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Made Blue is en entrepreneurial charity that was founded in 2014 and by now has generated over 10 billion litres of clean water in developing countries on behalf of 400+ companies supporting their mission. Made Blue registered charity in The Netherlands focused on transparency and efficiency, making as little overhead costs as possible and overseen by and independent and non-paid board.
The task of creating a compelling and easy-to-understand visual to illustrate organization's unique structure was accomplished by creating an animated 40 second video depicting the financial flow of the organization. The concept of funds has been depicted by a water drop, the same sign used in the organization's logo. The concept of the organization itself has been illustrated as a house with 2 rooms, one of them symbolizing the part of Made Blue which is a foundation, the other room portrays the part of Made Blue which is a social venture. The animated video presents the flow of the funds within the organization. The funds coming in from donors go to the Made Blue foundation where they are later divided in two parts: one part goes towards water projects, the other part goes towards Made Blue social venture where they generate additional income which is later donated to Made Blue Foundation.
The video is used in presentations dedicated to the purpose of creating an in-depth understanding of the organization's structure, mainly during the presentations to existing and potential donors and embassadors to show how the donations are used within the organization.
The animation was created over the course of 6 weeks and several Zoom meetings. Since no visuals like this had been created in the past, the project was started from scratch. First, an understanding of the structure was created by Machiel's in-depth explanations about the organization followed by concept sketches which later, with Machiel's approval, were translated into story boards followed by the creation of the first draft of the animated video. The next steps included multiple revisions of the animation until the final version was approved.
Visualisation of the foundation's unique structure
Project:
Concept creation, illustrations, story boards, animation
Contribution:
Machiel van Dooren, one of the founders of Made Blue
Team:
Sample of creative process: first draft of 12 story boards
Below, the very first draft of 12 story boards for the creation of the animated video can be seen. The process included another 2 revisions of the story boards before the process of the animation was started. It is essential to create a rough draft and present it to the the client, in order to ensure a close feedback loop and provide an opportunity to make changes in the early stages of the project to avoid unnecessary spending of resources, as well as to ensure that the understanding in regard to the concept between both parties is accurate.
It was clear that the video should start with the Made Blue logo and the opening statement of the purpose of the video - to explain how the funds are circulating through the organization. Later the question "HOW DOES IT WORK" was replaced with "WHERE DO THE DONATIONS GO?" yet the concept remained the same - to clearly state the question at hand; the reason why this video was created.
From the first draft, the funds circulating within the organization are depicted as a water drop, the same icon which is in the logo of the organization. This remained the same until the completion of the project.
The concept of the "Made Blue house" with 2 rooms was developed in the the next revisions yet from the first draft it can be seen that there are 2 boxes, each of them representing a separate part of the organization - the first one is the Made Blue foundation, the second one is the Made Blue social venture. Later in the process, small doors, which would open and close, were added to to the rooms when funds would come in or leave the organization.
At first, the donations "just flow in the organization" yet, during the last revision, the idea of creating icons for the donors was developed and added to the story board in order to be more precise in depiction of the flow.
Showcasing parts of the process creates an understanding that making an animated video is a multidimensional process yet by taking the steps and ensuring a close feedback loop, the desired result can be accomplished - an easy to understand visual which helps to communicate the processes within your organization.
LET'S CREATE TOGETHER!
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