Visual thinking combines pictures and words to help us communicate and understand complex or confusing things. Most design is one form or another of this mashup—it’s the combination that brings the power.
Of course, words on their own can be powerful as well. So can images. Sound, too. Good writing moves us. Art and film and dance and photography move us. Music and speech move us.
A few years ago we made what turned out to be one of our favorite motion projects: The Science of Gratitude video. Compared to most of our animations, “Gratitude” took a more abstract approach to visualizing the story. But it still had a voiceover track. Viewers still had a guide holding their hand and narrating the key points as the visuals brought them to life.
Recently we wondered, how abstract could we get? How much handholding could we remove and still tell an emotional, engaging, understandable story?
