Marie Curie: Bereavement in the Work Place

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Marie Curie

Bereavement in the Workplace

Challenge

We were tasked with developing a creative campaign to drive awareness and traffic to the new workplace ‘bereavement support hub’ on Marie Curie’s website.

Grief effects everyone differently and Marie Curie aims to educate people in the workplace on the best ways they can support and talk to a bereaved colleague. Using the correct phrases and being compassionate and flexible can make a real difference in supporting a bereaved person.

Solution

We created a 2D animation with guidance on how to support a colleague who may be grieving. The animation is direct and demonstrates that bereavement at work can be a serious problem.

It also offers a hopeful message that help is out there and making a positive change is something that people can start doing today.

 

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Digital Theatre+: Learning Platform Training Videos

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Digital Theatre+

Educational Platform Training Videos

Challenge

Digital Theatre+ is the world’s leading educational platform for the study of performing arts and dramatic texts. 

The platform offers a multitude of great learning content, which is why they asked us to create a series of training videos for school teachers and librarians on how to use Digital Theatre+.

 

Solution

We animated a series of videos to help users navigate their way around Digital Theatre+.

From explaining how to make an account to finding appropriate resources for students, we covered the whole platform in 10 videos to help users get the most out of Digital Theatre+.

UX
UX (user experience) is about enhancing the experience that people have when interacting with a product and making sure they find value in what you're providing. In the case of this project, we walked through the UI (user interface) to help users grasp a better understanding of the software, therefore improving UX.

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A conversation with illustrator Laura on her creative journey and illustration process

A conversation with illustrator Laura on her creative journey and illustration process

October 2021

2 min read

The Like Minded (TLM): Welcome Laura, as a way of introduction can you tell us about your journey into the creative industry and your role at The Like Minded? 

Laura: My role as an illustrator includes crafting storyboards and illustrations for a variety of different briefs. 

I did a degree in Illustration at Kingston School of Art. Initially I thought I would go down a more traditional route of illustration such as editorial or children’s book illustration. However, during this time, I began to explore moving image and animation and realised that by using voiceover and sound design I could enhance my illustration skills and communicate messages in a more impactful way. I enjoyed these kinds of projects the most and this led me to apply for jobs at animation studios after I graduated. Eventually I was offered a job at The Like Minded where I have continued to be able to work on interesting projects.

TLM: Please explain the process of designing a concept / illustration style and why it’s important for an animation campaign? 

Laura: Firstly, designing a concept requires a good brief! 

Key things to note down at this stage are the budget, the subject matter and tone of the animation, who the audience is, any existing brand guidelines that a client may have such as a colour pallet as well as any examples of animation / illustration that the client has referenced. 

This enables us to tailor design ideas to each brief in order to create a unique and appropriate result. 

If there is a draft script, I will use this as a starting point to identify key scenes before choosing one to draw up. 

I usually start with a few quick sketches to jot down my ideas before picking one and refining it- thinking about colour, composition, lighting, and character design in order to tell a story in the most effective way. 

After I am happy with a design, I will share it with colleagues to get their feedback before making any final tweaks before it is sent to a client for review. 

TLM: What is your favourite animation you have deigned a concept for? 

Laura: It’s hard to pick one! 

One concept I particularly enjoyed working on was a campaign for Bupa about medical misinformation and the importance of identifying reliable sources when looking for medical advice online. 

For this concept I had the idea of using a detective character inspecting information on an oversized smart phone. I wanted to get across the idea of people being inundated with information on the internet and chose to show information whizzing around him. This was enhanced by the scale of the smart phone compared to the character.

TLM: What is your favourite illustration style to work with?

Laura: It’s hard to pick one favourite style to work in as I enjoy variety and tailoring an illustration style to a specific subject matter and audience. However, one of my favourite parts of illustration is choosing colour and thinking about the effect this can have on an image.

TLM: What do you use as your source of inspiration?

Laura: I like to reference photography as well as the work of other artists. A good platform for this is Pinterest. I like to keep an eye on work that other studios are creating and thinking about what works well about it and how we can incorporate these fundamental concepts and ideas into our own projects. 

TLM: Have you ever struggled for inspiration? And what do you do in this situation?

Laura: Yes! The best thing to do in this situation is go back to the research stage. Also sometimes sketching out an idea you don’t really like helps to get it out of your system and gives your brain space to move on and come up with a new idea or make connections between multiple exiting ideas. Sometimes you just need to take a break or share your ideas with others. 

TLM: Do you have any advice for anyone wanting to pursue a career in the creative industry?

