Whiteboard Animations by Cognitive, Staff Favourites Part 1

It’s hard to work on so many whiteboard animations and not develop a few personal favourites. We put some of our team on the spot to get theirs.

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‘How Immigration Shaped Britain’ for the Universities of Kent and Reading

Andrew Park - Cognitive Founder

“I like the work we do to have a strong message.”

— Andrew Park, Cognitive Founder

I like the work we do to have a strong message. ‘How Immigration Shaped Britain’ is one of my favourites. Not only because of the message, particularly now when the current political atmosphere is toxic and tainted by small-minded and inwardly focused views of how we should be as a nation.

I also like the illustrations. They are full of character. Funnily enough this was a project with lots of historical input from another academic friend of Cognitive, Professor Ray Laurence. I seem to remember there was a lot of talk about the representation of skinny elephants.

Find out more about the making of the Universities of Kent and Reading’s ‘How Immigration Shaped Britain’.

‘How Forests Make Our Lives Better’ for #forestproud/The North American Forest Partnership

Suzanne Lawrence - Senior Creative

“ I think we ended up with an engaging film that told a story I was proud of helping to tell. ”

— Suzanne Lawrence, Senior Creative

Working on #forestproud/North American Forest Partnership’s whiteboad video ‘How Forests Make Our Lives Better’ is one of my favourite projects that I was an illustrator for. Every day I was completely absorbed in the imagery I was trying to create and found the team at #forestproud really enjoyable to work with. I think we ended up with an engaging film that told a story I was proud of helping to tell.

The working process was positive and creative from start to finish. We initially experimented with style, which was my job to visualise with direction from Kayle, our Senior Creative on this project. #forestproud in turn provided a wealth of information about forest life in North America which informed the look of the illustrations. I found the work #forestproud do fascinating and was more than happy to put in time ensuring all the requested details were met. The collaborative process was imaginative, good-humored and professional, and it turned out to be the first explainer video in a series for #forestproud which have been ceaselessly fun and gratifying, although I have not worked on them all.

As an Extra Narrative whiteboard animation, we had the opportunity to construct richer, layered visuals. Usually we use trees and wildlife as a backdrop to the action of the characters, but this time the environment was as much a focus of the whiteboard video as the characters. It was challenging to find that balance, but I found that I enjoyed allocating more time to backgrounds. We created clarity and balance by using contrasting colour, borders and a variety of brushes, allowing the final illustrations to outline the message of the explainer animation effectively: the way our hobbies, jobs and even our lives are supported by forests and how we need to respect and value them.

Find out more about the making of the #forestproud/The North American Forest Partnership’s ‘How Forests Make Our Lives Better'.

‘Beautifully Obvious’ for WeTransfer

Tom Bradshaw - Illustrator

“...not being afraid to put forward ideas can result in some of the best pieces of work.”

— Tom Bradshaw, Illustrator

During my time at Cognitive I have worked on a wide variety of whiteboard animations ranging from explaining the history and purpose of the shipping forecast to the importance of Science Capital and people’s positive relationship with STEM. Narrowing down over 25 whiteboard videos to my favourite took some thinking; I took into account whiteboard animations which were aesthetically successful, communicative and well received.

So, the WeTransfer explainer film sticks out over the others. Working with Senior Creative Ali Assaf, I felt this whiteboard animation was successful because the effective working process, teamwork and ideas that shaped the film. The client had a specific idea from the off, so this helped get the ball rolling, we knew they were keen to have the whiteboard video show their history following a map style layout. This then began with us looking at the script and figuring out ways to effectively follow the company’s history. We mapped out rough ideas whilst going through the script. This stage is so important, getting as many ideas out as possible and having fun with it, not being afraid to put forward ideas can result in some of the best pieces of work. Once we had a rough idea and layout we sent that off and the client thoroughly enjoyed how we had laid it out and gone about the ideas.

We then looked into styles but they were eager for a whiteboard style animation, so we stuck to our traditional style of drawing with black line but using the WeTransfer brand colours as accents to keep in brand with the company. We went with a city scene theme and the idea of panning around the piece to follow the timeline of the company’s history by proceeding up and down the roof tops focusing on certain scene. We then went back to an idea from our swarms of a little carrier pigeon that transfer the files to and from creative around the world. We both thought this could be a perfect tour guide throughout the film. I then had a lot of fun designing the pigeon who was going to inhabit this cityscape, playing with shape and facial features.

The illustration during this work was a lot of fun, I very much enjoyed working on the buildings and making sure the perspectives worked, the characterisation of the pigeon was a great experiment and I feel the characters sit really well with the style of the buildings. This project was great fun but we did have to work hard to produce it, we were working to a deadline and with a lot of drawing to be done it was at times touch and go but thankfully we worked together and completed the work. The final animation was wonderful to see, it is one of my favourite parts of the job seeing my illustrations come to life!

Find out more about the making of We Transfer’s ‘Beautifully Obvious’.

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With so many whiteboard animations in our back catalogue, it can be hard to pick a favourite! We will have more staff favourites coming soon. Bringing the messages and stories of clients to life is what we thrive on. Contact us if you'd like us to tell yours.

See our latest projects and research into the impact of whiteboard animation below.

Cognitive are award-winning pioneers of whiteboard animation, and the creators behind the RSA Animates series. We help corporate, academic and charitable organisations like the BBC, TED, Coca Cola and Sanofi to tell their stories more powerfully. Find out more about us here.