2D Animation is an extremely useful medium for your product or service, and that’s true for whatever you do. It combines the best of video and interaction to create an experience for the viewer they won’t find in any other content presentation method.
So, how exactly can you put animation to use for your business? You can use it to explain your mission or your product, or you can use it to engage your customers with helpful tips or breathe taking content.
To get a better idea of animation’s amazing ability to make your point, we put together 5 ways animation explains your solution better than any other platform. Let’s take a look:
1. Explanations
Let’s say you have a large chunk of information to relay to your customers, but you know that a simple blog won’t cut it. This is where animation can come in handy.
Whether you create a full animation or you overlay your animations on video footage, you can really make a point by animating points that need to be highlighted. I’m sure you have seen this used before, as it tends to be popular for training materials or highlighting portions of your film that the user should be paying attention to.
Explanations tend to have words on them that are either facts or key information. They associate the ‘how to’ with a visual that can make a lasting impression on employees or customers.
2. Examples
You can animate examples of your topic to help people relate to exactly what you want to talk about.
Let’s use a spark plug company as an example. If a spark plug company wanted to show the difference between the ignition of their plugin comparison to the competitions, an animation of a combustion engine would be a great way to go their example.
They would be able to use animation to show the moving parts of the engine, so they could show how a normal engine’s spark combusts and another to show how their plugs ignite. They could slow down, pause, zoom in, and really bring focus to the hard to imagine facts of combustion in a gas motor.
3. Information
Much like explanations, information tends to be the before thought of an interaction. Animating useful information before a video example is a great way to help your viewers understand what they are about to watch.
Small information boxes that enter and exit the screen are also helpful for giving background facts without distracting the viewer from the importance of the video. You can find amazing examples of this in the various squareship.com videos.
Maybe you are staying at one of the amazing Alberta hotels and you find yourself with late night hunger, but you know you can get Poutine just about anywhere in Canada because of the information from the Expedia video about snacks around the world.
How do you know this? Because it was labeled clearly using information animation on top of video content.
4. Importance
As we talked about with the combustion engine animation, slowing a video, or stopping it, can help you draw attention to the specific interactions the viewer should focus on.
These can come in so many different forms with animation, so it’s possible to even make it your own to brand it for your viewers.
Think about sports highlight reels, especially for football. Right before they show you the play, they have an animated target show you who to focus on. After a few seconds, they should you the magic they wanted you to see.
These little animation highlights can really help your customers get the exact point of your video.
5. Direction
Speaking of directing your eyes to the important parts of a video, animations can also tell them what to do next. Maybe you are running a contest for your viewers. Well, at the end of your video you can create an animation that directs them to a specific webpage with a URL or by creating a button that hyperlinks to it.
Don’t leave your customers wondering what to do next, take advantage of the different kinds of direction animation to help them get to the next step without any issue.
Conclusion
Animation is both a video creator and video enhancer, so why wouldn’t you take advantage of its amazing abilities to help your viewers understand your message. It’s a great way to make your videos something special.
Do you use animation in your video content? Do you have any specific styles or techniques that work for you? Let us know in the comments below.