Jargogle Studios works with teams from the entertainment and digital experience space to to craft concise, elegant narrative experiences. Our narrative design methodology helps teams quickly and strategically align behind narrative structures that shape powerful experiences for customers.
Where we came from
The seed for Jargogle Studios was planted with oranges and mescal in 2012 when – over a casual conversation in Austin, Texas – long time friends Kyle Becker and Jonathan (Jona) Barceló-Iñiguez started comparing notes about narrative experience.
Jona’s background in film and literature had exposed him to the basic narrative frameworks used in the entertainment industry, but always felt that a few key concepts (such as the importance of midpoint) didn’t get as much attention as they deserved. Kyle’s background as an experience designer focused on the psychological relationships humans have with constructed artifacts and environments. The conversation evolved into a synthetic model for understanding narrative that the duo would name the narrative pyramid.
Over time, in their respective consulting careers, the Narrative Pyramid theory and its applications would continue to evolve. Jona used the narrative framework to organize media production with film and video game clients, and Kyle used it to organize UX design experiences and as a coaching tool for presentation design. In time, they would also create the Experience Canvas to design customer experiences with groups of stakeholders.
Jona
Jona has been shooting amateur movies since high school. His professional experience ranges from the video game industry [Riot Games, NC Soft, and Reality Crisis], film, where he worked as a narrative advisor for award-winning animated film “A Costume for Nicholas,” and in the digital startup scene where he has worked as both a qualitative consumer researcher and project manager for everything from 3D-projection mapped workout experiences to mobile games. Jona is a certified Scrum Master and Agile Coach, has a Full Stack Web Development certificate from Tec de Monterrey, and a B.A. in Spanish Language and Literature from the University of Texas. He is a more creative bass and guitar player than Kyle.
Kyle
Kyle cut his teeth working as an interaction designer for world-class experience design consultancy Frog Design where he built an expertise in UX design, design thinking, and qualitiative research working on teams that helped a host of top companies re-think the way they crafted experiences for their customers. Since then, he has helped creative teams in Latin America, China, and Myanmar work together to more efficiently produce artifacts that would resonate in the eyes of customers and users. Kyle is certified as a Scrum Master and Scrum Product Owner and holds a BFA in Design from the University of Kansas. He is currently working on a Full Stack Developer certification from the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Illinois. He is a more technical bass and guitar player than Jona.