Explainer Video Production Process

At Videodesign, five steps.

1. Kick-off workshop: together we clarify what message you want to convey, who you want to reach and which style suits your company; at the end there is a concrete timeline with all milestones.
2. Script and storytelling: we develop the concept and write the script; in parallel you receive voice artist demos in every language you need.
3. Design and storyboard: we develop the visual style to match your corporate design and draw every scene through in detail; you see exactly what each shot will look like.
4. Animation and sound: our animation experts bring your story to life, and we combine sound design, music and voice into one coherent whole.
5. Handover: according to your individual timeline you receive your finished video, ready to use immediately.

In every phase — concept, design, and animation with sound — two feedback rounds are included, and every step ends with your sign-off. As standard, the whole process takes four to six weeks. This sequence is not a loose promise but set out in our terms and conditions as binding working steps. Since 2012 we have refined this process across more than 4,500 productions — it carries your first explainer video just as well as your fiftieth.

By hand, by a well-rehearsed team — step by step from thought to moving image. It starts with the thinking work: concept developers and copywriters distil your topic into a storyline and a sharp script — they decide what to leave out and in what order your audience will understand. Then illustrators translate the script into pictures: first the visual style is developed to match your corporate design, then every scene is drawn by hand and planned through in detail in the storyboard — no kit, every illustration one of a kind. In parallel, professional voice artists record your text in the studio.

Finally, animators bring the drawn scenes to life: characters move, scenes flow, emotions emerge. At the end, sound design, music and voice merge with the animation into one coherent whole. Everything is coordinated by your dedicated project manager at Videodesign, who stays the same from the first conversation to final delivery. This is how every one of our explainer videos has been made since 2012 — over 4,500 times.

Want to commission one rather than just know how it works? Our page on having an explainer video made has everything else — from the fixed price to the free consultation.

Four to six weeks as standard — from the kick-off workshop to the handover of your finished video. In the meantime your video passes through three phases: concept, design, and animation with sound. In every phase, two feedback rounds are included — so the process stays plannable without sacrificing quality. How fast it actually goes depends above all on the pace of your feedback rounds: quick sign-offs put you closer to four weeks; if many internal stakeholders need to weigh in, plan for six.

Our practical tip: bundle internal feedback into one response per round and clarify early who signs off — that saves more time than any production shortcut. Style, length and the number of language versions play a part too — a whiteboard video in one language is finished faster than an isometric video in three languages. Before that, things move fast: we get back to you within 12 hours, and you have your fixed-price PDF quote within 24 hours. In the kick-off we set a binding schedule with all milestones, aligned with your launch, campaign or training rollout.

Is it urgent? That is what Videodesign's Express line is for: AI-assisted and curated, with the same standard of clarity. Tell us your deadline in the first conversation — we plan backwards and tell you honestly whether it holds.

Deliberately little — but at clear moments.

• In the kick-off workshop: provide briefing materials and take part.
• In the concept phase: choose your voice artist from the demos and give feedback on the script.
• In the design phase: approve the style proposal and give feedback on the storyboard.
• In the animation phase: review the draft version and submit your final change requests.

You do not need to prepare your expertise for us: you know your topic inside out, we translate it into imagery — that is the division of labour at Videodesign. Everything else — concept, copy, illustration, animation, voiceover — is on us. Two things noticeably help the schedule: bundle internal feedback into one response per round, and clarify early who signs off internally. As a rule of thumb from our terms and conditions: one response within five working days of each work result — that keeps the binding timeline from the kick-off stable, and your video is ready after four to six weeks. And rest assured: every phase ends with your sign-off. Without your okay, nothing moves on.

Structured, included, and at no extra cost. In every phase — concept, design, and animation with sound — you have two feedback rounds included at Videodesign. Every phase ends with your sign-off: only when you approve the script does drawing begin; only when you sign off the storyboard does animation start. Important to know: feedback is most powerful in the right phase.

Change requests relate to the current working step — in the animation phase it is about the animation based on the approved storyboard, not about new scenes. That is exactly why we show you every shot in the storyboard before anything is animated: that is where your close look is most valuable. This keeps the fixed price stable — two rounds per phase are expressly included, with nothing billed by the hour. Three practical tips from over 4,500 productions: bundle internal feedback into one response per round.

Define early who signs off. And bring subject-matter or compliance stakeholders into the right round — with two rounds per phase they can weigh in structurally without derailing the schedule. If it becomes clear your project needs substantially more, we discuss it transparently beforehand — you receive an adjusted quote instead of a surprise on the invoice.

The kick-off workshop is the most important appointment of your explainer video production — this is where the foundation is laid. Together we clarify three questions: What message do you want to convey? Who do you want to reach? Which style suits your company?

