We get a lot of customers looking for what are known as ‘Common Craft’ style videos. They see the ‘Dropbox’ explanation video that Common Craft made and ask us if we can make a video like that. Our response is always the same. “Common Craft made the Dropbox video, we can’t copy that style, be we can offer you one of our Hand Craft videos which have the same look and feel.”

We could copy it exactly if we really wanted to, but we don’t. We’ve built up our own variation of the style. There are a few key differences.

• We don’t shoot on a whiteboard. We shoot on paper instead.

• All of our characters have faces and detail.

• Our characters are all hand drawn. Not on a computer, but illustrated by hand on paper.

• We do not use stop motion animation. We animate using After Effects (Advanced Hand Craft & DigiCraft )

• Our text is hand drawn and not printed.

I could go on. I’m not denying that the videos do have the same feel. And I do understand why some folks get confused. They are ‘common craft’ style videos after all.

Our customers want simple explanations. And our aim is to explain as simply as possible using the style that our customer likes. Mostly, the common craft style video. 

Here are two great example of our hand craft videos. We’ve made over 700 of them!

The hand craft videos that we make were inspired by Common Craft. In fact, both Ailsa and I are huge fans of Lee and Sachi. And we understand why they are very protective over their brand hence writing this piece. We don’t pretend to be them. We don’t say that we are them. We never have and we never will. We are The Cuillin Collective. Not CommonCraft.

Both Ailsa and I are extremely proud of our variation on the style. And our customers love them. That’s why we’ve been commissioned over 700 times in the past 3 years.

Although, some folks just plain don’t like us. Here is an example. I’ve no idea why a competitor (edit: please see comment below) would say such things. I might not agree with how some people make their money (eg, Walter White) but I wouldn’t troll the internet looking to abuse them. And if you’d like a different example, here is another.

So, onto the point. If you’d like a video created by CommonCraft then please use CommonCraft. However, if you’d like one of our Hand Craft explanation videos (not a video created by CommonCraft) then simply visit our explanation videos page.

By keeping this in mind we are also ensuring we are meeting the needs of our clients. If you are running a business, then you want to effectively reach your customers, and then work to meet their needs and wants, so it makes sense that if you are our client then we want to do the same thing. This goes for each product and service we offer here at The Cuillin Collective, we want to impress not only you, but we want to impress your client too.

Let’s take an explanation video as an example. This is used to explain your business, product or service to your customers, so it is only natural that we keep them in mind. An explanation video will do this in a very short space of time, usually 60-90 seconds, and will be scripted, narrated, illustrated and then shot and edited with the ultimate goal of impressing the customer of our clients – this is who we want to reach and who the video must talk to. We believe that this is one of the most important ways of achieving what you want and need as a client of The Cuillin Collective.

The price of explainer videos varies massively, but regardless of what you are willing to pay, or indeed can afford, then you should really view your explainer video as an investment. It’s an investment as it will enhance your site, enhance the experience of visitors to your site and when done correctly, will ensure a much higher conversion rate for your business. If you find the right production company, then you’ll get the right video which will represent your business in the right way, not just now but also well into the future. It might feel daunting to spend money on a video but the amount you pay now can go a long way in building and promoting the future of your business.

If you think that explainer videos are a waste of money, take a think to your recent web browsing. How many pages featured a video, and how much longer did you stay on the site because of it? And it’s more than just having it on your site, once you have that link to your completed explainer video, think of all the places you can share it and all of the people you can reach. Nobody wants to read pages and pages of text on a site or in an email these days, and why should we when a concept can be portrayed in a more effective manner in much less time using an explainer video.

So there you have it: the only time an explainer video is a waste of money is if you don’t spend time finding the right production company to make your explainer video for you.

The process of writing an explanation video is one of, if not the most important, part of the overall process of actually creating an explanation video. Now of course the voice over, illustrations, shooting and editing all come together to create an explanation video, but without the solid foundation of a strong script, this is all worthless.

The clue is in the name of an explanation video – and without a good script, there is no way that the explanation can be good. Explanation is at the heart of the video and has to be at the heart of the script also, regardless of style, target market or business. There are many ways to approach a script and the best results always come from tailoring the script to the client and their target market.

