Mobile Explainers

Objectives

 

When building an explainer video for a consumer mobile app feature, my team rarely recommends step-by-step tutorial content, but rather a storytelling approach that shows what makes the feature awesome, and how it fits into the viewer's life. If the feature requires more instruction than this to understand, it's often a signal that there are product design issues that should be addressed.
 

My explainer videos generally seek to accomplish three objectives:
 

• Create awareness of the new feature.

• Connect the feature to a relatable problem it can solve.

• Show how to find to the feature.

Discovery

 

To kick off an explainer project, I spend time initially with the Product Owner to understand the feature from their perspective. As the subject matter expert on what value the feature is meant to offer the customer and bring to the business, this person is my most critical stakeholder. He or she often provides the insights I need to craft a relatable problem/solution story for the feature.
 

I also spend time with the UX Designer(s) most familiar with the feature and how it works. This stakeholder familiarizes me with the UI and screen flows; provides access via Abstract to Sketch files and other design system components that I can opt to use when creating demo sequences; and most importantly, provides user testing insights on which aspects of the experience may warrant a more in-depth explanation.
 

Once I am grounded in the feature's value to its target customer and the experience it provides (usually no more than a day's effort), I proceed to scripting.

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Scripting & Storyboarding

 

Explainers for mobile features are generally kept as short as possible while still achieving the objectives, typically targeting no more than 45-60 seconds. Because these pieces share many of the same visual transitions and navigational screen flows, our internal clients know what to expect from our end products and I'm able to minimize effort in pre-production by relying largely on verbal storyboarding.  
 

Our first creative deliverable is a voiceover script, accompanied by written screen directions and references to what will be shown in sync with each segment of the voiceover. This is generally adequate for achieving alignment among the project stakeholders, but if not, a more visual storyboard is produced before proceeding to production. This phase can generally be accomplished in a day.

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Animation & Sound 

 

Motion graphics are typically the heaviest lift for these projects. While many of the dashboards and navigation items can be reused across most explainers, some interactions are custom-rebuilt to allow for zooming effects and additional stylization. Most animation work for these projects is done in Adobe AfterEffects. The app itself tends to prevail as the primary visual, using text fly-ins and animated icons to drive key script points. 
 

Contributing to our super-quick project timelines and low production costs is our in-house approach to voice work. My background as a recording artist, sound engineer and freelance voice actor quickly positioned me as a go-to for creating voiceover tracks that can effectively capture the optimistic, quirky, clever tone of the Fifth Third brand. Recordings are captured using entry-level studio vocal mics and engineered through Apple Logic Pro.

 

For music selections, I've used our overall brand identity as a compass for developing a sonic identity. Given our value offering of digital banking features but also real people at a branch who are always ready to help, music beds are typically upbeat arrangements using natural sounding instruments (ex. bass, drums, horns, organs) versus more engineered synthesizer sounds.

 

Final Editing 

 

To complete the project, sound files are imported into the AfterEffects project, and the pacing of the voiceover track is fine-tuned to coordinate with the visuals. Hot spot animations may be added to draw attention to key functionality, and a branded end card is applied.

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