Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital (LHCH)is the largest single site specialist heart and chest hospital in the country, providing specialist services in cardiothoracic surgery, cardiology, respiratory medicine including adult cystic fibrosis and diagnostic imaging
Why LHCH matters to us
Heart and lung disease continue to be amongst the biggest killers in the UK. LHCH serves communities that are marked by increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease, higher levels of heart failure, hypertension, coronary artery disease and an ageing population.
Multiple public-facing campaigns on priorities linked to heart health
Digital engagement tools
Creating an explainer animation is a great way to communicate complex ideas in an engaging and easy-to-understand way. Whether you’re explaining a new product, service, or concept, an explainer animation can help you grab your audience’s attention and keep them engaged. In this post, we’ll take you through the steps involved in creating an explainer animation, from planning and storyboarding to animation and sound design.
Step 1: Planning and Scripting
The first step in creating an explainer animation is to plan out the overarching aim, messages and script. Start by identifying the key concepts you want to explain and write them down in a clear and concise way. This will help your project stay on track and ensure that your animation is focused and effective from the outset.
Once you have your key concepts in mind, start writing your script. This should be written in a tone and style that reflects the audience you want to engage. Keep in mind that your goal is to communicate complex ideas in a simple and engaging way, so use simple language and avoid jargon.
Step 2: Storyboarding
Once you have your script, the next step is to create a storyboard. A storyboard is a visual representation of your script that shows how each scene will be presented in your animation. It’s a critical step in the process because it allows you to visualise your animation and make sure that it flows smoothly from scene to scene.
To create a storyboard, start by sketching out your scenes on paper or on screen. You don’t need to be a great artist; simple stick figures and rough sketches are enough. Your storyboard should include all the key elements of each scene, such as characters and backgrounds.
Step 3: Visual Design
The next step is to create the visual design for your animation. This involves creating the characters, backgrounds, and other visual elements that will be used in your animation. This can be based on your brand identity and a suite of existing assets, or you may want to develop something from scratch.
When designing your visuals, keep in mind your target audience and the tone of your animation. If your target audience is young children, for example, you might want to use bright colours and simple shapes. If your animation is more serious or professional, you might want to use more muted colours and realistic designs.
Step 4: Animation
Once you have your storyboard and visuals, the next step is to create the animation itself. This involves bringing your visuals to life using animation software. There are many animation software options available, such as Adobe After Effects, Toon Boom, and Animaker.
When creating your animation, it’s important to keep your storyboard in mind and make sure that each scene flows smoothly into the next. Use sound effects and music to enhance your animation and make it more engaging.
Step 5: Sound Design
Finally, the last step is to add sound to your animation. This involves creating sound effects, a voice over and adding music to your animation. Sound effects can help enhance the visuals and make your animation more engaging, while music can help set the tone and mood of your animation.
When creating your sound design, it’s important to use high-quality sound effects and music that match the tone and mood of your animation. You can find many royalty-free sound effects and music tracks online, or you can hire a sound designer to create custom sound effects, voice over and music for your animation.In conclusion, creating an explainer animation takes planning, storyboarding, visual design, animation, and sound design. By following these steps, you can create an engaging and effective explainer animation that communicates complex ideas in a simple and engaging way. With a little practice and patience, you can create explainer animations that educate, entertain, and inspire your audience.
We work with many organisations to create a wide range of animations to being their brands, projects and campaigns to life – get in touch if you’d like to explore working together on your next project.
Inspiring a generation
Working with the existing Windmills Foundation identity, we initially created a visual concept for the site which was fresh and clean, whilst also aligning with wider communications and collateral that Windmills had produced.
This was then taken into development using WordPress in which we developed a three tier menu to enable easy navigation of the wide range of resources in a sustainable manner. Take a look at the site.
Alongside the website we also developed an interactive tool, using React, to enable users to discover the skills they love using and are really good at – try out the tool here.
Finally, we also developed a character-led animation to provide an introduction to the Windmills Foundation, its ethos and vision. This is carried on the website to provide a prominent explanation of the organisation – take a look at the animation on this page below.
Why it matters
Windmills Foundation has a vision to creatively collaborate with like-minded partners on exciting projects that inspire and empower young people to live their best lives and make their unique difference in the world.They take a whole life, whole person, whole organisation, whole community approach.