The way we gather our information for a script is through conversation with you, asking you to fill in our questionnaire and then visiting your website. This is why our questionnaire is so important, particularly if you are a start-up and you don’t yet have a website, as it is our only source of information to write your script from. In this instance, we only know what you tell us and we need to be able to fully understand your business, product or service to be able to explain it effectively to others. Often we are given a script by clients, and we would always ask that the questionnaire is still filled out, We can certainly work with the script you have given us, but it is important for us to have an understanding in order to be able to explain to your target market.

The other important point to mention is that we try and make the script a collaborative process. Tess writes our scripts, but she also then discusses the script with Marc and Ailsa to ensure it is as good as it can be. We then let the client view the script and invite them to provide feedback and comments on the script to let us know what is missing, or what is surplus to the script, to ensure that the script is exactly what you want it to be. We don’t go any further until this process is complete and you have confirmed that you are 100% happy with the script. We’ve used this process in the 700+ explanation videos we’ve made, and it works!

If you run your own business, be it a start-up or a well-established business, then you need an explanation video. This is true regardless of the nature of your business, be it a beauty salon where you have a physical shop space where you offer a service, or whether you offer software solutions online to your customers. In 2013, a website without an explanation video will be left behind, so you really are putting yourself at a disadvantage if you fail to have one.

An explanation video is one of the most important elements of your website, just as important as good design and effective content. It’s also one that is quite often overlooked and disregarded but if you are running even the most basic of analytics on your site you’ll be able to work out how long visitors are staying on your site. You certainly do need content – content is important for information and for SEO, but in terms of explaining the services or goods you offer or your overall business ethos, a simple 60 or 90 second explanation video can ensure that your visitors understand your concept straight away. It allows your visitor to gain enough information about you to want to research further or contact you without them getting bored looking for an answer on your site and clicking off.

Whether you choose The Cuillin Collective (which you really should!) or not for your explanation video, you need to have one on your site!

As soon as I started working with The Cuillin Collective, I realised the benefits of working from home: not having to commute, being in your own house and endless cups of tea and coffee being just a few. I can listen to whatever music I want, and I’ve never been so up on current affairs as I sit with the news on in the background all day. Of course, none of this comes easy, it has to be worked for and I have nothing but complete respect for Marc and Ailsa and just how hard they have worked to build and maintain The Cuillin Collective – I’ve seen that first-hand for myself.

It’s really funny the attitudes people have when you say you work from home – I’ve had all sorts of comments – ‘I know you’re supposed to be working, but we can go for lunch, right?’ err…wrong! I’m working just as hard as you do when you are ‘supposed to’ when you are at work, so I can’t just ‘go for lunch’! Another was ‘You must be really motivated to work from home!’ Well yes, you have to be but you really don’t have the choice when you have clients expecting work from you. My response is always ‘Can you just leave your job behind for a couple of hours because you feel like it?’ probably not. The difference is that I really care about The Cuillin Collective, about what we do each day and about what the future holds, which will only be successful if we all play our part.

It wasn’t until August of this year that I really appreciated the full benefits of being able to work from home, when we found out we were expecting a baby. Working part-time from home and part-time in the retail business really showed me just how beneficial being able to work from home is – especially for the first few months when all I felt like doing was being sick and sleeping! Ailsa (having just been through a pregnancy) was fantastic – a constant source of information and comfort and she used to say to me ‘I don’t know how you can leave the house to go to work!’

In those early days, you feel like porcelain and it’s so hard to hide the fact you feel sick and exhausted 24/7 when you don’t want the whole world to know yet, working from home allows for this – working in retail doesn’t. I won’t even get started on the many other downsides of working in retail. When working from home, you can just crawl straight from your bed to your desk if you really need to and you are ready to work.

The other side of this is that once my baby is born, then I won’t have to leave him at home and trudge off to work, tears in my eyes, feeling like the worst mother in the world. (Although I’ve been told I might welcome the break some days!) I’ll be able to work from home, while my other half looks after our child on those days.

I’ll be working, but I’ll be in the same house as them both. I’ll be a stay at home mum, working and caring for my child in perfect balance – or at least that’s the plan – I’ll let you know how I’m getting on in 6 months time!

I’ve read some really inspiring stories in the past few months of mothers who has set up successful start-up businesses while they have been at home on maternity leave. I love that – people taking matters into their own hands and starting a business that allows them to be in charge of what they do, do what they love, care for their child and do it all from the comfort of their own home. There’s a lot to be said for running your own business and working from home, and I’m so happy to be able to say I love working from home!