Laura: Persevere! Keep making the type of work that you would like to be paid to make and then share it with people you look up to and get feedback. 

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Liverpool Energy Xchange: Trade energy and flexibility locallyTra

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Liverpool Energy Xchange

Driving decarbonisation, cleaner air, and local growth.

Challenge

LEX  are designing a market platform where businesses, universities, homes, landlords and institutions can trade energy with one another – at a price that makes it worthwhile – and offer valuable flexibility services to local and national grid operators. Our challenge was to visually articulate how the Xchange works and its potential impact to an audience of the general public.

Solution

The animation features a limited colour palette to enable the viewer’s eye to be drawn to key features such as the use of orange for solar panels. The elegant and simple illustration style creates an editorial feel that helps to underpin the positioning of LEX as innovative but reliable. 

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Applied Music Research Centre: Autism research project

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Applied Music Research Centre

Autism and Music Research Project

Challenge

The Applied Music Research centre, a part of Roehampton University approached us to create a family of characters based on the musical instruments provided to autistic children. The animations would need to be engaging to young children with lots of personality but also to be accurate enough for  the children to learn how to use the instruments through watching them 

Solution

We created vibrant characters with individual personalities based on the type of instrument they were depicting. We also had to give consideration to scale and the complexity of playing the instrument such as the Ocarina. The music and vocals were provided by The Royal College of Music. We were very happy with the end result and delighted to hear how well they have been received by the children, 

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University of Cambridge: PHG Foundation

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University of Cambridge

PHG Foundation at the University of Cambridge help good science make healthcare better

Challenge

PHG Foundation play a crucial role in helping the best innovations in science. Their multidisciplinary team bring insight and expertise to tackle tomorrow’s health policy challenges, today for the benefits of patients. Our task was to create an animation that simply and clearly articulated their crucial role to a wider audience. 

Solution

This was a really interesting project to work on with an organisation facing the cutting edge of innovation in healthcare. We chose to create the animation as a character based story to emphasise that their role is to benefit the recipients of the best available science to improve patient outcomes; and also to recognise that it is the people of PHG who help to make the impact in policy and healthcare. 

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DLA Piper: Pro Bono Legal Support

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DLA Piper

LGBT+ Pro Bono Legal Support

DLA Piper launched Iris Represents, a new LGBT+ focussed pro bono unit. DLA Piper provides critical support for individuals and groups around the world and it was a great opportunity for us to play a small part in launching this important new initiative with our team in the studio. 

Iris Represents empowers asylum seekers, collaborates with prominent LGBT+ activists, and advocates for the repeal of laws and policies that discriminate against the trans community. 

Working within the DLA Piper brand guidelines we worked to focus the eye on the individual characters and challenges by using bright colours, scale and camera perspectives. These help to make the viewer feel a part of the animation and engage with the content.

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How To: Scriptwriting

This post is dedicated to the intricacies of the scriptwriting process, its purpose and the benefits to be had from getting it right the first time.

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South Cambridge Council: Community Engagement Toolkit

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South Cambridge District Council

Community Engagement Toolkit

Challenge

South Cambridge District Council approached us to bring to life their Community Safety Partnership toolkit. This is a partnership between South Cambridgeshire District Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, the Cambridgeshire Police, Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service, the local NHS and the Probation Service. The partnership works together to help local communities to tackle local crime and anti-social behaviour.

Solution

We developed an animated explainer video to support the launch of the new toolkit. This has six distinct information packs that communities can access to help them get involved in specific areas. We animated a number of community scenes with voiceover as well as captions. This is hosted on YouTube and embedded on the council website to demonstrate how community can get involved.

Social Assets

We developed a series of social assets for the six areas of the toolkit. These are used across Instagram and other channels to raise awareness of the ways that the community can get involved.

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Scope: Employment Support

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Scope

Employment Support for People with Disabilities

Challenge

Scope approached us for a campaign detailing the challenges people with disabilities face when searching for a job.

Scope wanted an animation with a personal touch that was still broad enough to encompass the vast array of issues and disabilities their audience could be facing.

Following accessibility guidelines was crucial for the animation.

Solution

We worked with five people with disabilities to share their experiences, weaving these into a cohesive narrative. Each voice was brought to life with its own dynamic waveform.

It was important that all key details were bold and clear as any thin lines could be tricky to define by sections of their visually impaired audience. This, coupled with strong clear visuals and subtitles, made sure that the animation was accessible to as broad an audience as possible.

talking on a phone
sunset and birds flying
2 hands

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