How to simplify complex ideas with animation

You might know what’s it like to have a good idea but struggle to explain it to someone else. It could be that you’re an expert on the topic. But remember that your audience isn’t. Storyboarding is an effective way to simplify your idea. You can then tell this story using animation.

There are many aspects to animation that make it an ideal format for a brand looking to interact with a captive audience. In this blog, I will discuss the benefits of animation and the steps I take to simplify complex ideas.

The Benefits of Animation

54% of people want to see more video content from businesses. The array of elements such as music, moving graphics, rich colours and voice make animation a great way to engage your audience. Some of the benefits of animation include:

• The combination of text, voice and graphics stimulate many human senses, hence your message is more memorable.
•  Animation allows you to fit in more content in a short time e.g. watching a 60-sec video versus reading a 500-word article.
•  Moving graphics keep our senses more activated than text or static images.
•  You don’t need actual photographs of your product, if the product is still in development, isn’t visually appealing or you describe an intangible service.

Animation provides an opportunity to illustrate the value of your product or service.

The Pre-work for Animation

Here are several tips to make sure your complex idea is explained in an easy way, so potential clients can engage with you and your company and buy into your product or service. But there are several steps to take before you start the animation itself.

 Know your audience

Knowing your audience means that you can create an animation that engages them emotionally. You should know the demographics of your ideal client, developing a buyer persona that you can create content for.

A good place to start your research is to talk to your existing customers. Ask them why they come to you and what key problems you help them to solve. You can also use Google and your website analytics to develop a view of your ideal customers. You’ll also get an idea from the social media platforms that are relevant to your audience – this helps when it’s time to publish your animation.

 The smaller the target group, the better. For instance, go for salespeople with an engineering background and more than 10 years of work experience. This is a better target group than just “salespeople”.

Never try to target everyone. 

Good understanding of your product/service

You should know the challenges that your product/service solves for the client. It’s even better if you can show your audience how life is now and compare that with how life could be if they work with you. This way, you clearly highlight the benefits and likely outcomes.

Steps to building an animation

Now that you know your audience and the benefits of your product/service is clear. Great! You can engage someone like me, a graphic designer, to build your animation. I often get involved in the pre-work, helping businesses frame their understanding of their customers and the product.

The key steps that I take are:

Let’s go through the steps within each of these.

Writing a script

In this step, I work with my client to figure out what needs to be said in each sequence. We keep the language simple enough so that anyone can understand it.

The language needs to be familiar to the audience – that’s why you must understand your audience first.

Each sequence should be short and concise. Don’t try to explain every detail of your product or service, only the ones which are most relevant and beneficial to your audience. A general rule of thumb is around 120 words per minute of animation if you’re using a voiceover artist. 

Creating a storyboard  

Now that you have an understanding of what you want to say, I help add visuals to the words.

I take it scene by scene, telling a story in sequence. Each scene must have a purpose that makes the scene add value. The easiest way is to sketch the storyboard. If you are addressing your clients’ pain point, pick a character to show (not tell) how their challenge impacts their goals. Then show how you can help.

To make the visuals come alive, I create the graphics. My client and I will agree on a theme i.e. colour scheme and typography that is consistent with the company’s brand. I’d usually put my client’s logo at the start and end of the animation, ensuring that there’s a call-to-action to conclude.

Building the animation

You might be wondering what goes into actually building the animation. A lot of it is quite technical. But for a graphic designer, it’s the most exciting part! This is when everything comes together – and it’s a joy to see my client’s product/service come to life. There are key parts to note:

• Often, clients are not sure whether to use their own voices or someone else’s as part of the voiceover. There are pros and cons to each. Whatever you choose, make sure the voice talks slowly and clearly. The recorded voice determines the length of each scene.
•  At the storyboarding phase, it is important to review and ensure that the sketched storyboard portrays what you'd like to say. This is because once at the graphics stage, changing the animation is more time-consuming than changing the sketched storyboard.
•  I use Adobe After Effects to add movement to the graphics. My clients receive a rough version before I align all the movements with each scene. Seeing the animation at this stage gives you an idea of the direction that the animation is heading. It’s another opportunity to make slight changes.

When the client is happy with the animation, I apply the finishing touches and produce the final animation. This is thrilling – my clients usually can’t wait to see the final results!

 Publishing your animation

You need a platform to share your animation. This could be your website, YouTube, Vimeo and/or social media. Remember the first step – Know Your Audience? This is when it matters most. Share your video with your target audience in the places that they hang out.

 Share your animation a few times to reach as many people as possible. If you have different target groups, you might need more than one version of your video that is tweaked slightly for each group. Remember to be consistent.

If you’d like to use animation to communicate with your target audience, feel free to contact me for an informal chat by sending an email to [email protected]. I'd be happy to help!