Behind The Pixel: Closing The Animation Communication Gap

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Speaker 1
Hi there. Welcome back.

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Speaker 2
Yeah. Hi.

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Speaker 1
This is Behind The Pixel. My name is Will.

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Speaker 2
My name is Kathryn.

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Speaker 1
And this is the Open Pixel Studios podcast, where we try to bridge the knowledge gap between those who buy creative content and those who make it. And we just had an excellent conversation with Kelsey Bracewell. She's the Safety Education and Instruction Director at the American Canoe Association. They're a nonprofit in Virginia doing some fantastic work. We've done some jobs for them over the past six years.

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Speaker 2
You were going into, like, say, nine years? Yeah.

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Speaker 1
I was. So the thing is, at this, this client has been with us from before we started Open Pixel, correct? Yeah. So they've been an excellent contact, a perfect partner in a lot of different ways. And we've learned a lot from them as an organization.

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Speaker 2
Yeah. When was the last time you were on a canoe?

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Speaker 1
When was the last time I was on a canoe? The last time I was in a canoe, yes. I fell into the Charles River. I don't even want to talk about it.

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Speaker 2
So would you say that you weren't paddling safely?

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Speaker 1
Not at all.

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Speaker 2
Not at sea, yes. And so, since that was you where you might have a lifejacket on.

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Speaker 1
Oh, that's good. That's what they tell you. You have to have it on. But it's good that I had it because of my swimming. It's not that good.

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Speaker 2
Yeah. Case in point, I think we've learned a lot from Kelsey over the years of how to not only paddle safely in the water but how to be a good partner in terms of our relationship with her. So yeah, yeah. So I enjoyed the conversations we've had.

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Speaker 1
Excited to get into this one. Please join us along for the ride.

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Speaker 2
Yeah. And a quick aside here, this is an interview format which, to kind of recap very quickly, we have a couple of different ways we're doing this podcast. The first is BYB as a category, which is before you buy.

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Speaker 1
Before You Begin.

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Speaker 2
And Before you begin too.

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Speaker 1
Be what matters most to you.

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Speaker 2
Sure. But it's basically educational content around before you even think about, you know, using animated content for your different marketing channels. Yeah.

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Speaker 1
And eventually, we'll get to more creative mediums. But, you know, print is still a thing.

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Speaker 2
People will say, Oh.

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Speaker 1
Design work and stuff like that on, on static places. So we will get into those with other people, which brings us to the next set of episodes, which is a production episode. So we're going to start doing production episodes that go a little bit deeper into what happens when we start doing production, and then what kinds of questions and things pop up when you're in the thick of it?

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Speaker 2
Oh, I'm looking forward to that.

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Speaker 1
Oh, it's going to be great.

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Speaker 2
It's going to be great. Yeah, definitely. And then this category that we have right now is our one on one interviews with previous clients and potential clients and just people that we've met in our industry, creatives all over the place, to have conversations about everything that we've been discussing through the other episodes that we have.

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Speaker 1
Yeah, I usually found that they fall into two categories, like conversations and production management and kind of the management side of stuff and then the creative side stuff. So what happens with the medium, and how do they utilize it in different ways?

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Speaker 2
Right. It's been interesting just with the.

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Speaker 1
Yeah, it's been interesting to see, and you'll hear from Kelsey, too, some of the ways they use animation in some of their educational content. So it's going to be good. Yeah.

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Speaker 2
Well, without further ado, let's jump in. Let's go. Let's dove in.

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Speaker 1
We're here. We're joined by Kelsey Bracewell, who's also here. Thank you so much for joining us.

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Speaker 2
Yeah, going along for the ride.

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Speaker 3
Going along for the ride.

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Speaker 1
I'm going to start with this. Can you share with our audience what the ACA (the American Canoe Association) is and what you do specifically at that organization?

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Speaker 3
Yes, I certainly can. Thanks, Will, and the third time's the charm. Again, I work for the ACA, the American Canoe Association, a national nonprofit organized to serve the broad paddling public interested in water sports. And we do so by providing education related to all aspects of paddling—every kind of craft you can think of; stewardship and public policy support to protect clean water and paddling environments.

