Explaining at a party what you do for work is something we all find difficult. Especially if you work in chemistry. And yet it can be done. After all, video animations can be used to clearly convey complicated material to people without a chemical background. Haimo Tonnear, marketing communications manager at AkzoNobel Polymer Chemistry talks about his experiences.

How video animations help make chemistry understandable

You know how that goes: "Hey, what do you actually do?" "Well, I work in the chemical industry for a company called AkzoNobel." "That sounds interesting! What kind of products do you make?" "We produce organic peroxides." "What?" "Organic peroxides." "Okay, uhm ..."

"Polymers, better known as plastics and rubber, are used in many things around us. Think shampoo bottles, shoe soles, drainpipes, cables and many parts of cars and household items. Without organic peroxides, many of these products would not exist."

"Oh, that's interesting. I didn't know that. But what do these peroxides do?"

And then it gets tricky....

Complex subject

The above is from a blog by Tonnaer. We asked him to share a bit more about this.

It is not easy to explain chemistry to someone who does not have a chemistry background. In doing so, Tonnaer raises the question of whether that's because it's such a complex subject or whether it's because people just aren't used to explaining chemistry to outsiders. That is why at AkzoNobel Polymer Chemisty they have started an experiment to see if they can attract polymer chemistry to a wider audience by using video animations.

Give people literal insight

Over the past year, AkzoNobel has been working with C4Real on a number of video animations to clearly communicate complicated material. In their ongoing learning process, the partners have come to interesting insights. According to Tonnaer, video animation is the ideal way to explain complex matters clearly: "The images evoke a different feeling than textbooks do. You are really included in the process. By making it visible, people really understand how the process works. You can put it down very simply so it's easy to understand. A good example is a video animation we made about how polymers are made and another animation where you can see how to improve properties. We also make this concrete and show how you make polyethylene or PVC, for example, but also how you make sure the sole of a running shoe keeps its shape."

The intangible becomes clear

"The animations were initially developed from a marketing and sales point of view to give customers insight in a modern and fresh way into how our products work and what added value they bring to the customer's process. But it soon became apparent that more was possible in this approach. The videos are now used both for our own employees and for students without chemical knowledge. The need arose from the organization to use the animations in a more educational way. That is why two modified animations were made, which explain the processes a little more.

These steps also illustrate the learning process within AkzoNobel and the growing interest in what the company does," says Tonnaer: "I am a chemical technologist myself, but for a lot of people chemistry is fairly intangible. You can't see it. For us as a business unit, it is therefore useful to be able to explain to people without a chemical background exactly what polymers are and how they are made. Colleagues like the way C4Real has visualized this and 'chemical laypeople' get a good idea of what we actually do. We also use these animations in our internal HR process to easily introduce non-chemical candidates to chemistry and our specific products. Actually, we make chemistry more attractive this way."

Zooming in at the molecular level

Visualization of chemical processes remains a challenge, says Tonnaer: "You can't film chemistry. Therefore, together with C4Real, we thought it would be good to zoom in on the molecular level to show how it works. That's not new, it's been happening for a lot longer. But the way it is now visualized in 3D makes the animation much more attractive, clear and appealing. From real video images we move into 3D animation and back again. This way the visible and invisible worlds blend together. We thought very carefully about what we wanted to visualize for which target audience and how best to do that."

Continuous learning process

The question that will stick with many readers after this article, is of course how they can get started with this themselves. Tonnaer indicates that it is important not to strive for perfection: "For us it is still a continuous learning process. Visualizing it does get easier along the way. The good thing is that within AkzoNobel and externally there is more and more interest thanks to this approach. The power of video animation makes complex processes understandable to a wide audience. That's why we like to share our enthusiasm with fellow professionals. This way works for different target groups. Everyone in the industry can benefit from this."