Blog Posts About: explanation skills

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Are you working on something complicated? Needing to communicate change? Hoping to get support for a new direction or educating a team? In these situations, clear explanations are essential.

Working with an outside partner can help you see new opportunities and avoid getting stuck. This person can help develop your points and ensure you get the results you want. I want to be that resource for you. See below.

Office Hours with Lee

It's simple. My hourly rate is $225 per hour. Contact me when you need help, and I'll be your personal explainer and help you get unstuck.

We'll work together, as needed, until you're satisfied. Often, this work results in a set of explanatory talking points, a script, or a presentation that explains an idea effectively to your audience.

Here's how it works:

• Email Lee to schedule a brief introductory meeting at no cost. Or, pick a time that works for you.
• We'll start with a 1-hour "discovery" call to learn more, set the stage, and outline deliverables/goals.
• From there, we'll work collaboratively, online and off, in whatever style works for you.
• Along with text-based explanations, I can create visuals, diagrams, animated GIFs, and more
• Pay-as-you-go: No long-term contracts or hourly minimums

From a recent consulting client:

I came to Lee feeling stuck. I was working on a presentation and struggling to explain my work in a brief and engaging way. Lee listened carefully to my experience, goals, and ideas for the presentation and asked multiple questions. Within a few days, he came back to me with clear talking points that helped me see new opportunities to frame the ideas. Over time, we worked together to turn those talking points into visuals for my presentation. Now, when someone asks, I can explain my work with a few short sentences and even draw a quick diagram on the back of a napkin. Our time together was well with it!

~Jake McKee

To learn more, schedule a brief call with Lee. 

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When you hear the word "design" you might think about fashion, art, graphics, or devices, and that's accurate. Apple is famous for its emphasis on design as a competitive advantage. It might seem that design is the sole domain of professionals with experience and degrees, but I beg to differ.

I believe we are all designers. That's because design, in its simplest form, is identifying a problem and planning a solution. In this way, design can be simple (planning a meal) or extremely complicated and rigorous (planning a VR headset). If you've ever built a campfire, you've used design skills to achieve the desired outcome.

Design Thinking - A Primer

Professional designers often use a concept called "Design Thinking" to guide the design process. It's human-centered and creates a foundation for thinking through the steps and big ideas that lead to a good design. The main steps are:

• Empathize - Who is the audience, and what do they need?
• Define - What problem needs to be solved? Why?
• Ideate - What is likely to work?
• Prototype - Quickly create or build something that can be tested
• Test - Show it to people, ask for feedback
• Iterate - Make changes based on feedback

These steps are also a useful guide for designing explanations:

• Empathize - Who is the audience, and what do they need?
• Define - What needs to be explained? Why?
• Ideate - What is likely to work? Analogy? Visual? Example? Video?
• Prototype - Write a script, develop a presentation
• Test - Share a draft script, ask for feedback
• Iterate - Make changes based on feedback

This may seem like a lot to consider for an explanation and in most cases, that's true. But some explanations are important enough to deserve planning and design thinking.

If you're going into a job interview, introducing a new product or service, communicating a new policy, or asking for funding or support, clarity is essential. Your success depends on your audience understanding what you have to say and without planning, the task becomes more difficult.

The best, most impactful explanations are designed. They are premeditated. They are explanations in the first degree and an essential skill for the 21st century. Soon we'll take more steps in this direction.

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Over the last couple of years, my focus at the Explainer Academy was how to make animated explainer videos. I created a new course called Ideas in Motion that teaches every step of the process. I'm a little biased, but I think it's pretty great.

While explainer videos can be powerful, they aren't for everyone. But you know what is? Clear and understandable communication. Explanations help us earn respect and attention. They help us collaborate and iterate. The right explanation at the right time can move mountains.

Unlike videos that require tools, these explanations happen in conversations, meetings, and presentations. They solve a problem we all face: helping our audience understand an idea.

For a lot of people, an explanation is just something that...happens. We don't often step back and consider what makes an explanation work, or how to improve. In my 2012 book THE ART OF EXPLANATION, I used this analogy:

It's a little like dancing. Your grace on the dance floor may mean that you take dancing for granted: it just happens when there is a rhythm. But even the best dancer can only get so far without defining specific dances, such as what makes the samba the samba and the waltz the waltz. These definitions create a standard form and shape that can be honed and refined. Only by defining the standards of the dance can we hope to improve it.

I want the skill of explanation to have a form and shape in your mind. I want you to see that explanation is a creative act that can be planned and executed in almost any context.

How? By connecting the skill of explanation to the basics of design thinking. I will share a method for designing explanations that solve specific problems for specific audiences. You'll learn how designers approach their craft and how to use those lessons for your explanations.

More coming soon!

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The visuals in a Common Craft video begin life as rough sketches. I break the script into scenes, read it aloud, and let my mind wander. I think about each in the video and what visuals match those words. This connection between words and visuals is one of the keys to clear explainer videos.

For example, imagine a video scene with this script:

"Imagine your parents receiving a phone call that sounds exactly like you"

Then ask yourself: What is happening on the screen? What visuals can represent and match this idea? Here's my sketch, which you'll see in the video below:

Everyone approaches this process differently. For some, it's a challenge to generate ideas. For others, it feels more natural. It helps to understand the explanation lies in the script (and voice-over). The visuals play a supporting role and don't have to do the heavy lifting. Simple is good.

Watch Me Brainstorm an Entire Video

This process is part of every video we make at Common Craft. To me, it's essential to develop visual ideas in messy sketches. Once the sketches are complete, the video takes on a new life. Visual themes start to emerge. Problems in the script become apparent. The video becomes much more real.

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We've all seen the digital image format JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group). It's a standard on the web because these images can be compressed, which creates smaller file sizes and easier sharing. The compression happens in two forms that serve as a useful analogy for explanations.

Baseline Compression - This form of compression works in full resolution, line-by-line. The image is complete when every line is present.

Progressive Compression takes a different approach. It starts blurry and develops into full resolution.

The Lesson for Explainers

We all have the ​Curse of Knowledge. When we know a subject well, it interferes with our ability to make accurate assumptions about the knowledge of others. What seems normal and simple for us can be confusing for learners.

When we understand an idea fully, it appears to us in high resolution. We learned the basics long ago and now see the details, technicalities, and exceptions. When it's our turn to teach someone, we must adjust our thinking and consider what will work for our audience. The two types of image compression above are a way to approach this situation and counteract the curse.

Baseline Explanations

When your audience is informed and generally matches your level of knowledge, you can think about using a baseline explanation. Here the idea is presented piece-by-piece in full resolution. You assume the big idea is clear and your explanation is more linear, from beginning to end. This could be an explanation of a process, flow of information, or a financial model.

Progressive Explanations

When your audience is new to an idea, they will need to see the big picture. Here, the idea is low resolution at first. Only the big ideas are visible. Details are not apparent or discussed, yet. The process builds from blurry shapes to recognizable forms, and eventually to full resolution. This approach works well for introductions to new concepts, or when context is useful.

Your Next Explanation

The next time you need to explain an idea, think about the curse of knowledge, JPEGs, and what approach will work best for your audience. Do they need to see the big blurry idea first, or can you dive into the details?