Animation is an essential medium for marketers and businesses looking to connect with their audiences and inform them in an easily digestible and accessible way. With animated content, you can create dynamic and engaging content that captures and holds viewers’ attention while creatively sharing your message.
According to Vivienne McCone, senior graphic designer and our expert on all things animated, many of CONNECTIVE’s clients seek out animated videos to help explain complicated processes to their clients, providing them with an easier, simplified experience. “For example, we work with organizations that help people get access to affordable housing,” she said. “With these animated videos, we’re able to create step-by-step guides that help people navigate the application process by breaking it down into simple, easy-to-understand steps.”
We asked Vivienne to pull back the curtain and shed some light on the animation process and share her insights on how animated content can help organizations effectively communicate with their audiences.
Animation as a Tool for Accessibility
As Vivienne said, animated videos are great for communicating complicated topics and processes. With these videos, we’re able to combine communication methods to be more inclusive and reach as many people as possible, regardless of ability or learning style. Instead of reading a long, text-heavy guide to understand a given topic, an animated video can combine important copy with images and other features to help viewers digest information visually and audibly.
While animated content itself isn’t an accessibility tool, Vivienne shared that, “We really focus on intentionally increasing accessibility with animation. When we’re creating a video we’re thinking through how each frame can help increase understanding in a visually interesting way.”
For an animated video, we’ll likely include:
- Engaging animations that keep viewers’ attention and show them the process
- Helpful voice-overs that walk them through the process and explain the video
- Closed Captioning for people who are hard of hearing or who want to read along
- Screenshots and actual photos of forms they may encounter in the process
- Easy access – videos can be added to websites like YouTube or Vimeo and can be accessed on mobile devices
- Translation services to ensure members of the audience who speak another language can understand the content fully in their native language
- Video transcripts that can be read by screen readers for people who are visually impaired
For this project, our team combined video and animation to create a great final product for our client.
Anatomy of Effective Animation
Creating effective animations is precise, time-intensive work. At every step, the designers are putting in the work to ensure each image, movement, transition and detail looks perfect, infusing a high level of craftsmanship into every frame. “A lot of animation is: you know what it’s going to look like, you know your goal, you just have to do the planning and the work to get it there,” Vivienne shared. “It’s a really creative, collaborative process.”
Collaboration
According to Vivienne, “The animation process is extremely collaborative, which is part of what makes it fun!” Throughout the entire process, the designer will work with other members of the team – other designers, the account lead and copywriters – to discuss the project, get feedback and collaborate on solutions and designs.
Go Deep
Before the actual illustrating and animating begin, designers are doing the prep work needed to create an effective, dynamic and visually pleasing final product. “We start by reviewing the brief from the client, creating the storyboard and reading the script developed by the copywriters so we can get a good understanding of the project and set a strong foundation,” Vivienne said. “Then we go and do our own research and create a plan for how we’re going to approach the animation. We want to understand the topic of the video so that we can make informed design choices.”
The Animation Plan
From there, the designer will delve deeper into the animation plan, thinking through design details and transitions between “scenes.” Creating strong transitions is important for establishing visual continuity and making sure the video flows smoothly. At this step, the designer will start sketching out their ideas and build upon the existing storyboard.
Illustration and Asset Development
Every animated video starts out as a series of still images. The designer will work with the sketches they created, the storyboard, creative brief and script to develop illustrations that will eventually be animated for the final product. While in this phase of development, the designer might play around with design elements to land on the right style and look for the video.
The Rough Cut
During this stage, the designer will focus on establishing good bones for the final product and working out the kinks in the design. The rough cut allows the team to get an idea on the length of the video, determine what cuts – if any – need to be made and add in a rough version of the voice-over.
Polishing and Details
After the rough cut has been approved by the client, the designer will put their animation skills to work as they begin the process of creating the final video. Here, they’ll focus on every detail, add transitions and continue to collaborate with the team while creating a client-ready, final product.
In addition to the actual animation, the team will focus on putting the finishing touches to the video, including making the final selections for background music and voice-over. Finalizing the voice-over includes determining the “voice” they want for the video – is it gruff? Cheerful? Do they have a specific gender in mind for the voice-over artist? VO artists will be able to audition and then the team will make their final selection.
Ready for the Client
Once everyone on the team has approved the video, it’s ready to go to the client! Our team will work with the client to distribute the video to their audience, which can look like adding it to their website, sharing it on social media, sending it directly to their customers or another method, depending on their goals.
CONNECTING with Animation
Animated videos can be incredibly effective for businesses looking to communicate with their audiences. Whether your business is looking to create a detail-focused explainer video, something a little more fun and entertaining or anything in between, the CONNECTIVE team is ready to jump in and use their expertise to bring your vision to life! Learn more about our video and animation services: https://connectiveagency.com/services/video-motion/
