthquake Nepal in this story, published last year.

Stylised Two Column Scrollmation sections feature circular images, while Text Over Media sections deliver striking full-screen images and a stunning timelapse of clouds coming in over the Himalayas.

This story also uses a portrait crop to optimise images for smaller screens (feature available in Shorthand).

Tip: When showing a route or area on a map, consider using multiple Text Over Media sections to reveal layers as you scroll

BBC MAGAZINE – GUNTHER, CHRISTINE AND OTTO

The epic story of Gunther, Christine and their "unbreakable" car Otton covers the couple's journey across six continents in just four years. 

The use of full width images and Background Scrollmation allows the images to shine, while a Reveal effect shows just how much ground the pair covered. 

BBC Travel also took thousands of suggestions from contributors and turned them into an immersive experience in their Shorthand story 50 Reasons to #LoveTheWorld, featuring lots of Instagram photos and videos.

Tip: Use timelapse video to condense a long journey or show the passing of time

ROUGH GUIDES – BURMESE WAYS

Writer Tim Chester spent two weeks travelling across Burma, or Myanmar to give the country its proper name.

The looping timelapse video in the title section conveys atmosphere and draws the reader into the story straight away, while Text Over Media sections are used to showcase quotes and break-up longer sections of text.

 There's also a nice use of collage to show multiple images in a Text Over Media section.

Tip: Always consider the best format to tell your story – whether that's text, images, video, audio or some other multimedia. Experiment and have fun with it!

Check out more immersive travel stories created with Shorthand on Pinterest.
To get started with Shorthand, get in touch.