Spear Refreshes Chairside Patient Education Videos
By Bonnie Serino on March 21, 2022 | comments
Almost seven years ago, in September 2015, Spear launched its first Patient Education (PE) animated videos as a communication tool to help doctors and their teams start meaningful chairside conversations with patients. These short, animated videos help visually explain dental conditions and procedures in the simplest terms with clinically accurate visuals. Right away, Spear's PE videos significantly raised the bar industry-wide.
Two hundred and forty-one videos later, Spear's catalog of PE videos recently paused its continuous expansion for its first-ever Chairside Rebranding Project — a two-month-long focus for Animation Director Dan Kawabata to ensure Spear PE animation content upholds its notable reputation of quality and keeps current with Spear's brand evolution.
On Jan. 25, 204 chairside PE videos (all procedure, condition, home care, and post-op videos) and accompanying handouts were refreshed and released onto Spear Online (and customer playlists) with improved and enhanced design elements.
“The Animation Team has continued to develop a higher standard for the clinically accurate visuals we create,” said Kawabata. “It's only deserving that the background and title placement receive the same level of thought and creativity, maintaining its place as a highly regarded and trusted source for patient education.”
One change to the videos that many will notice is the background color. The once dark, green-colored background is now on-brand with Spear colors, iconography, and design. Also, for better clarity among the various viewing platforms used by Spear members, the title layout and typography are improved.
All Spear PE chairside videos have Spanish-language closed captioning and can be shown on a tablet and be easily emailed or text-messaged to patients, so they have instructions accessible on their mobile device. In addition, custom handouts can be printed at the office for patients to take home.
Even if seven years ago doesn't seem that long to you, in terms of technology, it is. Animation software and industry trends have advanced since 2015, so now existing and all future chairside PE videos have updated three-dimensional (3D) lighting and model textures. “We did a complete overhaul on the 3D lighting and materials used on the gums and teeth,” Kawabata said. “A lot of research was done looking at various dental images and extracted teeth to help dial in the texture and material of teeth.”
The Animation Team researched and consulted with special matter experts, both inside the organization and outside, to ensure a broad mixture of references was utilized when designing. “We researched various medical illustrations and animations, as well as other patient education content available on the market.”
With the project behind them, the Animation Team will pick up where they left off two months ago — creating award-winning animated videos to help Spear doctors increase case acceptance and enhance the patient co-discovery experience with this vital conversation tool.
Spear members can access the refreshed videos by selecting the “Chairside” tab of the Patient Education web page.