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Speaker 3
And then, we sanctioned a whole bunch of different programs, events, and competitions to promote exploration and recreation among everybody. And we're based here in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where I am. And being the oldest member-based paddling organization in the country, we have a vast network of volunteers and of local affiliated clubs and organizations, outfitters, and people like that.

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Speaker 3
And among that vast population are families and introductory paddlers, brand new people, all the way up to elite competitors and racers. And that's partly because the ACA is the national governing body for Olympic and Paralympic paddle sports.

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Speaker 2
So that's awesome.

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Speaker 3
So fantastic to have people that we educate the first time they ever get in a boat and people who are racing in the Olympics. So all of those volunteers, all those athletes, all those paddlers bring together a diverse community.

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Speaker 2
That's pretty cool. It kind of sounds a little bit, too. I imagine technology is changing a bit in what types of crafts can be made and what hybrid events you can put together. I'm curious a little bit, too, because I imagine you do this within your role. So can you tell us a little bit about what your day-to-day looks like and how you're maybe both incorporating technology and sometimes not technology being there?

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Speaker 2
Much of your work is like out in the wilderness and the real world, as we might call it, in the innovation side of things.

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Speaker 3
What is the real world? That's not one of those, but yes, as I mentioned, there are so many things in education, competition, public policy, and all these different products and services that we offer. I happen to be the director of the Education Department. And so, among the community I described earlier, we have a network of 10,000 certified instructors, trip leaders, and facilitators that deliver all this programming to the public, their clubs, and whomever.

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Speaker 3
And so I work a lot with the curriculum that those individuals use, the classes that they teach, the people they certify, the insurance that they use, all the different pieces that come together, that people that do this just for fun volunteer their time, like I said, for clubs, for youth organizations, for the scouts, for whoever that is, and then those who use this as their livelihood, you know, so those resources that come from the Education Department in the past used to be brochures and pamphlets and photographs and curriculum documentation, things like that.

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Speaker 3
And we've had the unique opportunity to work with you all to come out with some online coursework, some infographics, some ads, some all sorts of stuff because a lot of this experiential learning, the hands-on classes, and training that people take, is precious and hard to beat. But you can't always reach everybody, so having the opportunity to take some coursework online and watch a video online gives people more access to the tools they need to explore.

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Speaker 3
This is a potential opportunity to try a new activity.

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Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah. That's awesome. I think you alluded to this in our first recording of this that we'd never recorded. But you're working with a small team, I assume, and you're doing many things. So you describe a little bit about how large your group is.

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Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah, certainly. So the ACA has a full-time staff of maybe nine or ten individuals, which is not very many—the number of members and the number of things we do.

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Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 3
But I'm fortunate that I like all my coworkers; we drive well together. We're great at teamwork and accomplishing our goals together. And one of the ways that we have been making progress in that area, you know, being able to hire new staff and create new projects is through the work you and I do together.

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Speaker 3
And in the Education Department, we apply for some funding from agencies like the US Coast Guard or other smaller grassroots grant agencies. And so one of the things we do is produce educational content, and the staff all contribute to it. And we talk about the things that we want to communicate to the public, the things that we want to serve to our members.

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Speaker 3
And so, for example, in one of the grants we've written for the Coast Guard, their primary interest is saving lives, lifejacket wears and trip preparedness, and all of these critical things that help people have a fun and enjoyable and safe time while they're paddling. Right. And we've had this opportunity to partner with you all for years now with different bits of animation and a kind of continuity of these characters and of the things that they care about and the trips that they go on as a way to express how people can engage with this sport.

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Speaker 3
And that's been a great time. And, of course, with my staff developing it all together, I feel like our personalities are in it too.

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Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. It sounds like a very open and collaborative process that you have with your team, which we jive with a lot in all the work we do. Absolutely. I'm curious if you run into any particular not necessary barriers of entry but obstacles in knowledge or understanding of why animation might be the suitable medium for the specific type of education you're trying to bring to your community.