Empowering young people to be in control of their choices and their future is so important, and the role that Windmills Foundation plays in enabling this is fantastic.
Windmills Foundationdevelops innovative approaches and resources that enable young people to create their vision for the future.
Why Windmills Foundation matters to us?
Windmills Foundation has a vision to creatively collaborate with like-minded partners on exciting projects that inspire and empower young people to live their best lives and make their unique difference in the world.They take a whole life, whole person, whole organisation, whole community approach.
Alder Hey Children’s Hospital cares for over 330,000 children, young people and their families every year.
As one of Europe’s biggest and busiest children’s hospitals, it treats everything from common illnesses to highly complex and specialist conditions.
Why Alder Hey matters to us?
Alder Hey is an incredible organisation that does amazing things for children and their families across the UK. It is focused on the future through its innovation and pioneering research but is anchored by its unwavering commitment to giving children the very best care, and sets out to make them feel happy, safe and confident as they play, learn and grow.
Riverside have redeveloped their customer portal, My Riverside, and commissioned Kaleidoscope to develop a new campaign to spearhead the launch and drive customer engagement with it.
My Riverside is a digital platform that enables Riverside customers the ability to easily manage their home through reporting repairs, checking accounts and making payments online.
Our initial role was to establish a distinctive creative concept that would set My Riverside apart from wider Riverside communications.
The platform had already been launched previously but did not achieve the required engagement, so this concept had to stand out and demonstrate that the platform was something to take notice of.
The concept used customer insight which highlighted the primary perceived benefit of the platform to be speed and ease of use.
We therefore built on this and brought it to life using a blend of copy lines and abstract photography, alongside a bright and vibrant colour palette, to articulate how My Riverside was quick and easy to use, and that customers could use the time they saved to do things they really wanted to do.
This was supported by a consistent logo device which reinforced the convenience of the platform and how it could be accessed anywhere, anytime and on any device.
The campaign was launched in a targeted way across Riverside’s customers using multiple print and digital channels, with different content being delivered to a range of customers segments to reflect the differing levels of service’s available in regions and variations in customer engagement with digital tools.
Why it matters
Managing a home can be complex and time consuming, and for many of us can seem overwhelming at times. The My Riverside platform aims to help make this simpler and easier and enable its customers to get on with the things that are really important to them.
Using customer insight to inform our creative direction was vital to the effectiveness of this concept – it provided absolute clarity on what was really important to Riverside’s customers.
Starting a conversation
Undiagnosed hypertension is a serious problem in Cheshire and Merseyside, but many patients aren’t engaging with their own potential risks. To support pharmacies and health trainers in providing blood pressure checks in the community, we created a new digital tool to help start conversations about blood pressure and wellbeing with the public.
The Happy Hearts web app aids health professionals, by offering a 2-3 minute intervention that leads to a blood pressure check. It was carefully structured in a way that encourages patients to talk about themselves, their life and interests, before allowing the professional to illustrate how the health of their heart plays a crucial role in their life. This will hopefully increase their propensity to take a blood pressure check.
The project was based on a qualitative study which looked at how to motivate people to make healthy lifestyle changes. This work identified effective ways to use conversation to motivate behaviour changes around risk factors, self-care and medication adherence.
This provided us with clear insight that the brand and tool must deliver against. This allowed us to create early concepts around a brand name, identity, look and feel; and a user journey to structure the tool in a way that would support both the patient and health professional.
The tool was developed and tested in collaboration with pharmacies, health trainers and patient representatives to define the best format, content structure and tone of voice. This ensured that we were able to develop the tool in a live and dynamic way, incorporating audience feedback throughout.
On launch, the tool was rolled out alongside a training package for professionals to drive their confidence and propensity to use the tool.
Following launch we have then gone on to deliver a wide range of targeted social media campaigns using a blend of static and animated content (see below) to engage multiple audiences across the region.
Why it matters
Undiagnosed hypertension is a serious problem in Cheshire and Merseyside, but many patients aren’t engaging with their own potential risks. Tools to spark conversations between the public and health professionals are vital to encourage people to take control of their own health on such issues.
