How to Make an Explainer Video People Actually Understand
Explaining what you do shouldn’t feel like decoding ancient hieroglyphics. The solution? A well-crafted explainer video.
A good explainer video keeps your message short, clear, and easy to understand. In other words, it briefly captures your essence and explains why people should care.
How do you make an explainer video that works, not just one that looks pretty?
Let’s break it down.
Start With the Basics: What Is an Explainer Video, Really?
According to Frontiers, Explainer videos are short films that clarify abstract concepts and relationships, typically in an educational setting.
Why short? Because people decide quickly whether they care. Harsh truth? Absolutely. But also freeing, you don’t have to say everything. You just have to say what matters.
At STORM+SHELTER, we treat explainer videos like your visual elevator pitch. Unlike a long webpage, they force clarity. They get to the point.
What’s not to love?
Nail Your Message: Script First, Everything Else Later
According to Frontier, effective explainer videos focus on a single core message rather than listing features. They include storytelling, use various visuals to emphasise key facts, and utilise illustrations, animations, and voiceovers to make abstract ideas clearer.
When brands skip this part, videos become bloated, confusing, and… well, pointless.
So instead, ask:
What problem do we solve?
Why should anyone care?
What’s the one takeaway viewers should remember?
Once you’ve got that, scriptwriting becomes simple, and your video suddenly makes sense instead of sounding like corporate soup.
Build Your Story: Structure, Flow, and Clarity Win Every Time
Frontier also emphasises that good explainers follow a simple narrative formula.
Problem → Solution → How it works → Next steps.
No fluff. No jargon.
And yes, a storyboard really does help.
It lets you see your video before it’s made, a visual draft that keeps your pacing tight and your message clean.
Pick the Right Style: Animation? Live Action? Something in Between?
Choosing a format isn’t just about appearance; it’s about communicating clearly. Research indicates that educational video formats should be chosen based on the subject matter you’re explaining.
Here’s the cheat sheet:
Animation = perfect for abstract ideas (AI, fintech, healthcare, SaaS).
Live-action = great when people need to trust a face or brand personality.
Screencast = ideal for software walk-throughs.
Pick the wrong one? Your message gets muddy.
Pick the right one? People instantly get it.
This is why STORM+SHELTER tailor the format to the story - not the other way around.
Make It Look Good (Because People Judge in Seconds)
Visual clarity matters a lot.
Government design guidance states that clear, simple layouts help people find what they need faster - unnecessary visual noise just gets in the way.
Translation? If your visuals are messy, your message is messy.
That’s precisely why our team obsesses over look and feel. Colour, typography, pacing, transitions, it all has to serve the idea.
Clean visuals → cleaner understanding.
Real Examples: Explainer Videos We’ve Created That Hit the Mark
We’ve delivered explainer videos for organisations that needed clarity, engagement, and real-world results.
Explainer videos aren’t about being flashy. They’re about being clear and stripping away the fluff and saying what matters.
That’s what we create at STORM+SHELTER: videos that don’t just look good, but bring a clear message to life. Ready to create an explainer video people will actually understand?
Get in touch, let’s create something that sticks.
