MYA is a charity dedicated to providing innovative support and opportunities for young people across Merseyside.
Since 1890 MYA has been creating real, wide-reaching change that ensures children and young people are better equipped to shape their own futures.
Alternative Futures Group (AFG) is one of the largest not-for-profit Health and Social Care charities in the North West.
AFG has been changing lives, creating independence and achieving great outcomes for the brilliant people it supports for over 30 years – that is something that really matters.
Creating an explainer animation is a great way to communicate complex ideas in an engaging and easy-to-understand way. Whether you’re explaining a new product, service, or concept, an explainer animation can help you grab your audience’s attention and keep them engaged. In this post, we’ll take you through the steps involved in creating an explainer animation, from planning and storyboarding to animation and sound design.
Step 1: Planning and Scripting
The first step in creating an explainer animation is to plan out the overarching aim, messages and script. Start by identifying the key concepts you want to explain and write them down in a clear and concise way. This will help your project stay on track and ensure that your animation is focused and effective from the outset.
Once you have your key concepts in mind, start writing your script. This should be written in a tone and style that reflects the audience you want to engage. Keep in mind that your goal is to communicate complex ideas in a simple and engaging way, so use simple language and avoid jargon.
Step 2: Storyboarding
Once you have your script, the next step is to create a storyboard. A storyboard is a visual representation of your script that shows how each scene will be presented in your animation. It’s a critical step in the process because it allows you to visualise your animation and make sure that it flows smoothly from scene to scene.
To create a storyboard, start by sketching out your scenes on paper or on screen. You don’t need to be a great artist; simple stick figures and rough sketches are enough. Your storyboard should include all the key elements of each scene, such as characters and backgrounds.
Step 3: Visual Design
The next step is to create the visual design for your animation. This involves creating the characters, backgrounds, and other visual elements that will be used in your animation. This can be based on your brand identity and a suite of existing assets, or you may want to develop something from scratch.
When designing your visuals, keep in mind your target audience and the tone of your animation. If your target audience is young children, for example, you might want to use bright colours and simple shapes. If your animation is more serious or professional, you might want to use more muted colours and realistic designs.
Step 4: Animation
Once you have your storyboard and visuals, the next step is to create the animation itself. This involves bringing your visuals to life using animation software. There are many animation software options available, such as Adobe After Effects, Toon Boom, and Animaker.
When creating your animation, it’s important to keep your storyboard in mind and make sure that each scene flows smoothly into the next. Use sound effects and music to enhance your animation and make it more engaging.
Step 5: Sound Design
Finally, the last step is to add sound to your animation. This involves creating sound effects, a voice over and adding music to your animation. Sound effects can help enhance the visuals and make your animation more engaging, while music can help set the tone and mood of your animation.
When creating your sound design, it’s important to use high-quality sound effects and music that match the tone and mood of your animation. You can find many royalty-free sound effects and music tracks online, or you can hire a sound designer to create custom sound effects, voice over and music for your animation.In conclusion, creating an explainer animation takes planning, storyboarding, visual design, animation, and sound design. By following these steps, you can create an engaging and effective explainer animation that communicates complex ideas in a simple and engaging way. With a little practice and patience, you can create explainer animations that educate, entertain, and inspire your audience.
We work with many organisations to create a wide range of animations to being their brands, projects and campaigns to life – get in touch if you’d like to explore working together on your next project.
We have worked with Dyslexia Scotland for many years, developing and supporting their digital assets, corporate site, youth-focused hub, and online educational toolkit.
We were recently recommissioned to undertake a ground-up redesign and build of Dyslexia Scotland’s main charity website using best practice accessibility, as well as specific consideration to dyslexic users.
Working closely with Dyslexia Scotland, we identified their plan for business growth and how their website could facilitate it. As a result, we developed a new online platform providing both a flexible WordPress based CMS to provide them the freedom to manage their content, but also an integrated ecommerce store and customised subscription system to allow them to expand their digital product offering, increase their market reach and pursue the objectives from their strategic plan.
The platform consists of a new front end with a refreshed look and feel that has been built from the ground up with dyslexia-friendly accessibility in mind. It enables users to access a wealth of content and resources, purchase a membership subscription that unlocks premium content and resources, as well as make stand-alone purchases from the shop. We have also integrated EventBrite and JustGiving into the platform allowing for a seamless process when collecting donations or running charitable events.
The new platform now places greater emphasis on donations and memberships, as well as allowing them to raise additional funds through the sale of products and educational content using online payments. Ultimately helping them to achieve their goals of creating a dyslexia-friendly Scotland.
