Focusing on science topics, the website sets out to educate and engage with students from junior, all the way to sixth form college. As part of a larger project, we were first tasked with creating a suite of 10 animations that explain the science of solids, liquids & gases. One challenge was the need for the animations to be informative, clear, and scientifically sound but at the same time appeal to and engage a younger audience. The use of video in education is crucial, as audiences have a much better chance of understanding and retaining information if it’s shared with them via a visual medium like an animation.
The process
To begin with, ABPI Schools already had 10 simple animations on the topics but they looked dated following the brand refresh and lacked inspiration. The narrative of the existing videos was still relevant and proved to be a good starting point for the creative process and for us to formulate the scripts and visual language.
With scripts for all 10 videos signed off, we began with the task of creating the storyboards. The first initial set of storyboards were rough scamps, which allowed us to get our concepts and ideas down onto paper in the most time-efficient way. To help with the engagement of a younger audience, it was our idea to include anthropomorphic characters within the animations to bring levity to each of the topics. Whether this was an ice cream that doesn’t want to melt or a balloon that reacts to being deflated, these characters help to inject fun into learning.
Once all ideas and concepts were signed off, we created a number of style-frames to help determine a look and feel for all the illustrations within the animations. Using their new brand as a guide, we quickly put together a final new look that was playful but could also be toned down for when the content needed to be more informative.
From the start, we knew that, aside from the illustration and animation, the sound would play a big part in the videos. Through contacts of the client, we were able to get a young recruit to help with recording a voiceover and they did a fantastic job. We also added some simple sound design to really elevate the animation.
Results
The combination of a fun illustrative style, characters, animation, a youthful voiceover, and sound design, results in a resource that will hopefully educate and engage kids in science learning for years to come. Please view the videos below and see if you learn a thing or two.
Engaging PowerPoint for a younger audience
In a continuation of this work for ABPI, we were asked to expand our approach to their educational animations into a PowerPoint template for presentations at British Science Week, and for further use with schools as an interactive training tool.Following the same creative theme as our set of videos, we designed an animated PowerPoint presentation. We made use of the transitional aspects of each slide, to bring key elements of our illustrations into view with movement. This combined with a simple dialogue and friendly illustrative style really brought the slides to life, making for a really engaging class-room presentation.
To find out more about how we plan, design and create animations in more detail, read our animation process presentation.
If you’re interested in other animated movies and explainer videos that we’ve created you can see these listed on our tothepoint vimeo channel. Or even better, to find out more simply get in touch with us.