Blog Posts About: readable videos

Our course on Readable Videos is now open for enrollment. 

We've made it easy (and practically free) for anyone to create animated videos.

Discover how to make animated videos using ONLY PowerPoint or Keynote. These videos don't require voice-overs and can be created in a matter of hours, rather than days or weeks. No special equipment, no expensive software, no complicated editing. Words and visuals do the work. We show you how.

• Enrollment: US$129 - 30-day money-back guarantee, your access never expires
• 5 hours of video instruction
• Downloadable docs, quizzes, and more

Learn more

Or, start for free with our mini-course: Getting Started with Readable Videos

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Refer-a-Friend - Save 30%

Our referral program means you can offer friends, colleagues, social media contacts, etc., a coupon code for saving 30% on the Readable Videos course. If they use it to purchase, you also receive a 30% discount on your future purchase. Win-win!

How to Get Your Shareable Link

If you have an account at ExplainerAcademy.com, get your link here and share it widely. Track your referrals by clicking the profile pic on the upper right of our website:

If you don't have an account, you can create one by enrolling in our free course: Getting Started with Readable Videos.

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What is a Readable Video?

 

Professionals Love this Course

Learn more about How to Create Readable Videos

You may be wondering:

• Why should I care about Readable Videos?
• Do I really need a course for a simple idea?

Unlike normal videos, Readable Videos can be created in hours vs days or weeks. All you need is presentation software. However, Readable Videos require know-how. I've spent years perfecting the method and learning what works. You'll discover a new world of simple video production.

Let's Take a Tour of Course Videos:

The course has over 40 videos and five hours of instruction. It's full of practical walk-throughs, examples, and use cases.

Best Practices: Readability

It's not enough to display words on the screen. How we do it matters in terms of effectiveness and readability. You'll learn best practices from the field of kinetic typography and how to design your messages and animations for polish and accessibility.

Creative Direction, Explanation Skills, Storyboarding

For your video to work, you'll need planning and a focus on clear communication. I've shared multiple lessons from my book The Art of Explanation and Explainer Academy Courses.

"Two weeks after taking the course, I’m using Readable Videos in job support and training for my organization."

- Dawn Weiman

Deep Dive into Presentation Software (PowerPoint and Keynote)

Readable Videos can be created using ONLY presentation software. It's the perfect platform because it combines built-in visuals with powerful tools for drawing shapes, manipulating text, and creating animations, along with a built-in screen recorder. I'll show you exactly what to do.

Bonus Files:

The presentations I use in the course are provided for download so that you can see the options I used.

Animating Text and Shapes

You'll be amazed at what is possible. You'll learn the key skill of Readable Videos: how to animate text in a way that is readable, accessible, and engages the reader. Watch me through every click and learn from my experience.

“This course takes you from zero to hero with the ‘why’ as well as the ‘how’. No new applications to learn, and no expensive equipment to buy; use what you probably already have."

- Sam L. (UK)

Background Music

A lesson I learned in making Readable Videos since 2020: silence can be confusing for the reader. While background music isn't required, I recommend it and show you where to find free music and how to integrate the music file into your presentation.

Recording Your Screen (Mac and PC)

You'll learn simple and free options for recording your screen.

"All educators have a need for this type of instruction. Much-needed. Well-conceived. Well-done."

- Jane Englert, Teacher

Watch Lee Create a Readable Video

Learn more at ReadableVideos.com

Readable Videos Launch Event - Tuesday, May 9th

• What: Join Lee LeFever to learn how Readable Videos can work for you
• When: Tuesday, May 9th, 11am PT (2pm ET)
• Where: Online, 30 mins
• Register for Free 

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Refer Friends - Share Discounts, Get Discounts

We will be offering a refer-a-friend program. Now is a good time to start planning. Here's how it will work:

• You'll log into the Explainer Academy and access a link that's unique to you. The link contains a discount code for 30% off the Readable Videos course.
• Share the link as widely as possible (social media, friends, newsletters, blog, etc.) "Save 30% with this link."
• When someone uses your link to purchase the course, they get the 30% discount and you get a coupon for 30% off your future purchase of the course.

This program will be available on launch day. I will send you specific instructions then.

Start thinking about how you'll share the link. Consider friends, teammates, peers, and people you connect with on Slack, Discord, etc.

“This course takes you from zero to hero with the ‘why’ as well as the ‘how’. No new applications to learn, and no expensive equipment to buy; use what you probably already have. Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best! Ain’t that the Common Craft way?”

