Planet Nutshell was founded to help people of all ages understand a complicated world, and since 2008, educational media has been the backbone of our portfolio. Here are some highlights from our history of creating purpose-driven media that enlightens and entertains:

Want to see more of our work, or talk about an impactful education project you’re working on? Get in touch.

When the folks at WGBH (our local PBS station here in Boston) approached us to make animations for their Design Squad Latinx series teaching middle school students about engineering, we were excited to hop on board! We made two animations for them: What Is A Pulley? and Super Successful Showcasing, both in English and in Spanish, and in the process we learned some engineering! That’s a win win! Here is a behind-the-scenes look at our process for these bilingual productions.

Research

For the Pulley episode we needed to truly understand how pulleys work by changing the direction of a force and how a 2-pulley system cuts the effort you pull in half (yay physics!) and then figure out a scenario that utilized a pulley in a fun and accessible way– what better than delivering burgers and drinks to friends!

For the Showcasing episode the biggest challenge was engineering the ReloCATer machine. We tried to integrate as many simple machine concepts as we could including the pulley, lever, inclined plane, etc. We took inspiration from Rube Goldberg machines, such as the Archimedean Excogitation, a 1987 audiokinetic rolling ball sculpture by George Rhoads at the Museum of Science Boston, and Wallace and Gromit’s inventions like this handy one to turn on the TV. Once we figured out how to combine simple machines to relocate a cat, the ReloCATer was born!

Storyboards

Since the Client provided the scripts we were able to dive right into storyboarding. A major consideration was going back and forth between “explainer space” (where we used graph paper backgrounds and simpler drawings) and “real life space” with characters and backgrounds in full color.

Here are two fun sequences:

Moodboards

Next it was time to decide on a look. We presented them with a few options from our past work and we ended up settling on a direction that was fairly realistic in terms of character and world design. 

Design

Next we got to work implementing the approved moodboard look in our full designs. Here are some of our favorites. Please note that we do not recommend using the ReloCATer with your guinea pig.

Animation

The final step was adding sound design, music and voiceover and these two spots were ready to inspire future engineers everywhere!

Localization

Then we began the task of translating both episodes into Spanish. We translated the script, recorded the new voiceover, re-timed the episodes and updated the on-screen text to Spanish. And voila! (Or, in Spanish, ¡Listo!)

Can’t get enough Design Squad Latinx? Head on over to PBS LearningMedia.

We are proud to present the work we did for The Phoenix, whose mission is “to build a sober active community that fuels resilience and harnesses the transformational power of connection so that together we rise, recover, and live.” We are grateful for the opportunity to help this important organization and community grow. We worked with The Phoenix to create 4 different onboarding animations that play on their new app to help recruit and train volunteers, both in English and in Spanish. Here is a behind-the-scenes look at our process.

Script

The Client came to us with a lot of great ideas and background information that they wanted to consolidate into these 4 videos. Our job was to condense it down and explain the volunteering process through stories that the audience could relate to– that’s when Sara and Jordan were born!

Research

In order to take on this giant task (a total run time of almost 7 minutes with one batch in English and one batch in Spanish) we needed to think creatively about how the animations would work both efficiently and elegantly, and before long we landed on the graphic novel / motion comics visual style. We did a bunch of research to see how these types of projects tend to be laid out and move so we could really highlight that in the animations– starting research even before the storyboarding phase to ensure this was thoughtfully integrated into the project as a whole.

Here are some of our motion graphics inspirations:

An additional challenge was making videos that would be integrated into the Phoenix mobile app in portrait orientation, but once we made the adjustment (both in the animation programs and in our minds) we were able to run with it.

Storyboards

Once we nailed down the visual look and language we dove in and storyboarded. Here are two fun sequences:

Design

The Client came to us with a color palette and logo, but beyond that we had a lot of freedom to play and experiment and that included designing a user interface as well as the characters and their world. Here are some of our favorite designs:

Animation

We worked with wonderful voiceover actors and before getting these out the door we added music. Here is Episode 1, fresh out of the oven and ready for volunteer orientations! To check out all of the videos, head on over here.

This project challenged us to work in new and exciting ways and we are so happy to be a part of the great work that The Phoenix is doing. For all things The Phoenix, check out: https://thephoenix.org/