There is nothing new about the use of graphics to explain a tricky concept. It’s then a short step to the idea of animating those graphics.

‘If you can’t explain it, why not animate it?’ Says Dylan Healy whose company, Douglas-based Animation Explainers, does exactly what the name suggests. Which nowadays seems to be surprisingly rare.

Dylan and his business partner, Aaron Connolly, have never been ones to follow the crowd. While they now have some 300 clients around the world, including major names like Mattel, DHL and AIG, their business started almost accidentally four years ago.

Dylan says: ‘We were doing an internship in Dublin and it was just a hobby after working the 9-5 but we started getting clients in the blockchain and crypto space.

‘We did not even know how to send an invoice out so we had to pick up those skills along the way and pretend to know what we were doing initially.

‘I was living with my grandmother working in a Dickensian customer service role for a social media platform and I was recording the voice overs on a RODE mic in my grandmother’s back room.

‘It’s a nice memory because she’s not with us anymore, she passed during the pandemic but she really gave me that space to start this all off really.’

He goes on: ‘The narrative with many of my peers is you need seed funding and investment to start a tech startup, that you need to raise capital, but you don’t at all.

‘Just take a small risk yourself in something you are passionate about, put in the hours and build it from that point.

‘We now have 10 sales agents, around Europe and in the US and Canada, we have two project managers and 20 animators and illustrators. There are no investors in Animation Explainers, we wanted to keep it lean and be in full control. We funded it initially with our day jobs but it snowballed quickly and we took the decision to leave our jobs and fully concentrate on AE.’

It’s easy to see, when Dylan shows me examples of their work on his laptop, how a simple animated graphic can help to explain some quite complex products, typically in the medical, financial services, telecoms, logistics and recruitment sectors.

‘It’s a great way to introduce your brand and to help people understand what you actually do. How often do you go on a website and you’re scratching your head trying to figure out what the company actually does?’ Says Dylan.

The animated videos they make are usually anything from 60 seconds to three minutes long, ideal for the landing pages on a company website, on social media, on LinkedIn, or to take to conferences.

Dylan and Aaron have a fantastic ‘yinyang relationship’, with Dylan being the creative one whilst Aaron is the operator in the business. Aaron has been key in refining the production process to make it as fast and efficient as possible.

Dylan says: ‘We have a six-to-eight week process, the ‘RISE™ process’ we call it, and clients will go through this and tell the story about their products and services and we’ll do the storyboard, we’ll do the voiceover, we’ll do the script for them, the animation and all the revisions via our software suite.

‘Ten years ago you wouldn’t have been able to do an advert for a blue chip company like AIG in six weeks but this process is very efficient.’

I asked Dylan about the problem of bridging the gap between a cartoon image to something sophisticated enough for, say, a financial services provider.

He says: ‘We recently launched new packages which tackle that issue having asked for feedback from our clients. We decided on some new styles, now we have another 10 packages for our clients to choose from.

‘We are constantly thinking ahead and adjusting due to feedback and looking at what our competitors are doing.

‘The problem with the animation industry is that it is very saturated. What we have tried to do is tell the story: we speak to our clients face to face and we give them a consultative process where they can explain to us their products or services. Then it’s our job to go away and create a script and direct the creatives.’

If there is another ingredient in their success, it would have to be the Isle of Man.

Dylan says: ‘Animation Explainers is a Manx company: to establish a business here has lots of advantages.

‘Government has been great here for helping us initially setting up a new business and for a global business to have your base here is great. Not only that, you have a close network around you, if you need any legal, financial and just general business advice it is easily accessible and very time efficient in Douglas.

‘It’s so easy to get things done here as an SME business owner.

‘So, for us, setting up a business on the Isle of Man has been perfect, I do not think we could have scaled it so quickly anywhere else.

‘We also find the life/work balance here is very favourable, it’s easy to find some peace and quiet here. We can log off and be in the countryside or by the sea in a few minutes or take time to go to the gym during the day, no traffic or hassle.

‘The Isle of Man is such a beautiful place, it is a place where you can be creative, work hard but reap the rewards. I see it as our launchpad for AE and I think you have to live away and travel for a few years to really appreciate the place for all of its potential.’