Explainer animations are an essential tool for engaging audiences and turning complex subject matter into a concise story. We offer a diverse range of animation styles, and we’re strategic about which style is best aligned for a project.
For example, some styles of animation are more effective for public audiences, whereas other styles are more effective for engaging clinicians or researchers. Detailed and visually stunning animations are best for videos you want to use well into the future, whereas simper time-lapse videos may be better for short-term campaigns.
Custom-designed
Animation delivers the most value when it is tailored to your audience and your topics. In order to tell your story in an authentic and impactful way, we should be strategic about the design of the animation. This means being thoughtful about the best storytelling approach for your audience and your topic (What tone should we strike? What are the key messages the audience needs to know, and how should these be conveyed?). Therefore, everything we produce is custom-designed: we do not use any stock images, or re-use images between clients.
Depending on the project, before we start any design work, we may prepare a “mood board” of potential styles for the video. Mood boards show a range of textures, line work, colours, and character designs so we can have a conversation with you about what might work best for your audience.
Example of a mood board of different potential styles for an animation
Quick Draw Videos
Quick draw videos are perfect for projects with tight deadlines or limited budgets. As they’re the simplest and quickest animation to produce, they’re excellent for conveying your message without compromising quality.
Quick draw animations follow a compressed timeline, and are produced by the artist screen-recording themselves illustrating (for this reason, they’re sometimes called “time-lapse videos”). Because these are intended to be quicker projects, there is one opportunity for feedback during the storyboarding phase, so clients must trust our creative expertise in bringing their content to life.
Examples of quick draw animations:
- Financial Literacy for Indigenous Peoples
- Kitselas Treaty Self-Governance
- Our Ways of Education – Squamish Nation
Dynamic Line Animation
Dynamic line videos (also called whiteboard videos, sketch video, RSA style video) are similar to quick draw in that lines draw out and reveal scenes.
However, dynamic line videos have a more fulsome design process with multiple rounds of revision during script, storyboarding, and animation stages. For projects with sensitive or complex subject matter, rounds of revision help ensure the content is represented accurately.
Dynamic line videos also include more engaging openings and scenes, unique transitions between scenes, and thoughtful metaphors for storytelling — all of which contribute to a more memorable animation.
Examples of dynamic line animations:
- IBD Flare
- Engineers & Geoscientists of BC
- BCSPCA: Stray Cats
- David Suzuki Foundation: Gambling with Nature
We can also illustrate over live footage, such as in these examples:
Artistic Animations
Artistic animations are a hybrid between dynamic line videos and more advanced motion videos. They use rich colours, textures, and detailed characters for a more visually striking animation. Sometimes they incorporate elements from the dynamic line videos (lines drawing out), along with more detailed visuals.
These animations are perfect for “evergreen videos” you’ll want to showcase for years to come. With multiple feedback rounds during script, storyboard, and animation stages, we’ll work together to ensure the animation brings your content to life authentically and accurately.
Examples of artistic animations:
-
They Took Our Children (Content warning: residential schools)
- Co-Creating a Sustainable BC
Advanced Motion Animation
Advanced motion animations offer the highest level of detail, texture, and movement, creating an immersive storytelling experience. These animations should feel like you’ve been plunged into a unique world, with lots of interesting details and movement to delight the eye. These videos work well as showpieces for explaining a company’s vision, connecting people emotionally to a powerful story, or as videos intended to be “evergreen” beyond a single campaign or project.
As the most complex and time-intensive style, we have multiple rounds of feedback during script, storyboarding, and animation, so we can fine-tune every aspect of the animation.
Examples of advanced motion animations:
- Understanding Digestion (videos for children)
- Medicinal Cannabis
- AgriFORCE
- Red Cross: Community Based Health & First Aid
We have also produced stop-motion animations, which are similar in scope:
Have a complex topic you want to bring to life? Learn more about our animation process, or reach out – we’d love to hear your ideas!
