TED-Education is an educational initiative of the nonprofit organization TED (TED Talks / TEDx Conferences), known for its inspiring and accessible talks.

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TED-Education's mission is to spread knowledge through short, animated, and scripted educational videos created in collaboration with experts from around the world. These videos cover a wide variety of disciplines—from science to art to philosophy—and are designed to spark curiosity, enrich learning, and make knowledge accessible to everyone, especially students and within TED-Ed’s global network of over 650,000 teachers.

TED-Ed approached us to design an animated video on a subject as vast as it is complex: tides. The script, written by science writer Elise Cutts, traces the key stages in our understanding of this phenomenon — from the tides that suddenly struck Alexander the Great’s army, to the extreme gravitational forces observed on the moons Io and Enceladus, and the laws formulated by Isaac Newton. The aim: to explain how the movements of the Moon and the Sun influence the tides on Earth, and how this phenomenon manifests elsewhere in the universe.

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The main challenge lay in the density of the topic and the complexity of the concepts involved. How can one explain the workings of gravitational forces and their effects on celestial bodies and water masses with simplicity and clarity, while maintaining a coherent narrative thread? How can scientific rigour, pedagogical flow and visual storytelling coexist within a short animated format, driven by a text rich in information?

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To make this subject accessible, TED-Ed called on our expertise to create an animated video designed as a true educational tool.

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WHAT WE DID 

In order to effectively meet the goals of scientific outreach AND captivate the audience with engaging visual storytelling, we…

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• Envisionned a resolutely narrative video, striking a balance between storytelling and scientific demonstration. Each sequence was designed to visually convey the information delivered by the voice-over: making abstract phenomena tangible, highlighting key moments in the story, and ensuring clarity throughout.

• Developed an artistic direction tailored to the subject, both clear and appealing, designed to sustain the audience’s attention from start to finish.

• Created the graphic assets and produced a high-quality storyboard to prepare the animation process.

• Animated the illustrations using a hybrid style combining traditional 2D, 3D, and Cut Out techniques.

• Composed a bespoke musical composition perfectly aligned with the visuals.

• Actively contributed to the video’s dissemination.

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The result: a rich and accessible educational video that explains how tides work through a captivating story blending history, astronomy and physics — viewed by over half a million people on YouTube.

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More information on how the sun and moon are responsible for the tides on Earth, and what these forces looks like on other celestial bodies.
More information about TED Education.