City of Burien
Stormfest - Educational Video Series
Creating a series of educational videos that teaches stormwater and watershed science to all Highline Public schools' students.
Client:
City of Burien
Role:
Illustrator /Video Editor
Project length:
9 months
Brief:
This is a video series for 6th graders in the Highline School District, located in King County, Washington. It features Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) contributors in climate science and stormwater industries.
Overview
In a 9 months timeframe, I collaborated with my creative director and project managers to produce an educational video series.
I created graphics and developed storyboards, drawings, and illustrations. I have also developed and scripted animated narrative sequences and produced motion graphics that can support video and keep the students interested.
Goal
-
Raise students’ awareness of stormwater solutions with the hope that they can share their knowledge with people around them.
-
Give students a look into careers in stormwater, in an environmental professional’s own words.
-
Feature and center BIPOC professionals in these narratives.
-
Maintain a fun, friendly, welcoming tone, centering the contributor’s humanity, not only their job/role.
-
Convey accurate information in a fun, friendly, and easy to understand way.
Challenge
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are unable to film in person. It was a challenge because we didn't get a chance to get to know the contributors such as their lifestyle or living environment. Also, we couldn't interact with students and listen to their stories.
Process
Before starting the project, I asked myself a few questions:
-
What do 6th graders want to see and what is the difference between us and teenagers when it comes to receive information?
-
How can I maintain consistency using the client's style guide while still bringing out the uniqueness of each contributor?
-
As a woman of color, what can I do to represent the community and support other BIPOC colleagues through my works?
My creative director and I worked closely with the project managers to produce this series. Since we can't film in person, we created a video resource guide so contributors can film themselves.
Video resouce guide
We checked weekly to analyze the creative process, drafted a creative brief, created contributor's interview questions, animation ideas and coordinated with translators.
We wanted to ensure that the videos reflected the right energy and uplift the BIPOC community.
Storyboard example
For each video, I listened carefully to each contributor and wrote down highlights and technical terms that were difficult for 6th graders to understand. I quickly sketched it and brought it to the computer to illustrated.
Illustration
Illustration
Illustration
Our primary target audience is 6th graders, so we focused on how to get them involved. To help make the technical information more interesting to students, we brought still images into motion.
It has helped to tell stories and convey emotions and ideas in a unique way that both children and adults can understand.
Next step
The city of Burien plans to have the videos live by April 2022. The series will be shown to the 6th graders to educate them about the stormwater.
The final videos will be available soon.
Lessons learned
It was a great opportunity for me to improve my graphics and video editing skills. I realized how helpful it was to apply design principles and use different design applications to tell stories.
I have learned to share my empathy with contributors and give them space to offer their thoughts along the way. I appreciate the diversity in my team, which helps me navigate my design ideas.