Dyslexia Scotland provides support to people with dyslexia, allowing them to feel confident in their abilities and improving their quality of life. We value communications that matter, and Dyslexia Scotland’s mission matters to us and to the lives of many people impacted by dyslexia.
We are proud to have supported Dyslexia Scotland by scaling their ability to have a positive impact on people’s lives.
The visual identity was developed to communicate the warmth and connection of the ‘reading revolution’ at the heart of The Reader’s work.
It aims to communicate all aspects of The Reader’s brand to reflect who they are today – a warm, radical and dynamic organisation that has literature and people at its heart.
The updated identity includes a refined version of The Reader’s previous organisational logo that will help the charity to attract a more age-diverse audience as it looks to scale its reading revolution. The simplified design has been chosen to work better across digital platforms.
We also created a family of sub-brands for the visitor experiences on offer at The Reader at Calderstones. These range from The Reader Storybarn, an imaginative playspace dedicated to the delights of reading for pleasure in families, to The Reader’s social enterprises, including the Café and Ice Cream Parlour, which generate revenues to support the charity’s work with communities.
The identity was developed in a pragmatic fashion, using practical working sessions with senior leaders from The Reader to define a clear brand hierarchy and strategy, ahead of developing visual approaches and brand guidelines in a timeframe of just eight weeks.
The Reader believes that the unique power of literature has the potential to connect individuals, help us feel better and to rebuild lost social bonds.
It brings people together and books to life in order to make warmer, healthier, stronger communities.
This was a wonderful project to be involved with an organisation that has incredible ambitions to grow its social impact and deliver lasting impact to the communities it serves and the wider health and well-being sector.
Working with the existing Windmills Foundation identity, we initially created a visual concept for the site which was fresh and clean, whilst also aligning with wider communications and collateral that Windmills had produced.
This was then taken into development using WordPress in which we developed a three tier menu to enable easy navigation of the wide range of resources in a sustainable manner. Take a look at the site.
Windmills Foundation has a vision to creatively collaborate with like-minded partners on exciting projects that inspire and empower young people to live their best lives and make their unique difference in the world. They take a whole life, whole person, whole organisation, whole community approach.
Empowering young people to be in control of their choices and their future is so important, and the role that Windmills Foundation plays in enabling this is fantastic.
Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (LUHFT) was formed through a merger of Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital Trust.
As a new organisation, it became one of the largest acute trusts in the country and one of the biggest employers in the region with an annual budget of £930 million. Unlike many other NHS mergers, the merger was driven by the clinical staff, who made the case for bringing the two organisations together in order to improve patient care.
We were commissioned by LUHFT to establish a clear brand framework for how it communicates its vision, values and strategic objectives in a way that is meaningful to all stakeholders.
Using an evidence-based approach we initially carried out a wide range of engagement with LUHFTs diverse stakeholders from patients, staff and senior management through to partners, regulators and Board members. This was used as a foundation that informed a written brand narrative, positioning and tone of voice that:
With the written brand story in place we then moved on to consider the visual expression of the brand; developing a unique look and feel, brand architecture and a comprehensive set of brand guidelines to inform how the brand should be brought to life across the organisation’s many touchpoints.
Following a period of robust testing of all aspects of the new brand amongst key stakeholder groups, it was approved for roll-out and we worked with LUFHT to deliver a range of priority communications initiatives including the roll-out of the new organisational values and strategic reports; alongside collateral to embed the new brand across video, screensavers, email, posters, infographics and more.
LUHFT is an anchor institution for the Liverpool City Region. It has a huge role to play in the future health and prosperity of our region, so it was vital to deliver a brand that connected with the region and the future ambition of the organisation to facilitate its growing impact.
This was a fantastic project to work on with a flagship organisation in our region. The close collaboration with multiple stakeholders throughout from initial research through to testing and implementation allowed us to develop a brand that was authentic to LUHFT and its future.
Windmills Foundation develops innovative approaches and resources that enable young people to create their vision for the future.
Windmills Foundation has a vision to creatively collaborate with like-minded partners on exciting projects that inspire and empower young people to live their best lives and make their unique difference in the world. They take a whole life, whole person, whole organisation, whole community approach.
The Reader is a national charity that wants to bring about a reading revolution, so that everyone can experience and enjoy great literature, which it believe is a tool for helping humans survive and live well.
The Reader believes that the unique power of literature has the potential to connect individuals, help us feel better and to rebuild lost social bonds.
It brings people together and books to life in order to make warmer, healthier, stronger communities.
Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation (IFCF) has donated an incredible £30 million to date since its launch in 1973.
IFCF has a mission: to make life better for people.That’s why it raises money and awareness for good causes – and because it believes it’s simply the right thing to do.