Seven steps to a successful educational video

Conveying complicated issues in a short time in a clear and entertaining way – this is possible with good educational videos. Do you have initial ideas? ICON, as an experienced provider of e-learning and educational videos, will help you to implement them successfully and to train your target group in the long term. In the following article, learn how an educational video is created and what you can expect during implementation!

Get an initial overview of educational video creation! In this interactive image you can discover the individual steps before you get into the details.

Step 1: Kick-off

At ICON, we start creating an educational video with a kick-off meeting: through personal exchange with you, we lay the foundation for a successful project. Based on your briefing, we jointly develop a target and structure for the educational video. Therefore, we agree with you on the framework conditions:

• Who is the target group of the educational video?
• What core content should the video convey?
• What learning objectives are to be achieved with the educational video?
• Are there any guidelines for the style of the video?
• Where should the video be shown (e.g. training portal, trade fair, seminar, social media)?
• In what format is the final product required?

This gives us a precise picture of your ideas and enables us to propose implementation ideas that are precisely tailored to your needs in the next step.

Step 2: Conception

The content of the educational video should raise the interest of the target group and make a lasting impression. A gripping story and an appealing design are crucial for this.

At the beginning of the conception phase, we therefore give free rein to our creativity and develop story and design proposals for you. Afterwards, the concept is developed.

Story proposals

You will receive two to three story proposals from us, which differ in the emotions that are mainly addressed, the perspective on the topic and the level of abstraction. We make sure that all suggestions are optimally suited to the target group and the learning objectives. Choose the story that convinces you the most!

Design proposals

When designing the educational video, we follow your company’s corporate design guidelines – if available. If these leave room for different styles, we develop two to three design proposals that fit the story and present them to you as mock-ups. Choose the design that suits you best!

Concept

The concept includes the planned structure and narrative flow and provides information about the focal points. We embed the learning objectives in the story and assign them content and duration. We also describe the animations to be shown in the video. This gives you a good idea of the structure and look & feel of your video. You receive the concept first for review and then for approval.

Step 3: Storyboard

Based on the approved concept, the storyboard will be developed. In doing so, we take into account: Educational videos must clearly convey the most important content within a short period of time. Therefore, our authors work on the wording as long as it gets to the heart of the relevant message. In close coordination with our designers, our authors think along with the later implementation. The storyboard contains not only the narrator’s text, but also ideas for sound design, music suggestions and detailed scribbles – prepared by our designers. The latter describe what will happen on the screen parallel to the narrator. Thus, the storyboard forms the basis for the later realization of the video. For this purpose, you will also receive the storyboard first for review and then for approval.

Step 4: Animatics

Parallel to the storyboard, we also create a short animatic: In this filmed storyboard, the voiceover is recorded by a lay speaker and cut together with the scribbles to a preview of the video. This gives you a better idea of the later result of the educational video.

Step 5: Design elements

After the storyboard is approved, we bring the educational video to life: Our designers create the central illustrations of the video and coordinate them with you. In this way, we ensure that the visualizations correspond exactly to your ideas. At the same time, we keep the subsequent correction effort to a minimum.

Step 6: Production

The production phase then begins with the recording of the voiceover by a professional speaker in the sound studio. After that our motion designers come into play: They animate the finished illustrations to match the text, integrate the audio and subtitles if necessary, and accompany the video with suitable music. In addition, our sound designer takes care of sound effects in order to set specific accents or to make scenarios more realistic. You can look forward to a perfectly coordinated video that accentuates the core messages and visualizes them in a memorable way. This guarantees lasting learning success!

For the final quality assurance, you will be called upon again: You will first receive the educational video for review and, after implementing the final corrections, for approval.

Schritt 7: Provision

Your educational video is now finished! Now it’s up to you to promote the video to the target group and roll it out. For this purpose, we will deliver the final files in the format of your choice (for example, in HD quality in MP4 format).

After the project is completed, we will be happy to help you with any further concerns such as support, adjustments, change requests or translations.

How an educational video is created

From the idea to the finished educational video – with ICON you can realize this in just seven steps:

• Kick-off
• Conception
• Storyboard
• Animatics
• Design elements
• Production
• Provision

Our experienced project teams will guide you step-by-step on the way to a video that will inspire you and your target group. Would you like to learn more or are you planning the production of an educational video? Feel free to contact us. We look forward to hearing from you!