We dig into your topic, no matter how specialised it is — you bring the industry knowledge, we bring the explaining craft. We also define the KPIs your video's success will later be measured against. At the end there is a concrete timeline with all milestones: you know at all times what Videodesign delivers and when we need your feedback — aligned with your launch, campaign or training rollout. The workshop can take place at your company, at ours in Lucerne, or online.

Your preparation stays manageable: provide briefing materials on your topic and brand — and ideally you already know who signs off internally. From the kick-off, the binding schedule runs: as standard, four to six weeks pass until handover.

Because changing things on paper is easy, and changing them in finished animation is laborious. In the design step, Videodesign first develops the visual style to match your corporate design and shows you illustration styles to choose from. Then we draw every scene through in detail: the storyboard shows you exactly what each shot will look like — composition, characters, sequence — before a single second is animated. You give feedback in two rounds and sign off the storyboard; only then does animation begin.

This order protects your schedule and budget: after your sign-off, change requests in the animation phase relate to the animation itself — no longer to the already approved storyboard. That is exactly why your close look pays off most in the storyboard step: that is where you determine what will later happen on screen, while adjustments are still easy to make. For you this means: no surprises. Everything that gets animated, you have seen and approved scene by scene — and your fixed price stays what it was.

You choose the voice — we take care of the rest. As early as the concept phase, Videodesign sends you voice artist demos in every language you need, and you choose the voice that fits your brand. Recording happens in the studio, by professional voice artists — in German, French or Italian as standard, and in English too; further languages are available on request. The voiceover is a fixed part of every package, not an add-on: one professionally voiced language is included in the fixed price.

In the animation and sound step, we combine voice, sound design and music into one coherent whole — the animation is adjusted to the timing of the audio track, so emphasis and image fit together exactly. If you need several language versions, plan them in the kick-off: then we write and design so the adaptation becomes faster and cheaper. Additional language versions are ready within ten working days of your sign-off on the base version — as a subtitled version from CHF 480 or as a studio voiceover from CHF 2'000. You'll find all details and prices on our explainer video pricing page.

Then your video works for you — without us. You receive your explainer video ready for every channel: website, YouTube, LinkedIn, trade fairs, sales or newsletter. Handover really means handover at Videodesign: every video we have delivered since 2012 has worked without us ever since. Legally you are on safe ground too: after acceptance and full payment, you receive a usage right unlimited in time and place — you can use your video without limits, on your website, at trade fairs, internally, on social media.

The one exception we would rather tell you up front than afterwards: classic ad placements — on TV, radio, in cinemas, in stadiums, at the point of sale or as pre-roll advertising — require our prior written consent. And should something ever be wrong with the final product, a warranty period of 24 months from delivery applies; the details are in our terms and conditions. If you want more, we stay on board — by choice, not by lock-in: for distribution we help you reach your audience on the right platforms, and for analysis we measure the impact against the KPIs defined in the kick-off. Your video can also be extended at any time — with social media snippets, an additional language version or an infographic on your topic.

At Videodesign, a fixed price by style: whiteboard CHF 7'500, flat design CHF 9'500, isometric CHF 12'500 — each for 90 seconds in one voiced language, excl. VAT. That covers the complete process on this page: kick-off workshop, concept and script, design and storyboard, animation, voiceover and dedicated project management — with two feedback rounds in every phase.

If your topic needs more length, every additional 15 seconds costs CHF 950. The price in the quote is the price on the invoice: your PDF quote arrives within 24 hours and stays valid for 30 days. You'll find all packages in detail — and the answers to every pricing question — on our explainer video pricing page.

Honest answer: it practically never comes to that — because you never see the finished video as a surprise. The Videodesign process is built for exactly this: you approve script, storyboard and animation individually. You read the script before anything is drawn. The storyboard shows you every shot before anything is animated.

And you review the animation as a draft version before the video is finalised. If you don't like something, we correct it in the phase where it comes into being — two feedback rounds per phase are included, at no extra cost. A final product that disappoints you is thereby structurally ruled out: what you see at the end, you approved beforehand, scene by scene. If something fundamental feels off along the way — the style feels wrong, the tone doesn't match your brand — say it in the phase where it shows: on paper the correction is trivial, in the finished animation it is a rebuild.

That is exactly why we show you everything so early. And for the final product itself, a warranty period of 24 months from delivery applies: if something about the delivered video is defective, we fix it — the details are in our terms and conditions. In short: with us, you do not carry the risk of ending up with a video you don't like. The process catches it before it can happen — that is how we have produced since 2012, across more than 4,500 projects.

