Question: When to use a Whiteboard Animation ?

An interesting observation we made throughout the years we have been running Animation Vids, it is that most people do not know when a whiteboard animation is the solution they should seek, and when it is not!
There are different types of videos to present an idea, but is a whiteboard animation video the most appropriate solution every time?

The short answer is, No!

In this small post we will explain when it’s best to get a whiteboard animation done and when not.
1- The content is long :
If the content you are presenting is long, that means the voice narration is long as well, thus the video will be long.
As a rule of thumb every 120 words give you a 1 minute narration, thus you add 1 min to the video length.
Explainer videos [Animated cartoon videos ] are usually more effective for short presentations , between 1 and 3 minutes, but the price adds up quickly for a long content video.
Whiteboard animation allows you to present long content videos for just a fraction of the cost.

2- The content is descriptive:
If the content is descriptive, you will need execution to be slow, which is exactly what the whiteboard animation can provide. For example, when you are describing a scene, the description can take up to 30 seconds or more, so it is needed that the elements of the scene come slowly during the description process.

3- If the budget is small:
One of the major advantages of whiteboard animation, is the control over the speed of the action, in this case the drawing process, thus the exact same drawing could be presented in 4 seconds or an entire minute.
If the budget is small the drawings are presented during a longer time, the drawing process is slow, thus there are less drawings for the same amount of voice narration.

4- Little to no need to present pictures:
It is usually not recommended to chose whiteboard animation when you need to show many images of products and people. It is not visually appealing to jump from a line drawing to a colored photo. Explainer videos are a better option when you have pictures to display.

5- The need for simplicity & sophistication at the same time:
There is nothing better than a line drawing whiteboard animation to portray simplicity, keeping all the simplicity while being sophisticated enough.

6- Need for a calm & predictable presentation:
If for some reason you need a calm and predictable presentation, you can’t go wrong with this one. Unlike explainer video, there’s nothing that pops up, everything is predictable since it takes few seconds at least for each drawing to be ready.

7- Personal taste:
If you prefer these types of videos, who are we to tell you no, all what we can tell you, is hire us to do the video for you.

8- Explain complex ideas & relations between elements:
Another advantage of the whiteboard Animation is that you can explain concepts that require complex relationships, especially in the domains of biology, computer logic & programming, etc … This is possible because the work space can zoom in and zoom out to show the global picture.

Examples of whiteboard animation:

The below example, is a good example on when to use a whiteboard animation:

This One, is a less good example:
Reasons: too fast script to be hand drawn, also too many faces of people.

Now compare the above videos, to the one below -to notice the difference in speed and ideas-