10 examples of animated explainers
Intro
I love animation.
I also really enjoy simplifying complicated concepts.
Put the two together and you’ll see why I really enjoy explainer animations.
Whether they’re short or long (preferably short - notice most are under 2 minutes), these animations should get your message across in a friendly, easy-to-understand way.
Note the thumbnails here.
They’re all great.
I can’t fault a single one.
This is likely because it’s easier to get a good high-quality frame from animation to use.
#1 Wood Naturally
Most common words: Wood, Home(/s), Energy
Thumbnail: Good - but would you know what it is from just this?
Length: 1:32
✅ Pros: I love the transitions between the different scenes here. That slide and zoom at 0:31, so satisfying. That x-ray wipe to look inside the house at 1:00, clean and simple. It’s the small things that can give you the impression that a company really cares about detail.
❌ Cons: The music here is very corporate. What do I mean by that? When you’ve heard a lot of stock music over the years, you start hearing the same instruments over and over, but only in these corporate settings. It’s the music that doesn’t have anything to say but “This is a good thing. Don’t let me distract you.” If you’re giving instructions to your animator for finding music, go beyond “upbeat” and “happy”. Try something like ‘acoustic’, ‘sci-fi’ or ‘trumpets’.
#2 Care on Demand
Most common words: Happy, Work, Easier
Thumbnail: Good - but would you know what it is from just this?
Length: 1:45
✅ Pros: The quality of the voiceover is incredibly important in these animated explainers. Here, we have a voice that’s clear of background noise, reverb and is consistent in volume throughout.
❌ Cons: There’s some elements of this animation that have been added for the sake of ‘looking cool’, but don’t really add anything. That shadow cast on most objects, while looking lovely at times, doesn’t always work. At 0:30 we see a shadow by the side of the person’s window, but not on the popup ‘where’ speech bubble. If anything, this should be swapped around.
#3 Collective Liquidity
Most common words: Exchange, Shares, Loan
Thumbnail: Good - but would you know what it is from just this?
Length: 2:30
✅ Pros: They’ve really thought here about sound effects for each action that appears on screen, and it really ups the quality. Often overlooked, sound effects in animations really can be the cherry on the cake. They take just a little bit more time, but add a whole extra layer of detail.
❌ Cons: While I can’t fault the combination of 3D and 3D animation here, it can be difficult at times to know where to look as there’s a lot on screen at once. This is where the simple nature of explainer animations needs to come through. Either reduce the on-screen elements, or direct the eye using colour, or digital lens blur.
#4 Pyn
Most common words: Messages, Employee, HR
Thumbnail: Great - I’ve an idea of what it is!
Length: 1:24
✅ Pros: The combination of two graphic styles work seamlessly here. The movement of the ripply colours at 0:51 glides nicely into the flat style of 0:57. It can be very hard to combine styles like this, especially if they’re both in motion.
❌ Cons: There’s something… off about that voiceover. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Is it AI-generated? The intonation is good, but somehow lacks energy. In the video description, we can see the “mood and tone” listed as “bold”. While I would agree the visuals do achieve this, I would argue that the sound doesn’t (music included). To me, it sets a relaxed vibe. I’d also point out the images (seen in the thumbnail above) at 0:44 repeat, and the image we focus on has a strange fade and pop effect that the creators probably hoped we wouldn’t notice.
#5 Digital Ocean
Most common words: MongoDB, Data, Digital Ocean
Thumbnail: Good - but would you know what it is from just this?
Length: 1:18
✅ Pros: The style here is on point throughout. The colours pop at every moment, and you can see there’s been attention to detail in setting a difference between an ‘ocean’ and the ‘digital ocean’, with pixelated waves.
❌ Cons: As much as I love that transition to the logo at the end, I think it’s a missed opportunity. The logo design seems to be a circular wave, as part of the ‘Digital Ocean’, but the transition uses the setting sun. Could we combine the two? Perhaps a zoom into the sunset with a wave that leaps out in front of the sun, transitioning into the logo.
#6 ForGood
Most common words: Good, Give, Back
Thumbnail: Good - but would you know what it is from just this?
Length: 0:43
✅ Pros: This is a good example of how simpler animation is better for these explainer videos. The message is simple, quick and clear. You know in under a minute what ForGood is, and why it was made. Sure, there’s added details with particle effects around each element, but it’s not too cluttered and feels simple-to-grasp throughout.
❌ Cons: I’m struggling to find any obvious issues here. The only thing that really stands out to me in the way her hair wobbles. I know, very picky. But it doesn’t have the right ‘weight’ to feel real enough and ends up distracting me.
#7 Milk&More
Most common words: [no voiceover]
Thumbnail: Good - but would you know what it is from just this?
Length: 0:45
✅ Pros: This is the first animation we’ve seen without a voiceover, and uses on-screen text instead. I think it works pretty well. That animation style as well is pretty unique, and feels homely, much like their service.
❌ Cons: That’s some corporate music again. As there’s no voiceover or sound effects, the music needs to drive the pace of the entire video. A more laid-back, hand-made tune would’ve fitted better here.
#8 SyndicateRoom
Most common words: Investors, Angel, Access
Thumbnail: Good - but would you know what it is from just this?
Length: 2:02
✅ Pros: [Expect bias - I made this] I made this back in 2020 and am still proud of how it takes a complicated subject (investment fund) and uses a fun analogy of space and orbits to explain it. I had a lot of time available for this animation, and I think this animation shows what’s possible when you give your animator the time.
❌ Cons: Throughout the creation of this animation, I was often wondering about inverting the colours to have white space with dark planets and moons. That would have moved away from the space theme, but perhaps made the on-screen elements more simple to view. There’s quite a lot going on in some places, like the transition at 0:43.
#9 SyndicateRoom (again)
Most common words: Tax, Investment, Company
Thumbnail: Great - I’ve an idea of what it is!
Length: 2:56
✅ Pros: [Expect bias - I made this] The aim of this video was to make SyndicateRoom a thought leader for UK investment schemes like EIS - and the view count on this video shows we achieved that. Outside of the animation itself, there were some SEO tricks going on to get this video placed higher in Youtube searches, from keywords to looking at the competition.
❌ Cons: The character movements seen in this animation are a little lifeless. I worked with the designs from the amazing Sónia Caetano, but didn’t go far enough to adapt them for detailed animation. While they look great static, you might expect them to turn more to face each other when shaking hands.
#10 SyndicateRoom (one more time)
Most common words: Diversification, Investments, Sector
Thumbnail: Good - but would you know what it is from just this?
Length: 1:09
✅ Pros: [Expect bias - I made this] This is a great example of repurposing video. My first animation with SyndicateRoom was created after seeing a video with James Sore talking about their latest fund, ‘Fund Twenty8’. It was set up as an interview, with some rather awkward cutaways to smiles and nodding. I thought the visuals were strange, but the sound quality and explanation were brilliant, so I pulled the recording apart in the edit and devised this animation to play over the top as a visual aid.
❌ Cons: Much like the previous video, there’s a moment at 0:36 I’m not proud of, where the character hands aren’t fully drawn. This is another example of morphing the designs we already had but not fully adapting them for animation. This is a step often missed by some, but makes a big difference when you give it the time. You’ll also notice a cut away before that droplet hits the liquid, because I didn’t know how to animate fluids!
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These examples come from the free PDF guide ‘6 Types of Video Every Startup Should Create’, which you can download on this page:
