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When you hear the word "design" you might think about fashion, art, graphics, or devices, and that's accurate. Apple is famous for its emphasis on design as a competitive advantage. It might seem that design is the sole domain of professionals with experience and degrees, but I beg to differ.
I believe we are all designers. That's because design, in its simplest form, is identifying a problem and planning a solution. In this way, design can be simple (planning a meal) or extremely complicated and rigorous (planning a VR headset). If you've ever built a campfire, you've used design skills to achieve the desired outcome.
Design Thinking - A Primer
Professional designers often use a concept called "Design Thinking" to guide the design process. It's human-centered and creates a foundation for thinking through the steps and big ideas that lead to a good design. The main steps are:
Empathize - Who is the audience, and what do they need?
Define - What problem needs to be solved? Why?
Ideate - What is likely to work?
Prototype - Quickly create or build something that can be tested
Test - Show it to people, ask for feedback
Iterate - Make changes based on feedback
These steps are also a useful guide for designing explanations:
Empathize - Who is the audience, and what do they need?
Define - What needs to be explained? Why?
Ideate - What is likely to work? Analogy? Visual? Example? Video?
Prototype - Write a script, develop a presentation
Test - Share a draft script, ask for feedback
Iterate - Make changes based on feedback
This may seem like a lot to consider for an explanation and in most cases, that's true. But some explanations are important enough to deserve planning and design thinking.
If you're going into a job interview, introducing a new product or service, communicating a new policy, or asking for funding or support, clarity is essential. Your success depends on your audience understanding what you have to say and without planning, the task becomes more difficult.
The best, most impactful explanations are designed. They are premeditated. They are explanations in the first degree and an essential skill for the 21st century. Soon we'll take more steps in this direction.
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Over the last couple of years, my focus at the Explainer Academy was how to make animated explainer videos. I created a new course called Ideas in Motion that teaches every step of the process. I'm a little biased, but I think it's pretty great.
While explainer videos can be powerful, they aren't for everyone. But you know what is? Clear and understandable communication. Explanations help us earn respect and attention. They help us collaborate and iterate. The right explanation at the right time can move mountains.
Unlike videos that require tools, these explanations happen in conversations, meetings, and presentations. They solve a problem we all face: helping our audience understand an idea.
For a lot of people, an explanation is just something that...happens. We don't often step back and consider what makes an explanation work, or how to improve. In my 2012 book THE ART OF EXPLANATION, I used this analogy:
It's a little like dancing. Your grace on the dance floor may mean that you take dancing for granted: it just happens when there is a rhythm. But even the best dancer can only get so far without defining specific dances, such as what makes the samba the samba and the waltz the waltz. These definitions create a standard form and shape that can be honed and refined. Only by defining the standards of the dance can we hope to improve it.
I want the skill of explanation to have a form and shape in your mind. I want you to see that explanation is a creative act that can be planned and executed in almost any context.
How? By connecting the skill of explanation to the basics of design thinking. I will share a method for designing explanations that solve specific problems for specific audiences. You'll learn how designers approach their craft and how to use those lessons for your explanations.
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The visuals in a Common Craft video begin life as rough sketches. I break the script into scenes, read it aloud, and let my mind wander. I think about each in the video and what visuals match those words. This connection between words and visuals is one of the keys to clear explainer videos.
For example, imagine a video scene with this script:
"Imagine your parents receiving a phone call that sounds exactly like you"
Then ask yourself: What is happening on the screen? What visuals can represent and match this idea? Here's my sketch, which you'll see in the video below:
Everyone approaches this process differently. For some, it's a challenge to generate ideas. For others, it feels more natural. It helps to understand the explanation lies in the script (and voice-over). The visuals play a supporting role and don't have to do the heavy lifting. Simple is good.
Watch Me Brainstorm an Entire Video
This process is part of every video we make at Common Craft. To me, it's essential to develop visual ideas in messy sketches. Once the sketches are complete, the video takes on a new life. Visual themes start to emerge. Problems in the script become apparent. The video becomes much more real.
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We've all seen the digital image format JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group). It's a standard on the web because these images can be compressed, which creates smaller file sizes and easier sharing. The compression happens in two forms that serve as a useful analogy for explanations.
Baseline Compression - This form of compression works in full resolution, line-by-line. The image is complete when every line is present.
Progressive Compression takes a different approach. It starts blurry and develops into full resolution.
The Lesson for Explainers
We all have the Curse of Knowledge. When we know a subject well, it interferes with our ability to make accurate assumptions about the knowledge of others. What seems normal and simple for us can be confusing for learners.
When we understand an idea fully, it appears to us in high resolution. We learned the basics long ago and now see the details, technicalities, and exceptions. When it's our turn to teach someone, we must adjust our thinking and consider what will work for our audience. The two types of image compression above are a way to approach this situation and counteract the curse.
Baseline Explanations
When your audience is informed and generally matches your level of knowledge, you can think about using a baseline explanation. Here the idea is presented piece-by-piece in full resolution. You assume the big idea is clear and your explanation is more linear, from beginning to end. This could be an explanation of a process, flow of information, or a financial model.
Progressive Explanations
When your audience is new to an idea, they will need to see the big picture. Here, the idea is low resolution at first. Only the big ideas are visible. Details are not apparent or discussed, yet. The process builds from blurry shapes to recognizable forms, and eventually to full resolution. This approach works well for introductions to new concepts, or when context is useful.
Your Next Explanation
The next time you need to explain an idea, think about the curse of knowledge, JPEGs, and what approach will work best for your audience. Do they need to see the big blurry idea first, or can you dive into the details?
My new book, Big Enough, arrives on September 15th and I can't wait to share it.
Big Enough tells the Common Craft story over a decade, with a focus on the experiments and decisions that helped us create a thriving two-person business that doesn't require an HR department. The book is for anyone interested in saner, healthier approaches to building a business that supports their values.
Pre-order the Book
Big Enough is available for pre-order in both ebook and paperback, using the links below. I hope you'll consider pre-ordering because you'll be the first to receive it and pre-orders help the book earn attention when it launches. The 90-second video below will make it clear.
Note: You can also pre-order from the book's home page and I'll send you free stickers and maybe Big Enough socks. :)
Explainer: Why Pre-Orders Help to Authors
From the Back Cover:
An eye-opening antidote to the endless-growth mindset, Big Enough offers an alternative path to career success
In this illuminating book, entrepreneur Lee LeFever gives an inside view of building a scalable, product-focused business—while never compromising on quality of life. Lee and his wife, Sachi, responded to the promise of the internet by building a home-based business, Common Craft, that was profitable yet small enough to pivot and innovate.
Lee takes you through the multiple business models they pursued—marketplace, digital product licensing, subscription services, distribution partnerships, and more—and offers his best tips for how you, too, can build a lightweight business that supports a life you love.
A must-read for anyone interested in entrepreneurship, business strategy, and e-commerce, Big Enough arms you with insights into how technology and innovation are changing the face of business—and how the science of happiness and the pursuit of values can help redefine what it means to be successful.
"A refreshing, personal guide to designing a business around the values that matter most to you. I found a lot to steal here, and I think you will, too."
—Austin Kleon, New York Times–bestselling author of Steal Like An Artist
"A practical business autobiography, approachable and useful."
—Seth Godin, founder of Akimbo.com
"If you are an entrepreneur with heart, you’ll love this book."
When I was a kid, there was only one real way to watch shows on TV and that was network television. With rabbit ears and a little magic, the shows were beamed into our TV in full color. At the time, commercial interruptions were just part of the experience.
As I grew older, my parents invested in a cable TV connection and this was an exciting part of my young life. I could suddenly access MTV and The Comedy Channel, again with commercials. But cable also provided for a different kind of channel that cost a little extra and, refreshingly, had no commercials. The experience of HBO let me imagine that TV could be different and it felt like the TV I wanted to watch.
Then, not too long ago, online platforms like Netflix provided yet another version of what TV could be. For a monthly fee, Netflix provided always-on access to commercial free shows and movies and the freedom to watch anything on the platform at any time. Again, a fundamentally different experience than network TV.
Today, I rarely watch network TV. I’d rather avoid commercial interruptions and I usually find the shows don’t appeal to me nearly as much. It’s as if the commercials themselves cause the shows to be less interesting. Could that be the case? We can answer this question by considering who the customers truly are for network TV.
I think about it like this: the shows that appear on network TV are the ones that can attract the largest audiences. The more people tune in, the more money can be made from commercials. This creates a kind of filter for new shows. To make it to network TV, the show must be able to build an audience and importantly, sell advertising. The customer, from the perspective of the networks, is the advertisers and not the viewers. The advertisers pay the bills and govern what makes it to my TV.
Now, let’s compare that to Netflix and HBO, which come with a monthly fee from viewers. They both provide a wide variety of programming that could never make it to network TV. While there are a number of reasons why this is the case, perhaps the biggest is not having to sell advertising. They are user supported services and reflect what their users want to see.
Common Craft, on a much smaller scale, uses the same model. Our videos are not what the YouTube audience is demanding today. Explanations of plagiarism or the public domain will not garner the millions of views it takes to earn a living on YouTube advertising. But here’s the thing… we believe these videos and others like them should be available because they educate and solve problems. They help teachers and trainers and librarians. They are useful.
That’s why we are a user supported service. Yes, we have membership fees, and those fees mean we can provide a fundamentally different kind of service to educators. Our videos don’t have advertising or even logos. There are no interruptions or product placements. In fact, many of our titles come from member suggestions. The people and organizations who choose to support our work are our focus and biggest influence on the videos we produce and that’s exactly where we want to be.
For a lot of people, an explanation is just something that...happens. We don't often step back and consider what makes an explanation work, or how to improve. In my 2012 book 
