We make powerful Medical Device Animations that get you noticed
At Tricks we have been telling it better since 2019. This means that when you have a medical device which you need to market brilliantly, we can help you do that. How, you wonder? We turn the complicated into simple, the difficult to demonstrate into the visible.
Medical device animation is about showcasing how your device is intended to work, how to operate your device as well as the inner workings of the various components. This helps your customers understand what is going on, removing guesswork and better informing their purchase decision. Imagine using stills, or a video which only shows hands rapidly working away but not having any idea what the medical device is doing?
With medical device animation, you don’t have to imagine. You get to see it. You get to have your product showcased in a way that deserves the attention it needs.
How can medical device animation help me?
Take our previous example of Dr Laennec - the doctor famed with inventing the stethoscope. This marvel of medicine only came about because Dr Laennec wanted to listen to his patient’s heart but didn’t want to put his chest to their chest. So he rolled up a piece of paper and placed it against the patient. He could instantly tell the difference. Now, imagine Dr Laennec trying to tell colleagues about this method… Better yet, imagine their faces whilst telling them.
Medical device animation is a powerful marketing and information tool, and these are just some of the ways that it can help you and your business;
1. Simplifies Complex Concepts
It’s not a piece of paper rolled up anymore. Medical devices often involve intricate mechanisms, developed over years and with huge R&D budgets. Medical device animation breaks these down into easy-to-understand visuals, creating relatable concepts for both the users and the buyers.
2. Promotes Better Learning and Retention
You build one medical device animation and it helps to sell, teach and instruct those using it! Because animation is a powerful tool that can help doctors, HCPs and patients remember more than just a blurb of text or worse, a static image!
3. Improves Patient Understanding
Imagine using a specifically targeted animation that can teach patients about the technology that’s used? Show how a defibrillator can save their lives or a 3d printed valve can bring back their mobility. You spare the gore and you provide better patient awareness and care.
4. Compounds Marketing Efforts
One medical device animation can become your marketing team whilst they sleep. With a medical device animation, you can market across different nations simultaneously. Whether its at trade shows, via social media or dedicated portals, your medical animation will be working hard for you, round the clock.
Why Choose Tricks for Your Medical Device Animation?
At Tricks we pride ourselves on being the animated communications specialists. Through years of experience working in the medical and pharmaceutical industry, we understand the various challenges of communicating complex medical device information, and the challenges of those who watch them.
We are animators, in fact, that’s all we do. We know how to tell a story through animation and that’s where our focus lies. Whether we’re explaining a Mode of Action, or breaking down a medical device into its separate components, we can go where cameras simply can’t.
Every animation Tricks produces is produced with the target audience in mind. Are you going to use the animation at a trade show? Will it be on your website? Will your representatives have it loaded onto a tablet or smartphone? By understanding who the audience is, where they will see the animation and what you want to communicate, we create an engaging, informative and bespoke medical device animation every single time.
Tricks believes that animation is the best way to communicate. We can get where video can’t, and we’ve been doing it for over a decade for some of the world’s biggest brands.
We know how to tell it better with animation and we know we can help your business tell it better too.
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Scientific Accuracy
Our process is designed to work collaboratively with frequent check-ins along the way. You can share our work at various stages to seek feedback from subject matter experts. With experience and pedigree in medical animation, we know how much the details matter. Whether you’re showing anatomical structures, cellular processes, or technological equipment, we’ll work with you to showcase it correctly, and simply.
Safe Hands Pair Of Hands
In 2022 we achieved the ISO 9001 certification in quality and project management. It’s probably our main differentiator from other animation companies. It means we have an independently audited process that meets international standards. We know how to run a project in a highly efficient, collaborative and confidential manner. It’s why we’re trusted by some of the biggest medical and pharma companies in the world.
Working Together
We help bridge the gap between science and communication. We work across a range of industries and sectors. This gives us the ability to take technical and complex materials, no matter the subject, and transform them into clear communications. You’re the expert at what you do, and we’re the same. When working together we can create something brilliant, on budget and on time.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly is medical animation and how does it differ from regular animation?
Medical animation is a specific subset of animation. Generally, it focuses on an educational outcome like a specific piece of knowledge, rather than storytelling or brand awareness. Medical animation tends to feature scientifically accurate information and uses detailed medical language and terminology. When a medical animation needs to speak to two different audience personas (for example HCPs and patients), you may choose to split the animation into sections that can be filtered or differentiated between the contrasting audiences. This can help keep the scientific detail and accuracy, whilst maintaining accessibility for non-medical audiences. Often medical animations need to meet regulatory requirements that you may not encounter in a more general explainer animation.
How much does a medical animation typically cost?