Yes, gladly — on request even before the first conversation. Simply send us your NDA with your enquiry, or tell us you need one: we sign before you show us anything internal. For many of our projects this is the normal case — anyone having a product launch, a reorganisation or a regulated financial product explained puts confidential information on the table long before any of it is public. Since 2012 we have worked for banks, insurers, pharmaceutical companies and public authorities — discretion is everyday practice at Videodesign, not a special request.

Important to know: even without a separate NDA you are protected, because confidentiality is firmly anchored in our terms and conditions. Both sides commit to keeping confidential information secret for an unlimited time, treating it with the same care as their own business secrets, and passing this obligation on to every employee involved; after the project ends, confidential documents are fully returned or deleted. A separate NDA adds your own wording on top of this protection — for instance when your legal department requires an in-house document. Both are a matter of course for us.

And if you prefer not to name anything specific before signing: that works too. Describe your topic as abstractly as you like — for a first conversation, the nature of the task is enough.

At handover you receive every final format your channels need — the full HD master in MP4 format, further formats and resolutions on request. The open project files — illustrations, animation projects and audio tracks in their working formats — stay with Videodesign as standard: safely archived and kept project-ready, even years after handover. That is deliberate, and it works in your favour.

Because your source files sit ready with us, later adjustments are fast and affordable: if your product, your price or your logo changes, we adapt individual scenes without re-producing; an additional language version or a social media cut is created straight from the existing project. You manage nothing, convert nothing, and in three years you won't have to search for where the files live. If you still need the open files in-house — say, because internal guidelines require it — that is possible: we hand them over for an additional fee.

The price depends on the preparation effort involved; you receive a transparent quote up front — just ask your project manager. Two things to keep apart from this: after acceptance and full payment, you use your finished video without limits in time and place. And using individual illustrations as standalone assets — banners, posters, icons — requires our prior written consent; that too is something we gladly deliver as a service.

Against the goals you set before production — which is why, in the kick-off workshop, we jointly define the KPIs that your video's success will later be measured against. What you measure depends on where it runs. On the website: do visitors watch the video to the end (view-through rate), do they stay longer on the page, do enquiries or orders on the target page go up? In support: do the same basic questions to hotline and advisory teams go down once the video takes over the answer?

A before-and-after comparison of enquiry volumes is often enough. In training: how many employees complete the module in the LMS? In sales and on social media: is the video watched to the end, shared, clicked? What matters most is the order: goal first, video second.

A video that answers one concrete question for one concrete audience can be measured against exactly that question — a video "for everything" against nothing. That is precisely why audience and key messages come first in every Videodesign production. And after handover you are not on your own: on request we take on the analysis together with you — we measure the impact against the KPIs defined in the kick-off, and the results feed into optimisation and into your next video. That turns the gut feeling of "the video is going down well" into a number you can show internally.

Then the schedule shifts — not the price. The binding schedule from the kick-off assumes a response within five working days of each work result — that is how it is anchored in Videodesign's terms and conditions, and how we reach handover in four to six weeks as standard. If your organisation needs longer for a sign-off — because management only meets next week or legal is on holiday — nothing dramatic happens: the handover moves back accordingly, and we adjust the schedule transparently. That is all.

The fixed price stays the same — there are no delay surcharges and nothing billed by the hour, because we earn nothing from waiting time. What you can do so it never gets that far: clarify before the kick-off who signs off internally, and bundle everyone's feedback into one response per round. And if you know in advance that your approvals pass through several bodies — the normal case in public administration and large corporations — tell us in the kick-off: then we build the realistic deadlines into the milestones from the start, instead of promising a schedule your organisation cannot keep. An honest schedule that holds is worth more than an ambitious one that tips over.

Then it depends on how big the change is — and for both cases there is a clear, fair path. Course corrections are the normal case and built into the process: in every phase you have two feedback rounds included — a sharper line in the script, a rearranged scene in the storyboard, a different detail in the animation. All that matters is the right phase: change requests relate to the current working step — in the animation phase it is about the animation based on the approved storyboard, no longer about new scenes. A fundamental change of direction — a different style after the design sign-off, a new storyline after the script approval — is possible too, but runs transparently rather than tacitly: you receive a quote for the requested change up front and decide before any costs arise; only with your acceptance do we rebuild, and the schedule is adjusted accordingly.

No retroactive hourly billing, no line item on the invoice you did not confirm — that is how Videodesign's terms and conditions regulate it. The best protection against expensive second thoughts, though, is the process itself: script and storyboard show you story, style and every shot while changing is still easy — those who look closely there and bring the right internal people on board rarely change their minds later. We help with that too: in the kick-off we clarify who needs a say, so the style and story decision is broadly supported from the start.