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Speaker 2
Are there any, like, challenges that you've run into in explaining the need?

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Speaker 3
Yes, actually. Yeah. Well, I think that, in general, many different barriers to creating this resource or creating any help are sometimes just a lack of understanding, proper? Myself or my supervisor or my teammates don't quite understand what this means or why it's valuable. But then, something else, you run into funding constraints. You know, indeed, working at a nonprofit where a lot of our operational money comes from grants or comes from donations or comes from someplace else, you have to make your kind of cost-benefit analysis, if you will, on where your money goes and how it can be best used.

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Speaker 3
But I think that the beauty in utilizing the services that you all have provided to us, which again over the years have been progressive and have been so much fun, is that, let's say in the past, all we were able to do with share some photos or share a video that somebody took on an amateur camera. Right, which is more cost-effective?

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Speaker 3
But you realize a month later that you made an error, you know, or that you need to go back, shoot some things, or that you left out this thing, and that's, you know, ends up being twice as expensive. Or you hope that the models you use for your videos or photos didn't get a haircut or didn't so that you can show the same person doing those same things.

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Speaker 3
And then also, you know, the animation is fun and colorful. And again, it's quicker to fix if you find an error too. But also engaging is better with children, families, and adults; this is all supposed to be fun. So this does not have to be a strict classroom, write-an-essay kind of thing.

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Speaker 3
But people go this way, and it doesn't exclude you from anybody because you don't have to be a specific color, size, height, or body shape. So you represent everybody, or they can see themselves in this fun little game or video. And yeah, it's just fun. And it helps people understand these concepts just as well, if not better, as some of the previous methods we've used.

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Speaker 3
Yeah, it.

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Speaker 2
Makes a lot of sense.

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Speaker 1
Do you have any...? This is not in our questions set, but do you have any data around that? I'm just curious if there is something you're measuring in terms of what kinds of things you count when figuring out if the education piece is working, and we can cut this off if you don't have that answer, but I'm just curious about it.

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Speaker 3
You know, I have some, yeah. And I think that the most recent product that you and I worked on is an online course, and it's animated, and it teaches people a plan for a kayaking trip and what to do if you fall overboard and all these different things.

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Speaker 2
I would mention that it could have been helpful for Will when going overboard.

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Speaker 1
Thanks for bringing that backup.

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Speaker 3
You're welcome. Right now, retake the online class. Read all of the supplemental what's is.

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Speaker 2
That'll be great.

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Speaker 3
Yeah, anyway, we can now measure the number of people who complete that class. Right. And it has a couple of quiz questions built-in and stuff. So we can figure out which questions people answer incorrectly. Most often, it will show us trends in the industry or the public taking this.

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Speaker 3
Where is there an education gap? Right. So that's fascinating to know. You've also produced some videos for us in the past. So, of course, we can tell how many people have watched them or interacted with them, which is cool because in the past, let's say you put up a poster somewhere or a sign at a beach if you're going to go kayaking here, we don't do this.

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Speaker 3
Don't do that. It's tough to measure the effectiveness of that. And so just the advancement of technology, in general, allows us better data. You know, an analyzation of all of that, to see how people engage with it, what they're missing, what they're loving. And so I don't have those numbers on me at the moment, but I think that, generally speaking, we can tell that people live online these days.

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Speaker 3
And so I hope to take advantage of that and educate them while they're here on the Internet and hope this inspires them to turn off the phone or the computer for a little while and get on the water.

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Speaker 2
Yes, that makes perfect sense. As to people here that always need to get out more often. Yeah.

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Speaker 1
Yeah. I mean, this is one of the reasons we built the podcast, too, because it got us out of it.

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Speaker 2
Just a very computer sitting at home. Yes.

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Speaker 3
Getting out our.

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Speaker 1
Screens. Of course. We're staring at you on a screen as well. And the people here are also staring at us on a screen. But it does at least give us some form of community outside of just staring at the work. I do have another question for you. So we work with other nonprofits and get more nonprofits to work with us.