Follow @tesssaysyess

In 2010 our sole focus as a business was to write, illustrate and shoot paper craft explainer videos. We had no intention to get involved with the design and building of websites.

But as with all businesses things change. The more explainers we created the more we were asked if we did web design also. So in 2011 we decided to expand and began to offer what we offer today. Explainers, web design, logo design, start up packages etc.

This coincided with our move to Elgol on the Isle of Skye. At the time, Skye was more just a place to live rather than a source for new business. Both Ailsa and I felt that moving into a new community (and a small one at that) was a big enough step without having to tout for local work as well. We didn’t want to advertise on Skye at all. Stepping on peoples toes and all that.

Now in 2012 we feel that it’s the right time to start advertising our services on Skye itself. It’s a local expansion if we had to give it a name.

Our aim is to offer our modern style of web design & development to the businesses of Skye. Whether it’s a B&B, a hotel etc we cater for all. Providing theme based websites or custom built websites.

There are a lot of sites online now that lack the basics for today’s viewer. Not just on Skye. But everywhere. I had a conversation recently regarding form and functionality. The person I was speaking with was very keen on just functionality. This, in my opinion only, is an old fashioned take on web design. Nowadays a website has to have form to be functional. If I see a website that was created without design in mind, I’ll go somewhere else. Equally, if a website looks really pretty but doesn’t function properly I’ll probably go back to the functional but poorly designed site. However, here at The Cuillin Collective we concentrate on creating websites that works all round. A site that is kind to the eyes and does what you want. Why? Simply, because that’s what your viewer wants.

If you’re a business based on the Isle of Skye and are looking for web design services simply click here to contact us now. Or call 01471 866383 to speak directly with Marc or Ailsa. If you’d like to read more about us and what makes The Cuillin Collective tick, then please click here.

In Elgol, we have a village shop and a thriving tourism industry. The Misty Isle Boat Trips regularly take visitors into the stunning Loch Coruisk and on occasion are treated to a visit from Dolphins, Minke Whales and Porpoise.

From our home on Skye we design websites, develop websites, illustrate and shoot explanation videos and we rely solely on the internet. We don’t advertise anywhere else. For all intents and purposes we are a very modern business. We use all the latest computing equipment and the most up to date design & editing software.

With living and working in a remote setting we need to prepare for the worst. Any unscheduled downtime isn’t the same as it used to be when we first started up in 2009. The Cuillin Collective is a business and not just a hobby. Having worked in Edinburgh, being prepared up here means a lot more than it would in the city. Although, a Zombie invasion would be easier to handle up here. I’ve picked three examples for this article.

Satellite Broadband

First of all let’s talk about the broadband. Going from 12mb to 0.5mb was a big shock. But for 9 months we somehow managed. Looking back I’ve not idea how. Each one of our explainer videos is around 100mb. Which takes around 2 hours to upload. And whilst you are uploading you can’t really do much else. The British Government do say that they are going to get everyone speeds of at least 2mb by 2015 but it’s 2012 just now. So, until then we have invested in a satellite broadband solution from Tooway. We are now on 18mb down and 10mb up with a 26gb restriction which is fine because we still have our unlimited 0.5mb telephone connection. I don’t think any business in this day and age should have to resort to satellite broadband. Fast broadband is a basic need. Just like running water and a reliable electricity supply broadband is needed for survival. Alongside no mobile signal out here we are far behind most places. Saying that, having two separate broadband supplies is useful for when the phone lines go down. Please see here

Power Supply

Next up we have the ‘reliable’ electricity supply. We’ve not had many power cuts here in Elgol. In total probably around 40 hours in 12 months. But that’s enough to cause havoc. When the power does go down you could be in the middle of a big edit or website project. Let’s say we have a customer waiting on an email or worse a project and the power cuts out. In the city you’d just get on the smartphone and email. But for us we’ve got to drive across to the next village 4 miles away to download and reply to our emails. The mobile network must be about .10mb so checking the basics can take a while. Forget sending a 100mb file.

To tackle this we’ve invested in a 4.5kw petrol generator. Which is enough to power all our lights and cameras, our computers, both internet supplies and of course, the fridge and the freezer Not delivering a project on time due to no power isn’t an option for us. With over 700 videos and countless websites designed and developed we’ve not missed a deadline yet and we’re not going to start anytime soon.