The collaborative approach we took to co-create the brand and tool with patient representatives and health professionals was critical to the success of the project.
Impact
3.4 million reach from social ads
Since launch Happy Hearts has now become the brand for a range of related campaigns and has been utilised for practical tools in health settings, a detailed CVD website and multiple social media campaigns.
Travelling through Covid-19
The brief was triggered by the national lockdown in March 2020 and the major implications it would have on the city region’s transport network in terms of service provision, capacity and passenger safety.
The core objectives were to:
Influence customer behaviour on choice of transport mode and expectations of them when travelling, protecting the safety of staff and the general public.
Manage customer expectations, ensuring they understood the rationale for the levels of service being provided
Ensure customers who still needed to travel by public transport have access to relevant and timely information about services
Using this evidence, an overarching campaign concept was established – ‘Rethink Travel’. The concept was simple, instructional but emotionally engaging. It was flexible and would work whatever the message Crucially, it would also work under any national message e.g ‘Stay Home. Protect the NHS. Save Lives.’
The overarching concept was supported by a positioning line which was positive, inclusive and built on the vital sense of togetherness: ‘We can all help keep each other safe’.
A detailed messaging framework was also developed to inform the campaign roll-out.
A visual identity was developed to bring the messaging to life using a flexible framework of illustrations, digital icons and photography; while still remaining on brand with LCRCA to provide a clear link to the ownership of the campaign.
The campaign was implemented across multiple channels from outdoor, news media advertising (print and digital), social media (organic and paid-for), videos and radio through to signage, uniform, print and more.
Campaign activity has been phased and targeted throughout the campaign to reflect the changing dynamics of Covid-19, encompassing direct informational messaging through to encouraging people to get active and walk or cycle to work rather than using cars, buses or trains. Similarly, the return to school and Universityrequired new phases to reassure and guide parents and students on how to travel safely – including a bespoke package for local schools.
Why it matters
Covid-19 is a once in a generation global crisis that has thrown every aspect of our lives into question. This means that clear and consistent communications has been more important than ever to help people make the right decision and keep themselves and others safe when travelling.
Having absolute clarity on the core messaging and visual identity has been crucial – the campaign has been delivered within an ever-changing landscape in which we have had to switch direction in a matter of hours due to a new Government directive.
Impact
Face covering compliance at 90%+ throughout
Use of the public transport network was higher than national average (e.g. bus patronage at 35% compared with 25% nationally), demonstrating the campaign reassured people who needed to use public transport that they still could
A brand for a new era of careers
The core brief was to develop, implement and launch a brand for a revolutionary new careers service within the University of Liverpool within just 10 weeks.
A graphic concept, based on a hexagon, was developed to represent the multi-faceted nature of careers opportunities available to students, along with a nod to the hard-working and industrious nature of bees and honeycomb structures.
The hexagon was used to carry the core logo, which was required to work alongside the corporate University of Liverpool logo;
and it was also used to develop a broader visual language to communicate the various themes of the service and its proposition to students.
The visual identity was applied extensively across multiple channels, including:
The physical environment of the new careers service
Multiple animations
Over 30 printed publications and guides
PowerPoint presentations
Emails
Social media graphics / infographics.
Why it matters
Engaging young people on their future careers is absolutely vital to encourage them to explore and identify what their future could be. The staid old model of careers advice was stagnating and didn’t represent the modern, dynamic nature of student life; so the brave and progressive ambition of UoL was critical to engage students in a different way.
We worked with a multi-disciplinary client team who were all focused on differing aspects of the service – from communications and IT to estate management and careers service leads. This required a robust approach to co-creation and engagement across a complex stakeholder set up.
Impact
Roll-out achieved within 10 weeks
The Career Studio has been identified as a trailblazing service in the sector across the country
Champs is a long-standing collaborative of nine Directors of Public Health and their teams serving 2.5 million people in C&M, who also have a strategic influencing role within the Liverpool City Region combined authority and the Cheshire & Warrington sub-region.
Why Champs matters to us?
Champs places collaboration at the heart of its comprehensive and systematic approach to improving public health priorities by large scale action and working together as system leaders across Cheshire & Merseyside. Health issues don’t recognise boundaries and so working together is vital to the wellbeing of our communities.
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