Explainer Illustration Services

Close-up of Anna Simmons’s storyboard illustration showing 'More than a Meal’ and ‘Liverpool' lettering with blue and orange colours and ship drawings.

Visual Storytelling for Complex Ideas

I craft explainer illustrations and visual essays that make understanding easy. By blending hand lettering with illustration, I visually problem solve - to guide viewers through your message in ways that feel thoughtful, human, and oh-so accessible.

Science Communication

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Digital Articles

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Social Media Posts

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Exhibition Panels

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Podcast Visuals

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Campaign Toolkits

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Learning Resources

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Public Reports

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Funding Proposals

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Awareness Materials

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Heritage Trails

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Science Communication - Digital Articles - Social Media Posts - Exhibition Panels - Podcast Visuals - Campaign Toolkits - Learning Resources - Public Reports - Funding Proposals - Awareness Materials - Heritage Trails -

Ideal Applications…

Explainer Illustrations and Illustrated Essays can benefit your brand or organisation:

Ensure important messages from getting lost in generic visuals

Inspire Action

Make issues personal and easy to grasp; motivating involvement and action

Message Clarity

Explain complex ideas with warmth and humanity; encouraging empathy

Human Touch

Photo of a storyboard illustration by Anna Simmons printed in a book, shown on a branded colour background

From Abstract to Accessible

The Challenge of Engaging your Audience

It can be hard to get audience attention on complex, abstract topics. Dense information tends to push people away before they even engage, and some subjects can feel unfathomable to non-experts.

Given that most of your audience is probably non-expert (and often pressed for time) your report or paper might go unread - not because it's unimportant, but because it’s hard to connect with.

As Mark Twain once said, We’re all ignorant, just about different things

…so, helpful, quick explanations will always go a long way.

The Power of Visuals

Explainer illustration and visual essays offer an immediate way in. They can help your audience understand, care about, and remember what matters most in your message. They invite interpretation so that your audience feels:

Invited to their own conclusions - not lectured.

Included in the story- not left out of it.

This is the essence of visual storytelling for complex ideas: making the intricate accessible and engaging.

Project Spotlight

Illustrated Visual Essays

I wove together letters, colour, and visual problem-solving to distill a rich, 300-year history into a concise 3-page visual essay.

Instant imagery sparks curiosity while friendly letterforms invite readers in. Storyboard-storytelling conveys information fast but also helps readers to both ‘get’ the story, and feel it.

By putting faces to facts, I offer cultural and historical depth through empathy-building while vintage textures and hand lettering builds warmth and trust.

Each frame uses a fresh visual storytelling device; from illustrative analogies to conceptual visuals- keeping readers entertained and respecting their intelligence- no talking down to the audience or spoon-feeding information.

This approach turns complex or dry topics into something shareable, memorable, and human.

Explainer illustration project demonstrating narrative clarity on topics of cultural nuance and community identity. See the project in full here

Explainer illustration by Anna Simmons linking the word "Liverpool" to its historic dock, with hand lettering, colour-coded text, and detailed figures.

Friendly lettering that’s user-friendly, too!

I use just enough lettering to catch the eye and do the job, without dragging you into deep-reading mode. It allows your audience to absorb more info more quickly - in a way that’s effortless and fun.

A visual scene-setting explainer that deconstructs Liverpool’s name by identifying the eponymous “pool” as the site of the now famous dock. Combining hand-lettered text, colour-coded typography, and detailed figures to connect name and place in a vivid, accessible way.

Showing, not just telling

Depictions of people and places, tap into audience empathy to foster a deeper connection to your message.

A narrative illustration showing the correlation between shipping activity and unemployment in 19th–20th century Liverpool, using drawn people and scene setting to visualise economic data in human terms

Two-colour hand-lettered narrative illustration by Anna Simmons showing the link between Mersey ships and unemployment in 19th-20th century Liverpool, with a labour exchange and workers on a ship

Explained at a Glance Illustrations

I designed illustrated workflows and visual manuals for my own business. These illustrations break down industry know-how into clear, client-friendly steps.

You’re welcome!

Instead of pages of text, these illustrations offer a quick, memorable way to grasp processes. Perfect for solving communication challenges behind the scenes.

And while the approach is ideal for visual learners, my vintage textures and hand lettering also add the human touch: infusing your communication with a warmth that clicks with all kinds of minds

Click any image to explore my ‘How It Works’ section in full

Ready to transform your communication?

Let's make complex information instantly accessible.

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