Matthew Taylor and The RSA
A Framework For Change
Matthew Taylor has used his final lecture as CEO of the RSA to look at the social forces that shape our society and the relationship between different social sciences. We put his ideas through the prism of visual thinking and created this, the 5th RSA Minimate.
The Scrapbook
About the speaker
Matthew Taylor CBE FAcSS was CEO of the RSA between 2006 and 2021. Previous roles include working for Prime Minister Tony Blair as the head of the Number 10 Policy Unit and Director of the Institute for Public Policy Research. Matthew is a writer and public speaker, who as appeared on programmes such as BBC Radio 4’s The Moral Maze.
About our partner
For the last 260 years, the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) have been at the cutting edge of social change, researching ideas and new approaches which have the capacity to transform how we live in and operate as a society. We have previously worked together on the RSA Animates series and more recently, the RSA Minimates series, whose speakers include political analyst Anand Giridharadas and political philosopher Michael Sandel.
The challenge
Matthew’s ‘Framework For Change’ has a broad scope, covering a wide range of social science disciplines, forces and issues. It was crucial that we mirrored his ‘coordination theory’ itself and presented these in a cohesive and connected way. Our visual storytelling needed to present the ideas covered in a way which was accessible, captured their broad scope and showed their relevance both in society today and historically. Our animation needed to provide enough information to give a thorough understanding while also being engaging, memorable and entertaining to watch.
The film
Our Minimate brought together the different threads of Matthew’s framework around the theme of balance. Our visual storytelling drew on several key strengths of whiteboard animation to present the framework in an engaging and accessible way. An important part of our approach was the connecting of ideas and layering of information. This allowed us to show how different parts of the framework connected, reacted and interacted, coming together to create a bigger, deeper and more contextualised understanding.
A combination of characters, illustrations and symbols allowed us to frame points in easy-to-understand visuals that crystalised ideas. These highlighted points made by the voiceover, while scenes and visual metaphors were able to connect and stitch together different aspects of the model. Metaphors like the base camp, technological juggernaut and scales did this. Throughout, the use of cultural references and highly recognisable imagery such as public figures like Professor Brian Cox and common scenes like the pub underpinned our visual thinking and translated concepts and ideas into accessible and engaging visuals.
A complex illustration, animation played a vital role in guiding the viewer - framing points and scenes as the voiceover spoke about them. The animation of characters and other imagery was also a key part of the film’s engagement, added to by sound effects which contributed a further layer to the interaction between the animation and viewers. The combination of all of this was a comprehensive explainer animation which held viewer interest as it guided them through the ideas, connections and broader points that have gone into Matthew’s ‘Framework For Change’.
The context
You can watch the Matthew speaking about his ‘Framework For Change’ with Margaret Heffernan, Professor of Practice at the University of Bath School of Management, in his final RSA event here.
