NARRATIVE DESIGN FOR CHANGE MAKERS

We build narrative systems for organizations where complexity is the norm, not the exception.

The Brand Building Shop (TBBS) is a strategic consultancy founded by Emiliano Portino, specialized in Narrative Systems Design (NSD), the discipline of designing story, structure, and messaging as organizational infrastructure, not as communication output.

We work upstream of campaigns, content, and branding. Our clients are founders, CEOs, and organizational leaders navigating transitions: mergers, growth pivots, capital raises, and multi-stakeholder alignment challenges.

Coherence across all levels of your organization determines your position with investors, partners, and the market.

No company made a great breakthrough because of an Instagram post. But many disappeared because of a wrong phrase from a leader, or a message that contradicted what the company claimed to stand for.

Every gap in organizational consistency is a liability. And in polarized environments, the effect is exponential.

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What is Narrative Systems Design?

Narrative Systems Design (NSD) is the practice of designing the story architecture, messaging infrastructure, and communication logic. It allows complex organizations to speak with one voice across leadership, sales, fundraising, and operations.

It is not branding. It is not content marketing. It operates upstream of both.

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What is Narrative Systems Design?

Narrative Systems Design (NSD) is the practice of designing the story architecture, messaging infrastructure, and communication logic. It allows complex organizations to speak with one voice across leadership, sales, fundraising, and operations.

It is not branding. It is not content marketing. It operates upstream of both.

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How is Narrative Systems Design different from branding?

Branding asks "what does this look like?" Narrative Systems Design asks "what is the system that makes the story consistent, scalable, and actionable — regardless of who is telling it?" One produces outputs. The other builds the architecture those outputs express.

You can have a strong visual identity and still have leadership, fundraising, and sales telling three different stories. NSD solves the fragmentation. Branding expresses the solution.

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Where does Narrative Systems Design come from?

The discipline draws from narrative design in game development, where story architects design the logic, characters, and world that guide users through an experience. Applied to organizations, the same methodology shapes how stakeholders, funders, clients, and teams understand what an organization does, why it matters, and how everything connects.

TBBS founder Emiliano Portino applies Narrative Systems Design to organizational brand strategy, drawing on Robert Shiller's Narrative Economics, Yuval Harari's research on how shared narratives shape collective behavior.

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When your organization grows, your story fragments.

THE SIGNS:

Different teams describe the work differently. Leadership, fundraising, and marketing tell three versions of the same story. New programs get named without a naming logic. Stakeholders — boards, funders, investors, partners — leave conversations with inconsistent impressions. Decisions slow down because the organizing principle isn’t visible.

This is not a communication problem. It is a systems problem.

 

THE COST IS REAL:

Fragmented narrative erodes trust with stakeholders. It slows fundraising cycles and sales conversations. It creates internal misalignment that compounds in execution. And it prevents organizations from owning the category they’ve built.

 

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Built for leaders navigating organizational complexity.

Tech founders and startups preparing for their next raise.

Investors don’t fund confusion.

Your product evolved. Your market shifted. Your narrative didn’t keep up. We design the strategic story that makes your complexity legible. For your investors, partners, and the market.

Organizations in transition: mergers, acquisitions, and strategic pivots.

The moment two organizations become one, or one organization becomes something new, is the highest-risk moment for narrative fragmentation. We build the systems that make the transition legible — internally and externally.

Investors and portfolio companies that need narrative alignment across holdings.

When a portfolio grows, inconsistent positioning compounds.

We design the narrative architecture that clarifies how each company relates to the whole, strengthening individual GTM and the collective story.

Founders, CEOs & Executives who need a personal narrative that matches the organization they lead.

A leader whose public presence contradicts the organizational story creates noise at the top. We align both.

 

Foundations and mission-driven organizations managing program complexity.

When your ecosystem grows across programs, regions, or verticals, stakeholders stop seeing the whole.

We design the architecture that makes the full picture navigable, for boards, funders, and partners.

If your organization is growing, your brand needs a narrative system, not another campaign.

You work directly with Emiliano Portino, not an account manager. Supported by a curated team of strategists and designers, we build the narrative system your organization needs to grow with clarity.