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Making a TED-Ed Lesson: Visualizing complex ideas

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TEDEd Animation

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How can animation convey complex, intangible concepts? A visual metaphor, or an idea represented through imagery, can take an idea as massive as Big Data and tie it to the familiar depiction of a growing tree. TED-Ed animators explain how to make an abstract idea come alive visually.

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See all the Animation Basics lessons here.A metaphor is a figure of speech that describes a subject by asserting that it is, on some point of comparison, the same as another otherwise unrelated object. Metaphor is a type of analogy and is closely related to other rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via association, comparison, or resemblance including allegory, hyperbole, and simile.A visual metaphor is the representation of a person, place, thing, or idea by way of a visual image that suggests a particular association or point of similarity.

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About TED-Ed Animations

TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Producer TED-Ed

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