Backup Computer

We’ve got backup broadband and backup power. What else would you need out here? Our main tool are our computers. And we live 2 hours away from the nearest Apple store/supplier so if a computer goes down we have to drive 2 hours there and 2 hours back to have it repaired. That isn’t a solution. So instead of this, we bought a 2.2 GHz i7 MacBook Pro with 8GB of Ram. The reason for spending over £2k on a back up computer was simply because it needed to do the same as our bigger computers. If we couldn’t edit HD video on it, then we didn’t want it. If the any of the iMac’s go down then we simply take our latest backup hard drive (which backs up every hour) and install it on the MacBook. It’s an expensive solution but it’s the only solution.

It’s verging on the extreme I know. We don’t have a backup TV, backup fridge or a backup washing machine because it’s only us that rely on that. But our customers pay us to make explanation videos, websites and logos for them and they expect them on time. So we’ll deliver them on time.

Spending nearly £4k on ‘what if’ situations is well worth the money just so we can live and work where we do. Edinburgh was great. But Elgol and Skye has something that you can’t explain. This is our home and our office. Have a ‘spin’ around!

There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.

What extremes do you go to in ‘what if’ situations? Would be interested to hear your thoughts.

Working from home has a lot of perks. Not like starting when you want and disappearing to go for a walk for a couple of hours type of thing. More like; no commute, no expensive lunches, not having to endure the rank smell of smoke off work colleagues, in fact, not having to have any irritating work colleagues (Ailsa may disagree on this). You work your hours and that’s it. Although you never really fully switch off but that’s another subject for another day.

But what happens when you work with your partner and you decide to (or accidentally) have a baby? This fundamentally changes everything about everything.

In our case, we decided to start a family and we ended up having twins. Yep that’s right, twins.

In all honesty, the first 3 months were the hardest. Morning sickness, tonsillitis (that’s wasn’t part of the pregnancy, it was just bad luck) and no one else to help you. It’s something that you never think about. Thankfully, months 4 to 9 were plain sailing. Oh, and on a side note. When people tell you that it flies by. It doesn’t. It drags on and on and on and on.

How can parents run a successful business together? I read a lot about it all and it seems that there is no real solution. I didn’t know what we were going to do. We just had to go with the hand we were dealt.

When Remy & Indy came along Ailsa and I had to keep working. We just had to figure out our own way to make it work.

5 months on we have our own solution. I work Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Ailsa works Monday and Wednesday. Tess our script writer works Monday and Wednesday, Helen our illustrator works Saturdays. Tom, who is helping out with editing, works 2 days a week and Stuart our neighbour is working 2-3 days per week developing websites.

We’ve also had to alter our pricing structure, introduce deposits and update our project turnaround times. Thankfully all of our clients accepted the new way we worked and all we need to worry about now is keeping the work coming in. So that’s the same as usual.

If you’re in the same boat then I wouldn’t worry. Each person will work out their own solution. Family and business does work. The difficult part if figuring out how it can work. As Monty Python say, “We’ve come from nothing and we’re going back to nothing, so what have you lost? Nothing!”

Since the recession hit over here, and large volumes of people starting losing their jobs or struggling to manage on a decreased income, people have been searching for new ways to earn an income. Countless people have set up business and there are now a flourishing of successful start-up businesses run by the self-employed. We’ve spoken about how passionate we are about these kinds of businesses before here at The Cuillin Collective and we are proud to both work with, and also to be, one of them.

The Standard Hand Craft Explainer

This is why we started offering our Collections – these are specially designed to meet the needs of start-up businesses. We include our explainer videos in these packages as we have a strong belief that explainer videos are the way forward for businesses to break down what they offer in terms of products and services in the most understandable, efficient and cost effective way possible. This belief is well-founded – explainer videos are big business in the US and we are proud to be at the forefront here in the UK.

The DigiCraft Explainer

We love working with clients – no matter where in the world they are. We make sure that the distance and time difference is never an issue for our clients or us. We do this as it is important to our business that we can work with people all over the world. On the other hand if you are based in the UK and run your own business that you need an explainer video for, you might want to get a British explainer video from a company on home turf. This means you can avoid the stresses of working out time differences, and getting up at 3am for a Skype call – this is totally understandable, after all you still have a business to run on UK time. Explainer videos are what we do, so if you want to find out more you can join us on the live chat or contact us here. We look forward to hearing from you!