The cost of a medical animation will depend on its length (or duration), its complexity, and the creative style. You may want to explain your medical device with photorealistic 3D renderings, or you may choose to use a stylised, illustrated approach to your animation. The two different creative treatments will come with two different price tags. Other aspects to consider are how scientifically accurate you’d like your animation to be, how many stakeholders (internal or external) you have, and how urgent the deadline is. A simple 2D medical animation could start at £4,000 with complex, 3D molecular animations starting at £10,000.
For a no obligation proposal, please get in touch with us today. We will prepare a few cost options along with style references and a timeline to show exactly what your project could look like, and how long your project will take. Send us a message, or give us a call so we can get a bit more information about what you’re trying to achieve, and we can get you a ballpark estimate pretty quickly.
How long does it take to create a medical animation?
The simple answer is that there isn't a set time it takes to create a medical animation, or any animation really. It all depends on the complexity of what you're looking to achieve. If you need multiple languages, multiple aspect ratios and durations for different clinical contexts or marketing channels, then that's going to take longer (or a bigger team) than a single video. If your animation needs to pass through medical review, compliance or regulatory checks, then that will add time to the process. If you have a number of clinical experts or internal stakeholders that need to verify anatomical accuracy and approve design work, that will influence the timeline. A simple, stylized animation showing basic anatomical concepts will take less time than a photorealistic, highly detailed 3D animation of complex surgical procedures or cellular interactions.
We typically advise an 8 week turnaround from brief to delivery. This gives you enough time between tasks to get scientific information verified and approved without rushing through. However, we often work on shorter timelines when there is an urgent conference or product launch that needs to be met. In some cases, we've produced simple medical animations for regular clients within a week. If you have a deadline that you absolutely need to meet, drop us an email or give us a call and we'll be able to tell you if we can meet it.
How do you ensure scientific accuracy in medical animations?
We work closely with your team to make sure everything - from the initial script, to the visual style, to the detailed storyboard - is medically accurate and scientifically sound. Each step in our production process is presented to you for review, feedback, and formal approval before we move forward. This approach lets us correctly represent your specific medical subject matter.
During the storyboarding phase, you'll see every frame of the animation sketched out before we develop it into the final high-quality version. This process is particularly valuable for medical review committees and clinical experts who need to verify the accuracy of anatomical structures, procedural techniques, or physiological mechanisms before the animation phase begins.
What is the process for creating a medical device animation?
We approach every and any project we produce in the same way. Our process has been developed over a decade, and we follow it consistently to ensure that we can guarantee to deliver projects on time and on budget. The process starts with pre-production tasks like information gathering, workshops, script writing and designing mood boards. Then we move into production tasks like style setting (or style frames) and two levels of storyboard development - the sketch storyboard and the final storyboard. Once everything is approved, we continue into post-production where we work on animation, sound design, voiceover recordings and creating any additional videos as part of the scope of work. Finally, we add the finishing touches like sound effects and subtitles. Our process has over 100 steps - but don’t worry, we do most of them! In 2023, we had our process ISO 9001 certified, so we hold ourselves to the highest standards.
How do you handle regulatory compliance in medical animations?
We’re not regulatory experts in your area. However, our animation process is designed to help companies just like you to get internal and external approvals throughout the animation process. Whether you need to liaise with legal, compliance or product teams, every step in our process - from the script, through to the style, through to the storyboard - is presented to you for feedback, amendments and ultimately sign-off before moving to the next stage. We capture changes, feedback and amendments throughout the process in clear, easy to use checklists, ensuring an evidence trail and documenting that changes do actually change.
At the storyboard stage, you'll have every frame of the animation drawn in a sketch style before being created in the final style. This is especially useful for regulatory teams who can sign off on the accuracy and compliance of the animation before anything is actually animated.
If regulatory feedback comes in, we have the ability to quickly update content without starting from scratch. Our experience working on animations with strict compliance, legal and regulatory needs means we know the questions to ask at the start, to save time and reduce the need for major revisions later.
How do you ensure medical accuracy in pharmaceutical animations?
We work closely with your team to ensure that everything from the script, through to the style, through to the storyboard is all accurate and compliant. Every step in our process would be presented to you for feedback, any amendments and ultimately sign-off before moving through to the next stage. This means we can create highly tailored and bespoke visuals to your subject matter. At the storyboard stage you will have every frame of the animation drawn in a sketch style before being ‘rendered’ in a high quality version. This is especially useful to legal or compliance teams who can sign off the accuracy and compliance of the animation before anything is actually animated.
Can medical animations be used for both HCP and patient education?
Depending on the context of the project and your aims, you may be able to use the same animation for both target audiences. However, you may consider using the same core visuals and style with a slightly different script. This way your patient education animation gives the patients more approachable and less technical information compared to the HCPs. As long as the scripts were roughly similar in word count and section/scene lengths, then it would only require a slightly larger budget to account for some extra voiceover work. Repurposing assets for different uses and audiences is a brilliant way to make your animations last longer and be more useful to the intended audience.
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