Frequently asked questions

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Method & process

You can always email or call us (+31 20 2617 491), but if we’re making a whiteboard animation for you we like to meet you. This can be done online via Zoom, at your office or at our cozy office on the Haarlemmerstraat in Amsterdam.

During a 2-hour session we work together to get to the core of your story, to make sure no information is overlooked.

We need 6 weeks from the first interview. In our experience that’s how much time we need for everyone to enjoy the process and deliver a good end product. If you need a whiteboard animation faster, it’s sometimes possible, but depends on our planning and availability.

Hell yes! There are all kinds of options. Men, women, enthusiastic, sultry, fluent, serious, English accent, Dutch accent or any other language. You can decide yourself who best fits your video.

Usually there are 2 or 3 illustrators available at any one time, so we send you a sample of their work during the planning process. You can choose an artist based on the style that best suits your video. If you’re in a hurry or it’s very busy at the office, then choice of illustrators can be limited. In any case, we’ll always discuss with you which illustrator will be best suited to your project.

Of course! In fact, even if you do have ideas for the whiteboard animation, you’ll probably still want to talk about it in-depth. But don’t worry, you don’t need to have a clear idea of what you want or even a briefing prepared for us. In the first interview we’ll ask all the questions we need to in order to make the whiteboard animation. We do this based on this template:

As well as making videos our illustrators are also available for live drawing events. They create a visual record of events during a meeting, event or conference. Live drawing works both for on- and offline events.

In addition, we can also drop by your office for a drawing workshop. Why take minutes when your team can process ideas and plans clears in a drawing? “I can’t draw!” Don’t worry, after this workshop, you’ll be able to. A drawing workshop can be given online or offline.

As much time as you want! On average the client spends 3-5 hours per video. We begin the process with an extensive interview about content, which usually lasts 2 hours. We need that time to get the detail straight.

From then on, we take over the process and the only time you need to contribute is giving feedback. Depending on how much feedback you give, the amount of time varies – it could be 5 minutes or 30 minutes. You can also brainstorm with the illustrator, which takes another 2 hours.

We begin the process with an extensive interview of 2-3 hours. This allows us to explore the content and get a good idea of the whiteboard animation’s core message.

Then our copywriter starts working on a first draft. You give feedback on the text until it’s exactly what you want.

Once the text is decided, our illustrator will make proof drawings. These are sent to you as a PDF and can also give feedback.

Finally, the voice-over records the text. If you want, you can phone in and listen to the voice-over to give more feedback.

Once everything is agreed and finalized, we manually draw and film the whiteboard animation (for a 3-minute whiteboard animation this takes around 8 hours). We edit everything together and send the whiteboard animation to you in .MP4 format, or any other format you prefer.

We’ve already made whiteboard animations for a lot of clients. Companies like NS, KLM, the University of Amsterdam, ING, the Dutch National Police, the municipality of the Hague and the city of Amsterdam, Klokhuis and Women Inc among others.

Certainly. So far we’ve made whiteboard animations in Flemish, French, Spanish, Arabic, Berber and German. We have an external agency translate the text and we provide a voice-over in the relevant language.

Between each step in the process, versions of the text and illustrations are sent back and forth to the client for feedback.

This can be done by email or telephone, until you’re completely satisfied with the content of the final whiteboard animation.

After you’ve given us the definitive ‘GO’, we dive into the film studio to record the whiteboard animation.

A few days later it’s delivered to your digital door.

Costs

We make all our whiteboard videos with a lot of personal attention and a good dose of creative love. There are many hours involved in our process, so we’re not the cheapest company around.

We spend a lot of time talking to you about what you want our of the video and how you want it to look – that’s why we schedule a 2 hour appointment at the beginning of the process. We take time to ensure your whiteboard video is exactly as you like it.

We’ve designed our processes efficiently and we’ve made hundreds of whiteboard videos. Even though each whiteboard video is unique, we use this experience productively.

Of course, whether you think our prices are cheap or expensive depends on your budget. We’ve chosen to charge a fixed price for everyone and we put that price clearly on our website.

We have a limited budget available for shorter, discounted whiteboard animations. Please get in touch to discuss it. You can always ask!

Check our prices for the drawing workshop here.

Fun facts

🎉 Since 2013! In recent years we’ve continually developed the business and ourselves and we’re still going. Since 2018, we have decided to organize our company horizontally, this means we have no managers and no bosses.

