Reduce, reuse, recycle

Do you associate the word "animation" with cartoons, music videos or perhaps the latest 3D animated movie from Pixar? Whilst these have been the traditional uses of the art form, increasingly animation is a powerful tool that can be used seriously for adults, driving business objectives across all platforms of communication.

© Cybrain - Fotolia.com

Over the last 10 years or so, ad agencies and businesses have grown accustomed to the process of creating digital assets. Clearly it is far more efficient and cost effective to build up a library of pack shots for example, that can be used over again. Another, much slated example of this, is the classic "clip art" or stock photography often used in Power Point.

Making a memorable impact

Although the use of visualisation can be extremely effective when communicating an idea, the consequence of re-using the same pictures, is that everything tends to look stale and much the same as everyone else's. This unfortunately makes little memorable impact on the modern audience, and certainly doesn't take advantage of all the new platforms available to communicate both internally and externally. In a technological society where consumer attention is notoriously difficult to capture and maintain, this use of still images may not be quite enough.

So if a picture is worth a thousand words, then surely moving pictures are even more valuable. One alternative to capture the audience's attention is to use live action film clips in your presentations or marketing material. But although engaging, live action also has its disadvantages. For example, with live action adverts or training material that require translation, your options are limited to voice-over narration or completely reshooting the content again and again. Not to mention that, unless done properly, videos can look cheap and can be tricky to deliver onto some platforms such as mobile.

Animation however can solve many of these problems. Engaging animation will capture your audience's attention in a way that little else does. Even if you prefer using still images in campaigns, it is always a good idea to develop the design with animation in mind, so if the need for moving content arises, the groundwork is done and there is no need to go back and redevelop the flat image to be animatable.

Most experienced illustrators or graphic designers will acknowledge that animation requires a unique skill set, particularly when it comes to doing large volumes of content and so it is best to speak to a specialist in this area. One advantage of going this route, is that once developed animated characters can be re-used in everything from Apps, to e-learning content, to social media content.

Cost-effective

Animation also solves many problems of live action shooting. Once the animation is developed, it can be easily adjusted without having to rebuild the entire animation over again. For example, you could simply add another language to suit your audience without having the expense of reshooting. Animation, when done well, can cut across culture or levels of literacy.

Animation allows for more delivery options and can be viewed on multiple platforms and devices or adapted to suit any medium, from an email GIF to a television advert. It also means you are able to send the information via computer, cutting the cost of printing or delivery.

So in summary, animation deserves serious consideration as a tool for creating content that is cost-effective and environmentally friendly. To borrow from the environmental movement then, animation can be recycled (in various languages for example), re-used (in apps and games for example) and will ultimately reduce the cost of communication across various audiences, regions and platforms. Oh, and it might just add in a bit of fun into our lives!