Ever had a moment where no matter how you try to explain something, it never makes sense to the other person? Doesn’t matter how, when, where, who, what, why, and even if there’s other people involved, what’s to be explained just can’t be understood?
Is the message too hard to decode? Are you explaining something the listener isn’t able to relate to their lifestyle? What is the message in general?
First, comes the what. What are you trying to say? What do you want to say? What is your audience?
Second, the who. Who are you talking to? Are there a communication barrier where words aren’t understood entirely?
Third, the why. Why do you want to say said message? What are you trying to say? What makes your message different than other people?
I’ll provide some examples of good messages in various art forms:
Grand Master Flash – The Message (Song about life in the city)
Grand Master Flash – White Lies (Song about drug use)
DMX – Damien III (Song regarding how to handle the devil)
Player – Baby Come Back (Song regarding that special someone to come back)
The Charlie Daniel’s Band – The Devil went down to Georgia (Song about taking a big risk with the Devil)
Metal Gear Solid (Video Game regarding a nuclear threat. Also has one of the biggest plot twists in all gaming)
Street Fighter 2 The World Warrior (The video game that started esports)
Final Fantasy (The video game that saved a company from bankruptcy)
Super Mario Bros. (The game that saved video gaming from the crash of ’83)
Notice how the list doesn’t count art as in paintings/drawings/digital? Because art doesn’t always mean creating a picture.
Art can also be a metaphor – example – The art of war by Sun Tzu.
The Royal Assassin 