Communicating clearly to “lay people” can be a real challenge for even the brightest minds in complex fields such as science, medicine or technology. When teams are immersed in the sophistication of their innovation, translating that value to outsiders doesn’t always come naturally. Yet if no one understands what you’re building, even the most world-changing work risks getting lost in the noise.
Too often, the urge is to painstakingly explain everything, to validate every detail with rigorous context. Over-explanation, though, is where narrative wobbles. Audiences get a lot of detail but lose the plot. The irony is that simplification isn’t about dilution, it’s about concentration – zeroing in on what matters and bringing greater structure to the story.
Sapien Labs, a neuroscience-driven nonprofit focused on global mind health, faced this challenge acutely. They had spent years building one of the most rigorous, scalable approaches to measuring and improving mind health across education, government, healthcare and beyond, applicable at any scale — from small communities to entire nations. The science was there, the evidence and case studies were there, what wasn’t landing yet was the narrative.
So, how do you take something as complex as brain science — or quantum computing or decentralized finance – and make it resonate?
Pick an Audience
A common pitfall for complex brands is the fear of excluding anyone. The logic goes, “Our work can help everyone, so we should speak to everyone.” Broad messaging leads to diluted impact. High-complexity brands should start by identifying who really matters for their next leap forward.
For Sapien Labs, that meant honing in on the audience that matters most first: entrepreneurial, disruption-minded donors, those seeking new approaches with the potential to scale. When you define your audience with ruthless specificity, you can filter your complexity through their lens.
For these investors, the story isn't just about "doing good", it's about leverage and outsize impact. So we carefully crafted a story that connects Sapien Labs’ innovative model — rather than all the detail about the science — to these goals.
Distill a Brutally Simple Flow
Whether you’re working on an investor pitch, a sales presentation or a consumer-facing website, we find it critical to craft a simple, narrative out of a sequence of hard-to-refute building blocks that elegantly lead your key audience from problem to solution. For Sapien Labs, the flow was simply this: mind health is in measurable decline; Sapien Labs has identified the underlying drivers; and they’ve proven there’s an efficient, scalable way to diagnose, act and track improvements for any specific population on earth.
Reducing a story to something this fundamental unlocks understanding for anyone, regardless of their technical knowledge. Once you have this in place, you can add the right amount of color and detail without losing the shape of the story.
Don’t Gloss Over the “Problem”
Always build outward from a need state your audience will recognize. Only introduce your solution once the reader is primed to care. If you do a good job defining what’s at stake, what’s changing, or what’s being threatened, you’re likely halfway there. Ask, how can you frame this in a way that others miss?
Put the Solution in Real-Word Terms
Once the problem is defined, the solution needs to feel as real as possible, regardless of the status of the endeavor or product at hand. In the case of Sapien Labs, the solution was very real indeed: they have live applications of their model in market that are already showing remarkable improvements in a remarkably short time frame.
So we framed their story as a better model in universal, application-agnostic terms — but quickly brought this down to earth through the lens of real, human applications in education.
This also made it easy to modulate the story by a particular audience’s area of interest, level of expertise or even patience, without breaking the narrative spine. Education became the lead example because it made the stakes immediate and visible. A school district is easier to picture than a nation…even though Sapien’s system can scale to both.
Get Your “Terms of Art” Right
Seemingly subtle word choices can make a huge difference. When Sapien Labs shifted its language from the clinical to the more accessible “mind health,” this reframed their work as a conversation about human potential instead of a more narrow pathology.
The right language becomes a living tool for a brand and its team – clear, distinct and actionable, ensuring everyone can communicate the same simple story, no matter the expertise of the audience.
Simplification is a Sign of Respect
Simplification isn't about "dumbing it down." It is about respecting your audience enough to do the hard work of synthesis for them. By defining your audience, crystallizing your argument, and using a narrative structure to contextualize your complexity, you can turn barriers to entry into bridges of understanding.
BIO
Kriston is a brand strategist, creative director and former Head of Marketing. Prior to Love & War, he led the branding practice at Addison, was Director of Verbal Branding at FutureBrand and worked independently with agencies including Siegel+Gale, R/GA and frog. He co-founded the US Air Guitar Championships and his work has won CLIOs as well as SXSW Audience Awards for both film and interactive.