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Speaker 1
How do we educate them before they get to our door so that they feel ready so that they feel a little bit more? When the ACA came to us, they were open arms, like they took a leap of faith with us as an organization. So what should other nonprofits know when approaching the medium, like animation, for example, or any new communication you're trying to do?

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Speaker 1
What advice would you have for them?

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Speaker 3
I can admit when we first came to you, I. I didn't know what I needed, but I knew I needed something different than what I had. And that seems cerebral, one kind of interface. But I think that you know, you all having multiple conversations with me over the years trying to explain to me what it is that you offer, showing some examples or taking, have taken so much effort to learn about my industry, my work, and what I see does to speak to me in relevant terms as much as you possibly could.

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Speaker 3
And you have never gotten frustrated, or at least you never expressed your frustration to me when I didn't quite understand what you were saying. And so I think that in some nonprofits, because they have been so monetarily constrained, they haven't looked at many opportunities to do new things, specific things they don't understand, or certain things that might cost more money than they're used to.

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Speaker 3
And so, do your best to articulate what you can offer, but also ask them leading questions and try to say, imagine this if you used animation to communicate that. And I think also, generally speaking, just telling people to like to create a possibility in their mind, they don't even need to know precisely what it is.

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Speaker 3
But what is the harm in asking and digging into that, doing some research, and saying there is something out there that is perfect? It just doesn't exist yet. And you all are remarkably talented, and you've reached into every tool, or you find contractors for the stuff you can't do yourself like you bring all the resources in and work so closely with us to create things that we think are perfect.

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Speaker 3
And so I would say to those other nonprofits, don't be afraid to take a chance and ask all the questions. You can ask for an example or find an example of something you like and continue that dialog because you'll never find it if you don't look.

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Speaker 2
You know that you bring up such a great point because, for some reason, as you were talking, it reminded me of situations where people are going to buy a home for the first time. And when you go into the house, I can't see beyond the pink color on the wall. And so I don't know what this could look like as my home.

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Speaker 2
And so the realtor has to explain, " oh, these are the possibilities of the home. And it's just giving me a lot to think about here because I've never made that analogy before, but that makes so much sense.

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Speaker 3
Yeah.

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Speaker 1
One thing that sticks into my mind, and this is something that our past guest, Mike Connolly, was talking about, is that animation is a weapon. He described it as a weapon. And I was like, oh, that's that feels dangerous. And so, in another way, what you're describing is using animation for the educational canon, right?

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Speaker 1
Like if you're going to spread all this education around, you might as well do it in a fun and exciting way through this crazy medium that maybe you don't understand fully and how it's made, but you can still utilize that weapon in a bunch of different ways.

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Speaker 2
Yeah, that's very true of exploring the same idea a bit further. Maybe imagine with us the time when we first started working together for a while.

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Speaker 1
Ago, I think.

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Speaker 2
It's, yeah, we were trying it to be; I think it was at least maybe seven or eight or nine, I think it was so.

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Speaker 1
It was before we started opening pixels correctly has been part.

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Speaker 2
Oh yeah, you've been part of our journey for a while. Yeah. But, thinking back to that and knowing what you know now at this moment in time, like what do you wish you had known about animation or utilizing the medium of energy for all of the goals you have for storytelling?

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Speaker 3
Yeah. I would take some of the advice I just sent to other nonprofits which is more willing to try. And again, I'm not an artist in any fashion at all, but I think I remember several times I tried to sketch something out and sent you a photo, or I tried to find something online that was similar to what I wanted and sent you that you know, and so is just having more patience.

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Speaker 3
I think we all work remarkably fast. I don't mean it in that context, but I mean patience because we have learned so much along the way. But many people are afraid of things they don't understand, and that fear stops them from progressing, or they automatically get frustrated in the first week or two that they can't figure it out.

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Speaker 3
You don't understand what they're saying, and they give up, and they're going to go someplace else, you know, or God forbid, they backtrack to something they do understand, but they can't measure the effectiveness or, you know, that had proven less than effective in the past. So I think that for us is just continuing to dream and think of new possibilities or taking advice from you or others who have seen something they liked or have an imagination more significant than mine.

