For those of you who are TED-obsessed, their latest endeavor should be making you swoon. Chris Anderson, ever the evangelist for ideas worth spreading, master-minded the TED-ED initiative described in the video here. In short: it’s a call to educators and a call to animators, to come together and offer children around the world access to lessons that can change their lives. Having worked with the TED Conference in various capacities in the past (one example: see my “Doodlers, Unite!” TED talk here), we were excited to partner again on a project with a mission that matters. Education is close to many of our hearts, but I have a personal soft spot for any organization that focuses on it. Without access to an education, I can say with sincerity that I’m not sure where I would be. So god bless the TED folks for making it a priority.

[youtube WDxmGEm75VM 290 177]
Big Words, animated by Craig Staggs[youtube czSuI-NzK-M 290 177]
Symbiosis, animated by Jake Mendez[youtube KGAW6NuKdms 290 177]
Containerization, animated by Marc Strong[youtube Ie8qJuXYN7w 290 177]
The Real Origin of the Franchise, drawn by Sunni Brown

Our role for TED-ED was to design and produce a first set in a series of animated videos that visualize bite-sized lessons from inspiring teachers. We worked with fantastic local Austin animators Craig Stagg, Mark Strong and Jake Mendez and Yours Truly even made a video herself in partnership with Erik Kuntz. We are thrilled to see these videos takes flight and looking forward to the next set of lessons worth spreading! Do it for the kids, baby.