Communicating clearly to “lay people” can be a real challenge for even the brightest minds in complex fields such as science, medicine or technology. When teams are immersed in the sophistication of their innovation, translating that value to outsiders doesn’t always come naturally. Yet if no one understands what you’re building, even the most world-changing work risks getting lost in the noise.
Too often, the urge is to painstakingly explain everything, to validate every detail with rigorous context. Over-explanation, though, is where narrative wobbles. Audiences get a lot of detail but lose the plot. The irony is that simplification isn’t about dilution, it’s about concentration – zeroing in on what matters and bringing greater structure to the story.
Sapien Labs, a neuroscience-driven nonprofit focused on global mind health, faced this challenge acutely. They had spent years building one of the most rigorous, scalable approaches to measuring and improving mind health across education, government, healthcare and beyond, applicable at any scale — from small communities to entire nations. The science was there, the evidence and case studies were there, what wasn’t landing yet was the narrative.
So, how do you take something as complex as brain science — or quantum computing or decentralized finance – and make it resonate?
Pick an Audience
A common pitfall for complex brands is the fear of excluding anyone. The logic goes, “Our work can help everyone, so we should speak to everyone.” Broad messaging leads to diluted impact. High-complexity brands should start by identifying who really matters for their next leap forward.
For Sapien Labs, that meant honing in on the audience that matters most first: entrepreneurial, disruption-minded donors, those seeking new approaches with the potential to scale. When you define your audience with ruthless specificity, you can filter your complexity through their lens.
For these investors, the story isn't just about "doing good", it's about leverage and outsize impact. So we carefully crafted a story that connects Sapien Labs’ innovative model — rather than all the detail about the science — to these goals.
Distill a Brutally Simple Flow
Whether you’re working on an investor pitch, a sales presentation or a consumer-facing website, we find it critical to craft a simple, narrative out of a sequence of hard-to-refute building blocks that elegantly lead your key audience from problem to solution. For Sapien Labs, the flow was simply this: mind health is in measurable decline; Sapien Labs has identified the underlying drivers; and they’ve proven there’s an efficient, scalable way to diagnose, act and track improvements for any specific population on earth.
Reducing a story to something this fundamental unlocks understanding for anyone, regardless of their technical knowledge. Once you have this in place, you can add the right amount of color and detail without losing the shape of the story.
Don’t Gloss Over the “Problem”
Always build outward from a need state your audience will recognize. Only introduce your solution once the reader is primed to care. If you do a good job defining what’s at stake, what’s changing, or what’s being threatened, you’re likely halfway there. Ask, how can you frame this in a way that others miss?
Put the Solution in Real-Word Terms
Once the problem is defined, the solution needs to feel as real as possible, regardless of the status of the endeavor or product at hand. In the case of Sapien Labs, the solution was very real indeed: they have live applications of their model in market that are already showing remarkable improvements in a remarkably short time frame.
So we framed their story as a better model in universal, application-agnostic terms — but quickly brought this down to earth through the lens of real, human applications in education.
This also made it easy to modulate the story by a particular audience’s area of interest, level of expertise or even patience, without breaking the narrative spine. Education became the lead example because it made the stakes immediate and visible. A school district is easier to picture than a nation…even though Sapien’s system can scale to both.
Get Your “Terms of Art” Right
Seemingly subtle word choices can make a huge difference. When Sapien Labs shifted its language from the clinical to the more accessible “mind health,” this reframed their work as a conversation about human potential instead of a more narrow pathology.
The right language becomes a living tool for a brand and its team – clear, distinct and actionable, ensuring everyone can communicate the same simple story, no matter the expertise of the audience.
Simplification is a Sign of Respect
Simplification isn't about "dumbing it down." It is about respecting your audience enough to do the hard work of synthesis for them. By defining your audience, crystallizing your argument, and using a narrative structure to contextualize your complexity, you can turn barriers to entry into bridges of understanding.
BIO
Kriston is a brand strategist, creative director and former Head of Marketing. Prior to Love & War, he led the branding practice at Addison, was Director of Verbal Branding at FutureBrand and worked independently with agencies including Siegel+Gale, R/GA and frog. He co-founded the US Air Guitar Championships and his work has won CLIOs as well as SXSW Audience Awards for both film and interactive.
Further Reading
