Explainer Videos for Government & Authorities

From the ballot paper to the building permit: ballots and the Riedhof school proposal for the City of Zurich, the Theater Casino vote for the City of Zug, the path to vocational training and diploma recognition for the State Secretariat for Migration, the relaunch of the official gazette portal for the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, digital building permit applications for the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Internally: the introduction to data protection for the City of Lucerne, the health protection unit for the Canton of Zurich. The pattern: wherever extensive topics, services or responsibilities need explaining — to the public or within the organisation — a video replaces pages of official prose with two minutes of clarity.

If your topic sounds more specialised, we find the simplest way to tell it in the kick-off workshop. Having worked for city, canton and federal levels, we know the difference between citizen communication, expert audiences and internal information — and pitch the altitude to match.

Yes — with voting videos, neutrality is craft, not an add-on. Process videos show how voting works — from opening the envelope to sending it back correctly. Issue videos explain a specific proposal: What is being built? What does it cost?

Which options are on the table? They inform without judging. We check wording, imagery and even the order of arguments for balance — and your chancellery or communications team approves script and storyboard before animation starts. That is how we explained proposals for the City of Zurich, the City of Zug and other public bodies without ever taking sides.

The sender stays unambiguous: your corporate design, your tone, official information — clearly distinct from the committees' campaign material. More on this, up to the bilingual election series for the Canton of Bern, in our guide to voting videos.

Yes — for authorities this is usually a duty, not a nice-to-have. German, French and Italian are standard, further languages on request. Language versions are adapted linguistically and culturally, not just translated — like the three-part election series for the Canton of Bern in German and French. One production yields versions for every part of the country: the same visuals, the same approved message, adapted to audio track, timing and idiom.

Plus subtitled versions for channels watched without sound. Budget tip: plan all language versions from the start — your offices approve only once, and the adaptation gets faster and cheaper. You choose the voices per language from demos, so the French version sounds like Romandy and not like a translation bureau. Conditions are on our pricing page.

From the start, not as an afterthought. For government videos that means: subtitles for people with hearing impairments, clear and calm imagery with sufficient contrast, plain language instead of officialese — and, where requested, sign language, as in our voting videos. Everyone gains: subtitles also help commuters without headphones, plain language also helps people with German as a second language. That is the core mandate of public communication — reaching everyone.

Which measures your video needs depends on channel and audience; we advise you in the kick-off. For the budget: accessibility added afterwards costs more than accessibility planned in — subtitles, contrast and speaking pace fit into the concept almost in passing. Which is why we ask about it ourselves. Our article on accessibility in explainer videos gives an overview.

It is built for it. Specialist office, communications, legal, sometimes political bodies — in public administration, decision paths are longer than at an SME. So in the kick-off we define who weighs in and who signs off, and build a transparent schedule that involves every department concerned. In every phase — concept, design, and animation with sound — you have two feedback rounds: your office bundles the responses per round, we consolidate and document the versions.

Smooth even with executive-level sign-off. As an extension of your workbench we keep your back free: you steer the content, we deliver on schedule — four to six weeks as standard; you receive the schedule with all milestones in the kick-off. If one more body needs a say than planned, we absorb it in the schedule — communicated transparently instead of silently postponed.

The same transparent conditions apply to the public sector as to everyone: fixed-price packages by style for 90 seconds, everything included — from concept and script to animation and voiceover. That keeps procurement simple: the price is fixed before the project starts and can be budgeted; the PDF quote with package, services and dates can go straight into your internal processes.

All prices are on our explainer video pricing page — the quote arrives within 24 hours.

With what the video replaces — used correctly, an explainer video is not a marketing expense but public-service efficiency. Four arguments you can substantiate internally.

1. Relieving counter and hotline: a video answers the most frequent question once, instead of your staff answering it a thousand times individually — that is how the Canton of Basel-Stadt explains digital building permit applications and the City of Lucerne data protection for its own staff; every avoided enquiry is measurable working time.
2. Multilingualism: one production yields versions in German, French and Italian.
3. Accessibility: subtitles, clear imagery and plain language instead of officialese also reach people who cannot or will not read leaflets and rulings — the core mandate of public communication.
4. Durability: a video explains the same matter today, tomorrow and in three years, around the clock, at no extra cost per view.

Add budgetability: the fixed price is set before the project starts, and the PDF quote with services and dates can be disclosed transparently to the finance committee and the public. Calculated that way, it is not the video that needs justifying — it is answering the same question a thousand times by hand.

Yes — accessibility can be retrofitted, even for videos already in use. Fastest are subtitles: from CHF 480 per language version, on request as a separate SRT file, switchable on your website, on YouTube and in learning platforms. Further language versions can be retrofitted too — as subtitles or as a studio voiceover with an adapted audio track — and for voting videos, sign language on request. Our archive makes this possible: the open project files of your video stay safely stored at Videodesign, even years after handover — we work directly on your existing video, without re-production.

If the production dates back a while, send us the video and your requirements; we assess what can be done. Honestly: accessibility planned in from the start is cheaper than retrofitted, and contrast or an overly fast speaking pace can only be corrected to a limited degree afterwards. What works and what doesn't, we tell you up front: a reply within 12 hours, a PDF quote with the right measures within 24.