What Makes a Great Animated Video
Great animation serves the idea, not the showreel. Here is what separates animation that explains from animation that just looks busy, and how the Impact Awards judge it.
What makes a great animated video?
Great animation makes an abstract idea clear and makes it stick. The style serves the message rather than showing off, and every movement carries meaning. Animation that is busy for its own sake is the most common way the format fails.
The reason to animate at all is that the subject has no obvious thing to film: a concept, a process, a structure, a set of numbers. If you could shoot it just as well, animation was the wrong call.
The elements of a strong animated video
A clear idea
One thing the viewer should understand by the end. Animation can illustrate anything, which is exactly why an unfocused script turns into decoration.
A style that fits
The look should match the message and the brand, not chase a trend. Simple 2D motion graphics suit most business explainers; reserve 3D for when form genuinely matters. We compare them in 2D vs 3D animation for business.
Motion with purpose
Every transition should move understanding forward. The best animated videos feel inevitable, like each frame had to follow the last.
What holds animated videos back?
Cramming a document into a script so the voiceover never breathes. Style over substance, where it looks great and explains nothing. And forgetting that animation is the easiest format to keep current, then never updating it when the facts change. For the range of approaches, see the different kinds of animation for business.
How the Impact Awards panel judges this category
The Best Animation category at the Shootsta Impact Video Awards 2026 is scored against five criteria: creativity, business or social impact, innovation, best practice, and collaboration. The entries that win are not always the most polished. They are the ones that can show what the video was for and what changed because of it.
If you produced a 2D or 3D explainer, data story, or motion graphics piece with Shootsta between January 2025 and July 2026, it is eligible. Entry is free and takes a few minutes. Nominations close on July 31, 2026.
Put your team forward for the 2026 Impact Video Awards.
Where to start
Write the script and lock it before anyone draws a frame, because in animation the script is the build. See animation production services and, for the sibling format, what makes a great product demo video.
