NESTA EXPLAINER SERIES

Demystifying novel ideas

Nesta, a global innovation foundation, deals with new and novel ideas, often in emerging fields. These concepts are often well understood amongst niche audiences and experts, but may seem like jargon for broader audiences. To continue in their endeavour to demystify their work, they commissioned us to create a set of explainer videos around concepts they often talk about in their communications.

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Copywriting • Illustration • Animation • Sound editing

Colourful illustration of a bee flying on a yellow background

Colourful illustration of a beaver wearing a hard hat, holding a chainsaw on a green background

Having gathered information from the people at Nesta who work closely with each concept, and carrying out our own desk research, we began to discuss how best to convey the information in a uniform yet innovate way. We built a first person question and answer structure for each video to follow. We then fleshed this out by writing scripts that used accessible and inclusive language to engage new audiences, whilst remaining technical enough so as not to alienate professional audiences.

Colourful illustration of a red and orange fish with air bubbles coming from it’s mouth, on a blue background

Colourful illustration of the inside of a bee hive, with bees circling above, in an abstract style

The brief had requested a playful, humorous element to the videos. We achieved this by using animals as metaphors for each concept. We drew original illustrations that added levity to the narration and brought the videos to life. These were animated with subtle yet streamline motions that brought a story-book quality to the illustrations.

Colourful illustration of an adult and baby elephant walking towards a vending machine full of fruit in a outdoor landscape with hills in the background

Instead of hiring voice actors, we had each concept owner from Nesta narrate the script they were associated with. This added another layer of relatability and humanity to the videos.

Colourful illustration of a group of fish swimming underwater, one very large blue one surrounded by some smaller orange and red fish.

Each video has been well received by audiences visiting the Nesta website and social channels.

Demystifying novel ideas

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