IHETAC Inclusive Higher Ed Explainer Video

Goal: Create a brief animated explainer video for InclusiveU and the Inclusive Higher Education Technical Assistance Center of New York to describe the benefits of and promote inclusive higher education.

Roles: Collaborated on concept and script, ideated and created all assets and animation.

Background

This project was created during my time working with InclusiveU, an organization at Syracuse University that provides an inclusive college experience to students with intellectual disabilities. Other work I’ve done for them can be found elsewhere on my site.

Creating an animated explainer video for the organization was actually my idea, and I took it on as a side project while focusing primarily on other work for the organization. However, as the idea progressed, having the video completed became a higher priority for InclusiveU. I had originally envisioned the video as a general explainer about inclusive higher education connected to the Taishoff Center for Inclusive Higher Education, the parent organization of InclusiveU. However, eventually the focus pivoted to promoting a partner organization, the Inclusive Higher Education Technical Assistance Center of New York (IHETAC), which helps colleges and universities in creating and developing inclusive higher education programs.

Process

The first step in creating a video was developing a script. Deciding the intended audience of the video influenced the script’s direction. The original intention had been to target the video to prospective students and their parents. This meant simple language, emphasis on student life, and a call to action that spoke directly to a student. However, as the focus of the video shifted towards promoting IHETAC, the audience became colleges and universities looking to implement or improve inclusive higher education programs. The biggest change this made to the script was changing the call to action from a direct call to students to a less direct one aimed at universities and colleges.

There were several iterations of the script, as precise and clear wording was key to making sure the central point of the video was understood by its intended audience. Adjustments to the script were made throughout the whole process, and there wasn’t a complete version until I’d already begun to work on the animation.

When there was most of a script, I began storyboarding. Whenever I storyboard, my first step is to create a version where the visuals are described through text. Then I sketch based on the text descriptions, and turn the sketches into an animatic. This was more or less my process for this project, and I ended up with the animatic below. Many of the ideas in this animatic were altered heavily or removed for the final video.

The next step was to create the assets needed. I tried to storyboard the video in a way that would enable me to reuse assets whenever I could, specifically the icon of the person. I also wanted a simpler illustration style for the video, since I felt like a simpler style represented the idea of inclusion better than a more complex one.

Choosing a very specific color palette was also important, because I wanted colors that would be high contrast for maximum accessibility. I decided to use the primary colors; blue, yellow, and red; because I thought they would provide the best contrast. I wanted to have a light, dark, and medium version of each color, and ran every combination through a color contrast checker to see which combinations I could use. I then found I had a bigger color palette than I needed, so I decided not to use the darkest red or yellow. I also added black and white to my color palette, although both are used sparingly within the video. I ended up with the color palette below.

With a sense of style and color, I could now develop illustrated assets.