Set mostly! Bananagrams, Dobble, Smooth Sprints, Halli Galli or Pictionary – anything to keep us sharp! Then we balance it with some meditation, which we as well in the office.

True! But we thought they were such nice questions that we decided to answer them. 🙂

Yes, but because of the advance of hyper-intelligent young ladies in the third feminist wave, they are heavily in the minority. It’s quite possible that throughout your project you’ll only find women on your path.

About Bord&Stift

No one! Or actually, everyone. We organize Bord&Stift horizontally. That means everyone is equal. We all take responsibility for and enjoy the freedoms of Bord&Stift together. Until the end of 2020 we still had an official owner of the company: Charlotte, the founder of Bord&Stift. But since January 1, 2021, we have switched to a new legal structure where the company is ‘owned by itself’. And Charlotte? She still works at Bord&Stift, but just as an employee, just like all other Bord&Stift employees.

All matters that aren’t directly involved in making a whiteboard animtion, like finances, marketing, team outings, office furnishings, personal development and so on, fall under the remit of different teams.

Everyone who works at Bord&Stift can choose a team or teams to be part of. Everyone’s free to set up their own team as well.

Would you like to know more about horizontal organization? Aaron Dignan’s book Brave New Work offers a good overview of all aspects of horizontal organizing.

We were helped on the path of horizontal organization by Wibo and Jos, founders of the company ‘De Hele Olifant‘.

That’s a choice we made at some point because we like to get really good at what we do. If you make all kinds of animations, you can specialize less.

In addition, our mission as a company is to make the world more comprehensible and in our opinion whiteboard animations lend themselves best to make complex subjects clear.

Bord & Stift means Whiteboard&Marker in Dutch.
At the beginning of Bord&Stift, Charlotte asked a friend if he could come up with a few name ideas. Here’s what he came up with:

  • Board of Solutions
  • Come on board
  • World Wide Whiteboard
  • Plain White Screens
  • Drawplain
  • Bord&Stift

Our name is the clearest explanation of what we actually so: with a whiteboard and markers we explain complex matters clearly.

Live drawing

It is very intensive work for an illustrator. The illustrator must absorb all the information and convert it directly into visualisations. The illustrator also prepares for the session as well as possible in advance and that also takes time. That is all included in our price. In addition, it is of course true that whether you find something expensive or cheap depends on your available budget.

Our illustrators often do live drawing sessions, so as a company we are used to arranging this and the illustrators are used to doing this. Thanks to all that experience, we can also charge a fixed price. In addition, it is of course true that whether you find something expensive or cheap depends on your available budget.

A live illustrator is a fast-drawing artist, able to capture information in images very quickly. A live illustrator is also a kind of note-taker 2.0. Instead of summarizing what’s discussed during a conference or event, we summarize it in images. This makes ideas immediately clear and accessible to everyone at a glance.

A live illustrator adds a lot of value at events which are unusual or not a weekly occurrence. So if you’re organizing a brainstorm or a day of team reflection then having a live illustrator is a great idea.

It’s also fun at conferences or events. While a speaker is speaking, the illustrator makes a drawing to summarize what’s being said. For everyone present, it’s a nice way to see the main points of the speech. An illustrator can also make an overview of the whole day, bringing together the events of the conference.

The illustrator can bring their own materials, or you can arrange this. There are various possibilities: the illustrator can make a summary on one large canvas, or make lots of separate drawings on small sheets. Depending on what you want and what suits you, we’ll try to arrange it!

First, use our tool to choose the date and time you would like to hire a live illustrator. We will then check whether we have an illustrator available at that time and we will get in contact with you. The live illustrator will then contact you to discuss in advance what you want, in order to appear in the session well prepared!

On the agreed day, our illustrator will appear at your location or in the Zoom. In the case of an online meeting, the illustrator shares his/her screen while drawing. At the end of the meeting, the illustrator presents the visual summary in a few minutes.

After the meeting, the illustrator will send the visual summary in the pre-agreed format. This way you have a beauitful visual overview that can be shared afterwards!

Drawing workshop

We ensure that people get to know how to use their drawing skills during work in a low-key way. We focus on getting everyone to draw a lot during the workshop. We start with simple assignments and progress to a more complicated one. There’s always room for feedback or a particular direction.

Visual communication is increasingly important. Instead of endless discussions, it’s better to experience an idea and get started on it straight away. We ensure people develop their self-confidence when it comes to using signs and small illustrations in their work, as well as teaching people how to think visually. Because our workshops are all practical, everyone can practice their skills and take away something valuable from the workshop.

