Every once in a while, the planets align and wonderful things happen. I knew we were getting involved with something special when Nathaniel Stinnett, a leader in political campaign organization and environmental policy, asked us to create a video to support the crowdfunding launch of his brainchild, the Environmental Voter Project.

It shocked us to learn that, statistically speaking, the vast majority of people who care about the environment don’t vote. The reasons for this are complex and varied but, as we learned, somewhat beside the point. EVP’s goal isn’t to advocate for any environmental cause or to even raise awareness about environmental issues. Instead, EVP’s core mission is to get more environmentalists to vote. Who they vote for — Republicans, Democrats, Green Party, etc. — isn’t important. All that matters is that they show up at the voting booth.

Why, you might ask, is that simple mission so important? Shouldn’t we be concerned with encouraging people to vote for the right people and causes? Explaining the answer to those questions was the challenge Nathaniel entrusted to us.

His goal is to raise $400,000 for EVP by September 2015, so we knew a lot was riding on getting this one right.

Week 1: Discovery 

I started by sitting down with Nathaniel and listening to his vision and goals for EVP. He also presented us with an extensive business plan, a detailed pitch deck, and an early, 933-word script and visual outline for the video. My goal was to synthesize all of this into an accessible story, so I encouraged Nathaniel to consider allowing us to profile a single character with universal characteristics. And thus our heroine, Lily, was born.

Weeks 2-3, Script

We completed the script after a lot of thoughtful input from Nathaniel, and agreed that the third revision was the one to go with.

Weeks 4-5: Storyboard

Here’s are the first few panels from the storyboard. The final storyboard contained 123 panels.

Week 6: Design Concept

After a generating a few options, we settled on a style that felt right for the EVP brand and audience. The style has a handcrafted feel but retains a sense of polish and professionalism.

Week 7-9: Animation and Sound

After three weeks of putting our heads down and cranking out the animation the final product was done.

The Launch

A week after the video was completed, the campaign went live on wedid.it. The video is front and center on the donation page, helping visitors quickly understand what EVP is all about and why their donation will make a difference. As I write this, 11 days after the launch, the campaign has cleared $100,000. Not bad!