Connect the Dots, La La La

May 10th, 2009 by Tom

MondayDots is a new blog with a promising focus: explanatory videos built around simple dots. Creator Jeff Monday’s inaugural video explains why General Petraeus was uniquely suited to effect change in the Iraq War.



Monday credits cartoonist explainer extraordinaire Scott McCloud with inspiring the people-as-dots approach. One of McCloud’s key notions in Understanding Comics is that making a character more “cartoony” can make the character more accessible. Essentially, the less specific a character image is, the easier it is to project yourself into that character.



Monday is sprinting with this idea, making his character images as open ended as possible. He explains the approach in this video:



I like this hook, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of the series. Also, bravo to Monday for explaining how he produces his videos using only Apple’s Keynote and iMovie:



[via Presentation Zen]

Prezi’s Explanations with a View

April 6th, 2009 by Tom

Scott McCloud TED Talk

January 13th, 2009 by Tom

Scott McCloud Explains Google Chrome

September 2nd, 2008 by Tom

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Explainist is a blog about the art of explaining. Check out the first post to get a sense of the blog mission and see why I'm such an explanation nerd.

I earned my explaining merit badge as one of the original writers and the mid-aughts Editorial Director for HowStuffWorks.com. These days, I'm an independent Web project consultant, freelance writer and part-time crazy dog person. You can learn more about me here.

Fellow explainist and citizen on patrol Dave Coustan also shows up to explain now and then. You can learn more about Dave here.

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- Tom