
With the recent trend of social media apps prioritizing short-form videos over still text and images, it's no surprise that video learning is becoming an increasingly important aspect of the educational experience. In fact, a recent survey found that 98% of educators and students believe that videos have a part to play in personalized learning experiences (Kaltura, 2019).
This means that, whether you're an educator, content creator, or business, videos need to be part of your education strategy.
One powerful tool for achieving this is 2D animation. This blog will explore why 2D animation is a great choice for your educational content, as well as the step-by-step process involved in creating an educational video of your own.
Why 2D Animation Works in Education
While there are many valid reasons for choosing to go the live-action route for your educational videos, 2D animation has certain upsides that are hard to beat. Here are three key reasons why 2D animation is the perfect medium for educational videos:
Versatility in showing different concepts
Controlled pacing of the material
Opportunity to develop a character for branding purposes
Let's go through each bullet point in more detail.
Versatility
Let's think about how subjects like math and science are often taught in the classroom. Usually, a professor will draw out diagrams, charts, and algorithms on a whiteboard to explain these concepts.
This is exactly why whiteboard animation is so popular. With 2D animation, you get to replicate this exact classroom experience with a polished video that your audience can replay as many times as they want.
Now think about language learning. Often, new vocabulary and sentence structures are taught using boring flashcards. With 2D animation, you can replicate the flashcard experience but make it more entertaining and colorful.
With young audiences, you can turn your vocab lesson into a fun song that they'll want to listen to over and over again!
With 2D animation, there is no limit to how you can make your teaching material more fun and accessible. If you can imagine it, it can be drawn.
Pacing
When you choose to animate an educational video, you get to have complete control over the video's pacing that's hard to replicate with a real life actor or professor.
Watching a person on screen repeat a word several times or slow down their speech can seem... well, awkward.
When you have a real person on camera, we as the viewers want to see them saying or doing something at all times. It's why movie actors will find "business" to do if their character isn't doing much in a scene.
With 2D animation, you can avoid this by having your visual content fill the screen at whatever pacing you feel is optimal for your audience.
Of course, there are advantages to having a real person explain your concepts, and you may want to use a combination of live-action and 2D animation for your videos to get the best of both worlds.
Branding
We're all familiar with the Duolingo owl, right?
That kind of global recognition is possible when you design a 2D animated character to represent your company.
Unless you are the face of your business, a cartoon mascot will always be superior to an actor when it comes to branding and marketing.
Plus, your mascot will never age and will always be available for work whenever you need it.
2D character animation can be a more time-consuming and pricey option, but if you're planning on creating learning content for the long-term, the advantages are hard to beat.
Steps to Create Engaging Educational Content with 2D Animation
Now that we've gone over the benefits of 2D animation for educational content, let's go through the step-by-step process for creating your first 2D animated educational video:
Define Your Learning Objectives: Before diving into the animation process, clearly outline your educational goals. What do you want your learners to achieve by the end of the lesson? Defining learning objectives helps ensure that the content is focused and relevant.
Develop a Strong Script: The script is the backbone of your video. It should be clear, concise, and aligned with your learning objectives. If you're not comfortable writing the script, you can hire a screenwriter to write one for you.
Create A Storyboard: Storyboarding is an essential step in the animation process. It involves sketching out each scene of the animation to visualize how the story will unfold. You can draw a rough storyboard or hire a storyboard artist or animation studio to create one for you.
Design Engaging Characters (Optional): If you are choosing to have characters for your videos, you can spend some time sketching them out, if you have a creative background. However, you will need a character turnaround, and that is best done by a character artist or animation studio. Make sure your characters have appeal and are relatable to your audience.
Focus on Quality Audio: Narration, sound effects, and background music play a significant role in animation. High-quality audio helps convey the message clearly and keeps learners engaged. Choose voice actors who match the tone and style of your content and music that is upbeat but not distracting.
Animate Your Video or Hire an Animation Studio: If you have a background in animation, then you're ready to get to work animating your video! Otherwise, this is where you'll need to hire an animation studio. You'll want to research different studios and check out their reels to see which one is right for your content.
Conclusion
2D animation is a powerful tool for creating engaging educational content that can captivate learners and enhance their understanding of complex subjects. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can produce high-quality animated content that not only entertains but also educates.
Whether you’re teaching young students or training professionals, 2D animation offers a versatile and effective way to deliver your message.
Ready to bring your educational content to life today? At Kris Animation Studio, we can create everything you need for your video—from the script and storyboard to the characters and animation.
If you'd like to discuss your project with us, you can schedule a free consultation here.
Written by Michelle Domanowski
Michelle is the Founder of Kris Animation Studio and a writer with an MFA in Screenwriting from Florida State University. At KAS, she leads creative projects that blend innovative storytelling with dynamic visual artistry. When writing for herself, she loves working on horror movies that keep her awake at night.
Comentarios