This paper considers how the meaning of process-oriented formal specifications might be made more apparent through the use of pictorial animation. The approach taken is based on techniques embodied in the software animation system PEEP. The PEEP system gives pictorial representations of the changing states of software as it is executed. It was designed for concurrent applications expressed in a modular multiprogramming language, such as Ada or Pascal Plus. Corresponding formal languages suitable for the specification of concurrent systems include CSP, CCS, SDL and LOTOS. The LOTOS language is used for illustration purposes in this paper, but the techniques discussed are equally applicable to the other languages.