Alongside these blog articles, we try to put out an accompanying explainer video. We have not worked out yet which is supposed to be the centrepiece: the blog or the video. Originally, I was supposed to record the videos live, in a similar way to how we are engaging with podcasts. However, every year, one or two times a year, since I had a bad bout of the delta variant of Covid-19 in 2021, I get a simple cold that turns into a serious chest and lung infection and it stays with me for a few months. When this happens, I cannot get through a conversation without fits of coughing. It is very irritating and it limits me in terms of doing live videos, podcasts, meetings and any other kind of presentations.

That led me to change the approach to videos. I cloned my voice using ElevenLabs and used accompanying visuals through Canva, Shutterstock and various AI tools like openart.ai. I was astonished that you can feed in some script and certain tools can generate an entire video in less than a minute, using either stock or AI-generated video footage, often using quite clever visual metaphors.

While they are impressive, given the very short time it takes to generate the visuals, I do not personally use them. They feel too generic – as with the generic AI text (like the false reveals in ‘It is not about X, it is not about Y, it is about Zzzzz’). and all the visuals I do include are manually searched and done so in careful consideration of the context of the video.

The general impression I have of the videos are that they are okay, but we are still learning the craft. That is fine with me. We had engaged a professional marketing company in Leeds to start producing videos for us, but they did not understand our needs: they were catering for bubble gum: likes, traffic and SEO (I’m not an expert in this, but is this not even a little passé now?). They didn’t understand what we were about: educating. And that is all. We never include any call to action other than thanking people for reading an article or watching a video. The point is not about selling. In a very early article of ours, our brilliant colleague Burak Savci wrote about the patient voice agenda in Turkey. We intended the article to be solely about his country and his cultural context. Yet, this marketing company advised that it was ‘a bit too focused on Turkey’. But that was the entire angle of the article! You see my point about them being purveyors of bubble gum? Because the focus on Turkey was beyond their Royston Vasey worldview, it must, therefore, be beyond everybody’s.

So, I am far happier with an imperfect video that has solid content behind it than a polished, professional video that is not authentic to us. There is no need for third-party, bubble-gum interference. Thanks, but no thanks.

Visual Metaphors

Coming from an information design and a cross-cultural communication background, I am very interested in visual metaphors as a tool for communication.

We see them everywhere now, replacing bulleted PowerPoints and long paragraphs with slick animations and symbols. Personally, and although I use them, I find a lot of visual metaphors infantilising, but I would rather go with this particular flow than to swim against it. Lord knows, I swim against enough of other things already. I see that when visual metaphors work, they really work.

Here is what I have been learning in my tentative use of visual metaphors:

Why They are so Appealing

They simplify complexity. For example, showing ‘integration’ as jigsaw pieces or blocks of Lego locking together. It is intuitive and does not need translation. I have used metaphors like this when trying to distil abstract concepts into something more grounded. The images do the heavy lifting, instead of presenting bullet-pointed information. The visuals engage attention and carry emotional weight. It resonates in ways that plain text simply cannot achieve.

A Double-Edged Sword

Where I start to feel hesitant is when metaphors oversimplify or distort nuance. Then you veer into cliché: lightbulbs for ideas, rockets for innovation, mountains for challenges and icebergs to illustrate the depth of culture. These look nice, but do they say anything new? Do they carry the right meaning in every context? This is where things become fuzzy.

I have realised that while metaphors clarify, they can also flatten. They risk turning complex realities into something that is too tidy and this can appear inauthentic.

Cultural Context

Visual metaphors are not universal. A symbol that is instantly clear in one culture might mean something entirely different in another or, worse, nothing at all. Visual metaphors are loaded with cultural assumptions. My background in cross-cultural work has made me hyper-aware of how a small choice, like showing a gesture or even a weather symbol can inadvertently alienate or confuse parts of the audience.

What I Have Learnt

·       Ideally metaphors need to be tested with people from different backgrounds, even if it is just informal feedback. What seems clever to me might be obscure to someone else. The positive affordance that I have, within GRC, is that everybody in our team have mutually divergent worldviews and can be brutally honest, just as it should be. 

·       Do not use metaphors that require explanation. If you have to explain it, it is not doing its job.

·       Balance creativity with clarity. A fresh metaphor, rather than a clichéd one, is always worth trying, so long as they do not create new confusion.

·       Let visuals support the message and not carry it. Metaphors need to be supporting players, not take the lead. They need to enrich the message and not obscure it.

I have found that visual metaphors are a powerful part of the explainer video toolkit. But they need care, context and a bit of humility in how they are used. I am still learning. For example, maybe I should resist the temptation to reach for the most “creative” symbol, and ask myself: will this make sense to someone outside my worldview? Does this actually help them understand?

Our videos are home-made. I use AI assistance as much as possible in the creation of these because I have no skills directly related to video production. They are not supposed to be perfect. They are just meant to resonate. Whatever the outcome, I love the process of creating them and the lessons I learn from each one.

Thank you for reading,

Mark Gibson

Leeds, United Kingdom, June 2025