- Sam L. (UK)

“Briefly, this course is a gem. It is packed with useful techniques, best practices, and tips to create Readable Videos that are clear, concise, engaging, and accessible using common, simple tools.

- Tracie Seale

This post is an issue of the Common Craft Newsletter. Subscribe here.

We are getting close to launching our new course "How to Create Readable Videos" and figured a Readable Video would be the perfect way to explain it. The video is 2.5 minutes long and you can find it on YouTube.

Ready to make your own? Go to ReadableVideos.com.

Quotes from professionals who recently took the course:

“My favorite professional development courses give me practical steps and inspire me to use them. The Readable Videos course is exactly that – two weeks after taking it, I’m using Readable Videos in job support and training for my organization. The time I invested in the course was very well spent.”

- Dawn Weiman, Library Trainer

“Having just completed the Readable Videos course, now I am able to create instructional videos without the hassle of voiceover, multiple retakes, or special software. His examples, tips, shared resources, and complete walkthrough made the process completely understandable. I have already created/shared a readable video and have several others in mind.”

- Jean Potter, Content Specialist

We're preparing to launch our new Readable Videos course and I'm so excited for you to see it. The method we teach applies to nearly everyone because it uses presentation software to create animated videos with real power. Let's take a closer look.

The Big Idea

Producing animated videos is complicated, in large part, because of the voice-over. Performing it, editing it, and matching it to animations requires special tools and know-how.

We asked: what if animated videos didn't require a voice-over? What if they were purely visual?

Removing the voice-over simplifies the entire process. Using animated words and visuals on the screen means that videos can be created in a few hours versus days or weeks.

One Tool: Presentation Software

Readable Videos only require presentation software. PowerPoint and Keynote can do everything you need. No hardware, no expensive software, and no complicated editing. One tool can do it all, and you probably have it already.

Limited Editing Required

Video editing is not often required when producing Readable Videos. Simply record animations on your computer screen, trim the beginning and end, and you're done.

Use Case: Quick Problem Solving

Readable Videos are best when they are brief and solve a problem. A quick scenario:

Your manager is rolling out a new policy. She needs a short video for a meeting in two days. You use PowerPoint to create a Readable Video that uses visuals and animated text to guide viewers through the policy change. It relates the big ideas in 90 seconds and you look like a rock star.

Hidden Power

You'll discover features and practices you never knew were possible with presentation software. With a bit of instruction, you'll quickly build a new appreciation for what these tools can do.

Engaging and Accessible

It's not enough to animate words on the screen. How they animate is key. We teach best practices from the fields of digital accessibility and graphic design so your videos are professional, polished, and inclusive.

Everything You Need

From creative direction, storyboards, and digital drawing, to animating text and recording your screen, we teach every part of the process, including explanation skills.

Video Instruction

The course includes 14 chapters and over 30 videos in all.

Reviewed and Tested

Over the past month, we invited a group of educators, trainers, and communicators to take the course and provide feedback. Their participation helped us streamline the course, discover new ideas, and ensure we are teaching effectively. We are incredibly thankful.

This post is an issue of the Common Craft Newsletter. Subscribe here.

When we started publishing Common Craft videos in 2007, we learned a valuable lesson. Educators quickly requested versions of the videos with subtitles so that they could be more accessible, especially for those with hearing impairments. Since then, we've been diligent about using open captions in English for videos in our library.

Readable Videos offered another lesson. I recently appeared on a show called Instructional Designers in Offices Drinking Coffee (IDIODC). We talked about Readable Videos and what it means to create a video with no voice-over. The audience asked about the accessibility of Readable videos and this kicked off a bit of brainstorming. Since then, I've been learning and experimenting with ways to make Readable videos useful to as many people as possible.

Lessons Learned

Because Readable Videos require reading, we need to consider accessibility for those with visual impairments. The choice of color, for example, is important because of color blindness and color insensitivity. About 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have color blindness or CVD (Color Vision Deficiency).

How to make a Readable Video More Accessible

Red-green color blindness is the most common form, so we want to avoid it in videos:

 

 

 

 

The contrast between colors is also a challenge. We want to use high-contrast colors that pop.

 

 

 

 

 

Avoid Using Color to Indicate Importance

It may seem logical to use color to indicate importance in a sentence. However, this is not as accessible as other options because the color may not be obvious to everyone. Consider this sentence:

- When you come to the end, you'll need to stop.

A more accessible version uses an underline instead of color, as color may not be visible to everyone:

- When you come to the end, you'll need to stop.

 

There's More to Learn

We are getting close to publishing a comprehensive online course on how to create professional, polished (and accessible!) Readable Videos. Stay tuned!