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Speaker 3
And take a moment to sit in that and say it's possible because, over the years, things have taken a long time, or I don't speak the same language, and I am not a graphic designer. I'm not an animator. I don't, you know, I'm not a massive consumer of YouTube videos or other things like me personally. So my experience doesn't have to jive with yours for us to be a good pair.

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Speaker 2
Yeah, that was a perfect point. Yeah, I guess that's...

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Speaker 1
A little bit. Yeah, that's a little profound. More profound than I...

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Speaker 3
I thought it was going to be. Oh, there you go.

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Speaker 2
I'm curious how you went about finding animation as the medium you were going to use to tell your product. What was it about going to sort of any animation studio versus, like, maybe, one that hyper-specialized in panel safety that's like as a thing? Was that a requirement for you, or were you just, like, we need to explore what sort of criteria you looked for?

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Speaker 2
And in searching for that type of work?

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Speaker 3
Gotcha. So I think way back in the day, we were looking to make educational videos like YouTube videos for children. And so we looked at animation as a better way to connect with them than your kids. So watch these videos of adults. You know, it's hard to relate. You know, you're not that strong or that tall or that whatever your mom will let you do that thing, you know?

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Speaker 3
Right. And to the best of my knowledge, nothing like that was available. Like I didn't know where else to look. I didn't even have an example. There weren't any caricatures, pictures, or anything that struck me as to what I wanted to use. And I think I saw three or four organizations or companies that did those services.

00;20;58;27 - 00;21;21;00
Speaker 3
But the way you communicated with me and some of my other coworkers at the time was friendly, welcoming, and oriented. So I'm listening to what we needed, even when we couldn't articulate all the things we needed, you know. And then, of course, those products you made those many years ago, you know, those products being so well received, we stuck again for another year.

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Speaker 3
And just how we have built this relationship among the three of us, or sometimes four or five, depending on how many other staff were involved, you've just been impressed with all the way around. And, you know, you pick up the phone every time that we call, and we schedule meetings to check in on various deliverables. And you change things that we want to be changed.

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Speaker 3
And you explain to me things I don't understand. And, you know, I love the opportunity to write reviews or give you feedback on how we're working together. And I love some of the holiday gifts you send, and I always think of you when I have leads or new projects. And it's just it's been a great eight years, and I'm not really. I have not ever since we have been working together; I have not researched other providers that have stuck with you all the time.

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Speaker 3
I didn't even bother looking at the. Oh.

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Speaker 2
Well, we appreciate that. But, likewise, we haven't looked for any other paddle sports types of organizations.

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Speaker 3
Yeah.

00;22;13;24 - 00;22;39;00
Speaker 2
Because we know this is the one. This is the one. Yeah. No, I think there's something to that, that idea of that relationship where, like the level of communication and openness, it goes both ways. It's a two-way street, for sure. We've learned so much over the years that we like. I mean, when we started an animation, I wasn't anticipating to, like, you know, teach kids how to paddle safely in the water through a video game.

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Speaker 2
That was a crazy concept to me, but it was terrific. And I think there's there's something magical about having the ability on both sides to be able to, like, embrace education as part of the process. Because I think you come into it being like, I know everything, I've got this confidence level that, I think it takes away from the process a little bit.

00;23;01;11 - 00;23;09;06
Speaker 2
So coming in being like, Yeah, we don't know anything about boating and paddling, so please teach us like, yeah, very little made it made a huge difference.

00;23;09;06 - 00;23;16;09
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah. I'm a better paddler today. Oh. For all the courses obviously that we've put together. But yeah, it's been great.

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Speaker 3
I think we have worked so well together that, you know, any business, right, you all's mind, all these things are, is about that relationship, and it's about belonging, right? So you all welcome my ideas, and I feel my thoughts are safe here. You know, that you'll help me grow the thing I can't understand or haven't tried yet, and that kind of concept, I would go into the public as well, like, you know, ACA, this is a member-based organization.

