Charity E-Learning / Ocean Science / Youth Programme / Digital Course

How Ocean Generation Made Their E-Learning as Appealing as Their Brand - with Majestical

3,000 learners enrolled

Young people from around the world – up from 1,500 when the platform launched in June 2024, after a full visual and production overhaul of the Wavemaker Digital programme

The challenge

Ocean Generation had already built their Wavemaker Digital platform themselves – but their e-learning videos didn’t reflect the quality of their brand. The visual experience their learners knew from the website and social channels simply wasn’t there yet.

What we did

We built a bespoke ocean-inspired motion system and produced 53 e-learning videos – transforming three existing courses, fixing drop-off points, adding diverse voiceovers, and launching one brand new programme.

What changed

A platform the team felt genuinely proud of – visually consistent with their brand – and [PLACEHOLDER: learner numbers that reached 3,000], up from 1,500 at launch.

About this project

Ocean Generation is a UK charity working to improve ocean literacy by translating complex ocean science into engaging programmes and practical actions – endorsed by UNESCO and built for young people aged 3 to 25. Their Wavemaker Digital platform had already launched in June 2024, with three self-built courses live on Thinkific and over 1,500 learners enrolled. But the team knew the e-learning experience didn’t yet reflect the quality of their brand. The beautiful, considered visual identity their audience knew from the website and social channels wasn’t coming through in the learning environment. They came to Majestical to change that – and to go further: refreshing and re-voicing the existing material, creating new animations to fix specific points where learner engagement was dropping, adding international voiceover diversity, and building an entirely new course from scratch. Together, we produced 53 e-learning videos anchored by a bespoke motion system built from the visual language of the ocean itself. The result: a platform the Ocean Generation team felt genuinely proud of – and [PLACEHOLDER: learner numbers that doubled to 3,000].

The Challenge

A platform that didn't match the brand

Ocean Generation had already done something impressive: they had built their own digital learning platform and launched three courses on Thinkific before coming to us. Over 1,500 young people had enrolled. But the team felt a growing tension between the quality of their wider brand – a beautifully designed, visually coherent identity across their website and social channels – and what learners were actually experiencing inside the Wavemaker Digital platform. The e-learning videos didn’t feel like Ocean Generation. They had also noticed that learners were dropping off at specific points within the courses, and they had the data to show where.

Beyond fixing what existed, they needed to expand: three new intro videos for the existing courses, six new animations to replace the static moments that were losing people, and an entirely new course – “How to Run an Ocean Conversation” – to be built from a recorded webinar and slide deck. The brief demanded precision on two additional fronts: scientific terminology had to be handled with accuracy and confidence across all voiceovers, and the cast of voices needed to genuinely reflect the global, ethnically diverse audience Ocean Generation exists to serve.

At a glance

Client

Ocean Generation

Sector

Charity
Environmental
Youth & Education

Services

E-learning Video
Animation
Motion Design
Voiceover Production

Duration

4 months (April to July)

Deliverables

53 videos total:
37 re-voiced existing videos, 3 new programme intro animations, 6 new animations added to existing programmes, 7 videos for new "How to Run an Ocean Conversation" course

Team

KN

Katie Nuttall
Director & Animator

RM

Rachel Mellor
Producer

DGV

Voiceover
Freelance artists
(diverse global voices)

Usage

Thinkific e-learning platform / Youth engagement programmes / Self-paced online learning for 18-25 year olds

Our Approach

Motion born from the ocean itself

We started where the brief demanded we start — with the brand. Ocean Generation came to us with existing scripts, video files, programme materials and clear brand guidelines. Their wider visual identity was genuinely beautiful: considered, ocean-rooted, and consistent across their website and social channels. Our job was to bring that same quality into the learning environment. The existing videos hadn’t done that — and the team felt it.

