Whiteboard Videos

Back in 2009, the Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts developed an innovative style of animation they called RSA Animate for a series of short, informative videos. The images in these animations were relatively simple line drawings set against a plain white background. What was innovative about them was that they appeared to draw themselves before the eyes of the viewer—at a greatly accelerated rate—to the scratching sounds of a pencil moving rapidly on paper. The eye-catching look of these animations mushroomed and was soon widely imitated.

When Leica came to us looking for a way to showcase the range of their optical products, they already had something like an RSA animation in mind. You probably know Leica for their renowned cameras and lenses, but they make all kinds of products employing precision optics, from microscopes to rangefinders to eyeglass lenses. Leica thought that something like the playful RSA animations could offset the aura of austerity around their various product lines. Yes, they wanted customers to take their wares seriously, but they didn’t want people intimidated by them!

The problem was that by then, the RSA Whiteboard Style had become a little too popular. It needed a new twist. Our solution was to add an animated hand grasping a pencil to accompany the self-drawing images.

Suddenly, the invisible hand was made visible. This simple addition was enough to freshen up a motif that had become a bit stale through over exposure, while still bringing the note of playfulness that our client was looking for.