00;23;43;11 - 00;24;06;11
Speaker 3
We want you to be a member and feel like your concerns are heard. Hear that your voice is heard here, that your community engages here, that you can find the classes you need here, that you can find a competition if you want to race here. All of that kind of things is that it doesn't matter what state you're from or what country you're from, that we offer something that you like and that you find others that are like-minded, you know, and so that we meet your needs and all those same kind of ways.

00;24;06;11 - 00;24;16;16
Speaker 3
And I think you all embody that same concept the way you do in the industry in which you work. And so I guess that's why we get along. We do the same thing, even though they seem slightly different on the surface.

00;24;17;24 - 00;24;33;02
Speaker 2
Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Yeah, we appreciate that. So I think there's there's a question here around like, you know, how do you want people to engage and plug into ACA and get involved and get learning? Right, especially from the education side.

00;24;33;02 - 00;24;41;08
Speaker 1
Just to give you a sense of people who are listening, it's not just in America. It's people in Brazil. It's people in Laos. It's people all.

00;24;41;08 - 00;24;41;27
Speaker 2
Over the world.

00;24;42;11 - 00;24;48;06
Speaker 1
Like we have a sort of a larger audience now. I didn't realize that until I looked a couple of days ago.

00;24;49;02 - 00;24;50;14
Speaker 2
On that side of measuring things.

00;24;50;14 - 00;24;55;26
Speaker 1
It's in Florida, there's folks in Montana, there's folks in Oregon. So there are places.

00;24;55;26 - 00;24;56;25
Speaker 2
To all of you, you know, shout.

00;24;56;25 - 00;25;05;22
Speaker 1
Out to all of you for listening. But, you know, you guys want to get outside and do outdoorsy stuff. So this is a great organization. Tell us more about the ACA and how people can get involved.

00;25;06;00 - 00;25;27;12
Speaker 3
Yeah, well, our website is American Canoe dot org. It's pretty darn simple. But just like the online paddling safety class that we've developed together, there's a lot of stuff on our free website; like try it on and see if you want to get and take a look at the different videos; the other comments that we perhaps have on our social AC paddle sports.

00;25;27;12 - 00;25;46;13
Speaker 3
If you want to see what other people have to say, see the programs that you know that we're putting on. And it's about the people. You see, it's these relationships just like we were talking about. You can see yourself in the people who are racing. You can see yourself in the people going on these expeditions organizing cleanups of their local river, you know, and having a great time doing it.

00;25;46;13 - 00;26;03;13
Speaker 3
So if you have any questions, you can contact us right off the website or send us a message on Facebook or Instagram or whatever. We're a small staff, but we are mighty people; people want to talk to you and see where you might fit into the community or create a brand new space.

00;26;03;13 - 00;26;04;17
Speaker 3
If you can't find one, you like it.

00;26;05;06 - 00;26;18;00
Speaker 2
That's awesome. Yeah. Well, thank you so much. We appreciate the kind words that go both ways. Yeah. And especially taking your time to talk to and communicate with us.

00;26;18;00 - 00;26;18;29
Speaker 1
Doing this three times.

00;26;18;29 - 00;26;19;03
Speaker 2
And.

00;26;19;20 - 00;26;19;23
Speaker 3
Just.

00;26;19;29 - 00;26;22;19
Speaker 1
Get a tiny audience here. We've done this three times now.

00;26;23;15 - 00;26;42;14
Speaker 2
So each is better than the last, though, you know. So, yes, I think we'll close it off there. But thank you so much for your time and effort multiple times. Your effort. Yeah. Yeah. And just for being here with us for always, you know, just being such an excellent partner because we love working with you every time.

00;26;42;26 - 00;26;44;01
Speaker 3
Yeah. Yeah, well, it is mutual.

00;26;45;05 - 00;26;46;26
Speaker 2
Awesome. All right. Well, thanks.

00;26;47;07 - 00;26;48;07
Speaker 1
All right. So. Yeah.

00;26;52;16 - 00;27;04;06
Speaker 2
So back at the beginning.

00;27;05;00 - 00;27;15;17
Speaker 1
Here we go. Just for our audience to understand what's happening right now. We've tried doing this three times, and we're here. We're doing it.