So we built a bespoke motion system from scratch — one where every movement, every transition, every curve was designed to feel like water. This was not decoration. It was the answer to the brief. The icons and simple circle shapes within Ocean Generation’s own brand became characters. Curves moved the way currents move. When the material called for representing conflict — a concept most productions would reach for stock footage to illustrate — we let the circles do the work instead: changing direction, shifting colour, pulling against each other in a way that communicated disagreement honestly and respectfully, without a single human face, without any risk of stereotyping. It was one of those moments where the constraint became the creative solution, and it was where we had the most imaginative fun on the entire project.

For the voiceover, we cast a diverse range of freelance artists to match the breadth of Ocean Generation’s global audience — navigating complex scientific pronunciations with care and consistency across all 53 videos. Where the new scripts diverged from the original in narrative or duration, we carefully rebuilt the underlying visuals so that everything remained aligned. For the brand-new “How to Run an Ocean Conversation” course — a programme Dr Gemma Connell had been delivering in person across the country — we worked from her supplied scripts and learner materials to build a fully structured, self-paced digital learning experience from scratch.

The session where we presented the motion system back to Ocean Generation was one of those genuinely joyful moments in a project. Dr Gemma Connell told us afterwards that she had felt emotional watching it all come together — that is the kind of response that reminds us why the detail matters.

If you're thinking about how to bring your workshops or training programmes online, we'd love to hear what you're working on.

These are the Wavemaker Digital style frames we created for Ocean Generation – all inspired by the movement of the oceans - ocean science e-learning videos created by Majestical

Majestical COMPLETELY understood our brand and what we were trying to achieve with this particular project. Their creativity in using different elements of our brand to create the educational videos was really great to see. I felt quite emotional watching it all come together. What an incredible, very warm and hardworking team.

Dr Gemma Connell, Youth Engagement Lead, Ocean Generation

E-learning videos produced

Growth in registered digital learners

0 Months

Brief to full delivery

The Impact

A platform they're truly proud of

The Wavemaker Digital platform now looks and feels like Ocean Generation – visually consistent with the brand identity their audience already knows and trusts. The gap between the quality of their wider communications and the quality of their learning environment has closed. [PLACEHOLDER: Learner numbers on the platform reached 3,000] – a goal Dr Gemma Connell set for herself before leaving her role, and one she just made. The platform now hosts a fully consistent, professionally produced library of 53 videos spanning four programmes, with specific drop-off points resolved through new animation and a brand new course ready for a global audience. Perhaps the clearest measure of how well the work landed: Dr Connell told us she now uses the animation we created to represent conflict – the one built entirely from moving circles and shifting colour – in her own in-person workshop delivery. A piece of digital learning that made the live experience better. That is what happens when the creative work is rooted in a genuine understanding of the subject, not just the brief.

Can a charity digitise its workshops into e-learning videos?

Yes – and it is one of the most effective ways to extend the reach of programmes you have already invested in building. We work with charities to take existing workshop materials, facilitator guides and recorded sessions and transform them into self-paced video learning that works on platforms like Thinkific. The starting point can be as simple as a slide deck and a script.

How do you create e-learning videos that engage young people?

Young audiences are not disengaged – they are discerning. We design learning experiences that respect their intelligence: clear, purposeful animation; diverse and authentic voiceover; pacing that holds attention without dumbing down the subject. For Ocean Generation, we built an entire motion system rooted in the movement of the ocean to make the science feel alive rather than static.

How long does it take to produce a suite of e-learning videos for a charity?

It depends on the volume and starting point of the material. The Wavemaker Digital 2.0 project – 53 videos across four programmes – ran from commission to delivery in four months. We plan carefully at the outset, set clear review stages, and keep the process as straightforward as possible for busy charity teams.

How do you handle scientific or complex subject matter in educational animation?

Carefully and collaboratively. For Ocean Generation, that meant precise pronunciation of ocean science terminology, motion design that visualised abstract concepts honestly, and a creative process that never simplified the science at the expense of accuracy. We work closely with subject matter experts on the client side throughout, not just at the brief stage.

Frequently Asked Questions

Working in the charity or environmental sector? Here is how we can help you take your programmes online.

If your most important work is still locked inside in-person sessions, we can help you change that. We work with charities to transform workshops, courses and training materials into e-learning programmes that reach the people who need them most – wherever they are in the world.