Explainer Animation for
Peterson-Milbank's Healthcare Cost Growth Target
Peterson-Milbank came to me through U.S. agency Burness, with a tricky brief: explain a "cost growth target" in 90 seconds. It's a healthcare policy tool that helps U.S. states keep medical spending under control. Genuinely useful, but not the kind of topic that animates itself. The goal was to make a clear, convincing case for a policymaker to bring the program to their own state.
Burness led the script, voiceover and music. I handled the storyboard, animatic, art direction and animation, and worked with illustrator Patswerk in The Hague on the visual style. We went for a rough, simple shape language with a fresh palette, abstract rather than character-driven, so the ideas and numbers stay readable.
Most of the craft was in the balancing act. The client wanted people on screen, a small-business owner, a family at the table, to show that rising costs land on real households, not spreadsheets. So we kept just enough human presence to make it hit, without losing the clean, graphic feel. A few scenes build toward a single "target" that pulls everything into focus and resolves on one dollar coin.
If this is your kind of thing, the Accelerate and Politico Focus explainers live in a similar world, and you can browse all projects here.
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Need motion design, an explainer video or UI/UX animation for your product? I work with agencies and brands worldwide, remote from Barcelona. Send me a message and I’ll get back to you within a day.
© 2026, Dirk Jan Haarsma
Last Updated: 2 September, 2026