Storyjoy — New York City

Storyjoy designs story-driven civic experiences that help institutions build community.

We bring together the spatial thinking of an architect, the scaffolding of an educator, and the instincts of a storyteller to design experiences that inspire people to connect.

Start a conversationExplore the work →

Point of view

We design the conditions for people to connect.

Institutions are often trying to solve problems that look structural, strategic, or communicative on the surface. Underneath, they are usually about people.

Storyjoy designs the conditions for those connections to happen.

  • How people see themselves.
  • How they see one another.
  • What makes them curious.
  • What helps them trust.
  • What makes them participate.
  • What makes them feel that they belong.

What the work makes possible

Build trust

Create experiences that make people feel heard, understood, and invited into the conversation.

Invite participation

Move people from observing to contributing.

Make complexity human

Turn complicated ideas, histories, systems, and issues into experiences people can understand and feel.

Build community

Create the conditions for people to recognize what they share and imagine what they can create together.

The Storyjoy approach

Three ways of seeing. One practice.

01

Create the conditions

Think like an architect.

Connection does not happen in a vacuum.

We consider the people, relationships, needs, desires, histories, physical spaces, social dynamics, and emotional conditions that shape an experience.

  • Who is here?
  • What are they bringing with them?
  • What do they need?
  • What might make them curious?
  • What might make them feel safe enough to participate?
  • What conditions could make a meaningful encounter possible?

It is not simply about designing a thing. It is about designing the conditions in which something can happen.

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02

Build the journey

Think like an educator.

Connection happens over time.

A film might open a question. A conversation might complicate it. A gathering might allow people to encounter one another. A participatory experience might turn reflection into contribution. Different experiences move people through different parts of the same journey.

  1. Encounter
  2. Curiosity
  3. Understanding
  4. Recognition
  5. Participation
  6. Possibility

What do people need to experience next?

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03

Give the story a life

Think like a storyteller.

A story does not have to live in one medium.

We develop stories so they can create meaningful connection wherever people encounter them — not as endpoints, but as invitations.

  1. Conversation
  2. Film
  3. Gathering
  4. Digital
  5. Campaign
  6. Community

Where and how can this story create the most meaningful connection?

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One story. Many ways in.

The medium changes. The connection is the throughline.

The idea behind the work

The Power of Feeling Seen

What happens when people feel genuinely seen?

Joy's TEDx talk explores the power of creating the conditions for people to reveal themselves — and what becomes possible when we meet one another with attention, acceptance, and curiosity.

Joy Lau — “The Power of Feeling Seen”, TEDx

The work

Different challenges. Different forms. The same attention to people.

A still from a Storyjoy documentary film
  • Giving People a Voice
  • Creating Connection

Film

From Emmy-nominated documentaries and animated Get Out the Vote music videos to social media content, our work in moving images takes many forms. What connects it all is a belief that every story has a deeper truth waiting to be uncovered, and that even the smallest moment can leave a lasting impression.

Film / Documentary · Animation / Visual Storytelling

A Storyjoy cultural project installed in a museum education space
  • Making Complexity Human
  • Creating Connection

Art & Culture

It's through the lens of art and design that we address and frame challenges, not as a product but as a philosophy.

Exhibition / Installation · Animation / Visual Storytelling

A digital storytelling experience designed by Storyjoy
  • Building Trust
  • Creating Connection

Technology

What's the secret behind our digital storytelling? We treat every story as a conversation with a real person. Because at the end of the day, your audience isn't an algorithm. It's human.

Digital Experience · Campaign / Public Engagement

An illustration made for an educational Storyjoy project
  • Making Complexity Human
  • Inviting Participation

Academia

We're drawn to complex ideas and difficult questions, then finding ways to make them accessible, not just understood, but felt in a tangible way.

Facilitated Conversation · Digital Experience

People gathered together at a Storyjoy live event
  • Building Community
  • Inviting Participation

Events

We design, promote, and create in-person events where attendees leave with the lasting knowledge that they're part of a bigger movement. We've collaborated with cultural institutions, schools, and houses of worship to build bridges across cultures and generations.

Live Gathering · Community / Participatory Experience

See all of the work →

In their words

What happens when people come together

Joy Lau is not only a visual storyteller; she is an artisan weaver, bringing together people from diverse communities and helping them to see what common threads they share. Her leadership in our events helped to build community, each time they happened.

Leah FowlerCollaboratorBuild Community
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The forms

The form follows the experience.

One project often moves through several forms. The medium is flexible; the human experience is the throughline.

  1. Conversation
  2. Film
  3. Gathering
  4. Digital
  5. Community
  • Film & Documentary
  • Animation & Visual Storytelling
  • Facilitated Conversations
  • Community & Participatory Experiences
  • Live Gatherings
  • Campaigns & Public Engagement
  • Digital Experiences

Who we work with

For institutions that bring people together.

Storyjoy works with organizations navigating moments when people, ideas, communities, or missions need to come into closer connection.

Cultural institutions
Museums, arts organizations, cultural organizations, and institutions shaping how people encounter history, identity, and ideas.
Education & academia
Universities, schools, educators, and organizations creating meaningful learning and exchange.
Civic & community
Organizations working across neighborhoods, communities, public life, and shared questions.
Nonprofit
Organizations bringing people together around missions, issues, and communities.
Mission-driven companies
Organizations using their platforms, products, people, or influence to create meaningful social or cultural impact.
Public agencies
Institutions communicating complex issues and engaging the people they serve.
Brands & campaigns
Organizations that need to build trust, create connection, or move people toward participation.
Film & media
Projects using story to bring audiences into deeper relationship with people, ideas, or communities.

In good company

NYC Media
Queens Museum
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council
NYC Mayor's Office of Media & Entertainment
Talk Decoded
Rappler
Think Design
Middle Church
The Riverside Church
Comix Home Base

What could happen if people felt invited to connect?

Tell us what you're trying to bring people together around.

Start a conversationhello@storyjoy.nyc