What a stunning year of work! Our biggest project was a major new educational series for our friends at LISC, supporting their work building stronger communities across the country. Meanwhile, we completed the first couple of episodes of an early learning series we’re creating with our longtime partners, Kentucky Educational Television. 

Oh, and in addition to creating an immersive, story-driven virtual tour of the Boston Children’s Museum,  we managed to release the first episode of our original YouTube/Patreon series, “The Unexplored.”

My gratitude goes to our incredible team, who worked together in a spirit of mutual respect and support, no matter the challenge. Jen, Jane, Songyi, and Franzi, you keep my heart and mind engaged and inspired every day. Kim Hui, Taiko Sound, Amador Biligual Voiceovers, and all our other partners — your talents and input on our projects were invaluable, as well.

I’m also grateful for the deep and lasting relationships we have with our clients. The people at these organizations are dynamic and passionate with a commitment to impact, and we were fortunate to learn from and collaborate with them in 2024:

Below, enjoy some highlights from the year that was…

The Unexplored: Episode One

This is Planet Nutshell at its best, creating what we love with passion and purpose. Painstaking research, exquisite art direction, and soulful storytelling all come together here. The result is a compelling and original experience that asks viewers to see the world in a new way.

As I’ve mentioned many times, please support our labor of love and enjoy the full, uncensored version of the episode on Patreon.

KET: Everyday Art Foundations Series

This year saw the continuation of our decade-long partnership with Kentucky Educational Television, and our Everyday Art Foundations series might just be our best collaboration yet.

The first episode, What is Creativity, helps young learners establish an understanding of what it means to be creative, and how creativity is foundational to the human experience.

Boston Children’s Museum Virtual Tour

We pushed ourselves to expand our capabilities in 2024 and dove into a virtual tour for our friends at Boston Children’s Museum. The thrill and delight (and many challenges!) of this project came from combining so many things: 360-degree panoramic photography, accessibility standards, software development, user experience/interface design, storytelling, and of course, animation.

National Immigration Law Center: Sofia’s Story

We teamed up with the amazing, dedicated people at NILC to create Sofia’s Story, which represents the stories of so many immigrants like her. We hope Sofia’s journey, which is based on a true story, will inspire empathy and action on one of the most important issues of our time.  

Planet Nutshell was founded to help people of all ages understand a complicated world, and since 2008, healthcare marketing and education have been a vital component of our portfolio. Check out some highlights from our 16-year history of creating purpose-driven healthcare media that enlightens and moves viewers to action:

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

For the past two years, we’ve been working with the dedicated folks at Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) on educational resources and training that magnify the impact of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Distressed Cities Technical Assistance (DCTA) Program.

Phew, that was a lot of acronyms, but this three-way collaboration has yielded some work we’re super proud to share.

Our first project was to create an educational video to support the Community Development Block Grant team at HUD. Our goal was to give them a resource that’s effective at scale in helping communities understand how they can take advantage of the Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program.

The concept we presented was to create the fictional “everytown” of Websterville, where Sally, the mayor, and Jorge, the town clerk, explore how they can improve two local properties in need of revitalization.

Discovery and Script

We had a lot to learn about housing policy, local government, and development finance, so research came first. Fortunately, the LISC and HUD teams were incredibly supportive. Our consultations with them resulted in a script that balanced the dense, complex subject matter with some levity and dialog designed to keep viewers engaged.

Storyboard

Once the LISC and HUD teams were happy with the script, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work on shot sequencing. Here’s a look at a small section of the storyboard, which ended up spanning about 70 panels.

Moodboard

To nail down the desired visual language of the project, our art director compiled a moodboard with several potential options. HUD had already produced some animated videos, but we worked with them to raise the production values of previous efforts. Below is the option that was ultimately chosen for production.

Production

Once all of our art assets were produced, we combined motion graphics and character animation to create the world of Websterville and tell an actual human story about the Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program. To date, the video has more than 6,000 views on the HUD Exchange, far outstripping the vast majority of videos living there.

It’s not a stretch to say that the team at HUD was super happy with it. One team member exclaimed, “We are all crazy about the video.”

We’re Just Getting Started

Our work with LISC and HUD is ongoing. We just wrapped a forthcoming, 8-episode series on financial management best practices that takes us back to Websterville. The series focuses on helping small towns get their financial houses in order so they can be better positioned to win grants and funding from HUD. Sally and Jorge have a lot of work to do as they continue their journey to building a stronger community for their constituents!