Even during conferences or on team days, it’s a fun, relaxing activity, as well as being useful. People can relax, be creative and discover they can actually draw (because most people think they can’t). There’s a nice atmosphere which make people feel much more positive about their new skills.

The illustrator can bring the materials themselves, or you can arrange that. It can be fun if everyone gets a set of markers and a notebook to keep after the session to they can keep using their visual skills. Notebooks branded with your company logo are often a nice touch. It’s a good idea to discuss this before the workshop.

The drawing workshop can also take place online! In that case, the illustrator will communicate in advance what it takes for everyone to participate properly from home.

No! You really don’t have to.

People often say: “No, but I really can’t draw, I really can’t participate in your workshop!”. 🙈

Fortunately, we have always managed to convince people to participate. It is so nice to experience when people discover that they do not have to be able to draw like an expert in order to use the power of visual communication.

Good question! We were curious about that ourselves. Fortunately, we have experienced that we can also give good workshops online in creative ways with useful digital tools. And that it also works very well online to be creative together.

You do not learn to draw or paint things very precisely like Rembrandt. You will learn a simple and neutral style of drawing to clarify your ideas and plans. We find it especially important that you can use your drawing skills in a practical way!

You learn the basics of visual communication. A simple and neutral style of drawings. See below a few examples of what will be taught during the workshop!

Around two hours. But longer or shorter is also possible if it suits your program better!

Check our prices for the drawing workshop here.

Infographic

We tailor-make each infographic. It takes time and attention to think together with you about the core of what we are going to depict in an infographic. In addition, the illustrator makes custom images for each plate, which also takes time for the illustrator. That is why we arrive at this price. In addition, it is of course true that whether you find something expensive or cheap depends on your available budget.

Our illustrators have a lot of experience in making infographics. This makes the process relatively fast. By making whiteboard videos, we are trained to quickly get to the core of a story. We also take that experience with us in making infographics. In addition, it is of course true that whether you find something expensive or cheap depends on your available budget.

Between two and six weeks, depending on a number of factors. Factors that play a role are: the availability of our illustrators, the complexity of your subject, the level of detail required when developing the infographic and the number of infographics you want to purchase from us.

The process always starts with an intake. The duration of the intake varies from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours, depending on the subject. During the intake we ask many questions, we do that on the basis of this template:

We also practically think along with you about the format, font and use of color of the infographic.

The illustrator then starts designing the infographic and sends a first draft.

You can give feedback on this first draft and the illustrator will process this feedback. If necessary, further feedback rounds will follow.

The illustrator will eventually send the final infographic digitally in the format you want.

That mainly depends on our planning. If the infographic needs to be created fast, we simply see which illustrator is available and they create the infographic. If there is a little more space in the planning, there is also a greater chance that there are several illustrators available to choose from.

That varies a lot: you can specify what you want in it. It can be very businesslike, very cheerful, with a high information density or more narrative. We discuss this with you during the first initial meeting.

Usually in .pdf or .jpg. Other formats are also possible.

We will send the infographic to you digitally, in the format you prefer. If you want a print of the infographic, you can get arrange that yourself. If you would like help from us, let us know and we will think along with you.

Nothing! During the intake interview, we collect all the information that is necessary. If you have background information that is useful to us, you can of course always send it to us, but it is not a must.

Of course! Usually one or two feedback rounds are sufficient to make the infographic final.

The infographic supports the story you want to tell. With an infographic you can tell the story, the nuances and the emphasis yourself. An infographic works well as a start of a conversation, for example.

A whiteboard video tells one clear message and is more stand-alone. A video is easy to send or to put independently on a platform.

Our experience is that you usually know what best suits your situation, but we can always think along with you if you are in doubt!

Other

Possibly, we’re always looking for new writing, drawing and editing talent. Contact us it you have one or more of these skills by sending an email to [email protected] to introduce yourself. For us it’s really important that you mesh well with the rest of us Bord&Stifters, and can work in our horizontal system. Take a look at the rest of our website and see if it fits you!

Although we’re based in Amsterdam, we work on lots of English videos. Everyone at the office speaks excellent English and we have some native English employees as well, who can ensure any English is perfect in both its pronunciation and poetry. Give us a call, arrange a Skype chat or send us an email and we’ll be happy help.