Unicef’s response to Covid-19

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly impacted how charities and governments in low- and middle-income countries deliver support to those in need. I was approached by Oxford Policy Management to design and animate a video highlighting their recent real-time assessment of Unicef's response to the ensuing pandemic. What did they get right? What went wrong? To put it bluntly, should the unthinkable happen again, how could their response be bettered.

Process

Time was tight. I had less than a month to design and animate a fun, engaging 3-minute video around a delicate subject matter. Working in an agile process I was able to consult with the client, to understand the subject matter with a particular focus on what should or shouldn't be visualised.

I was able to quickly create two options for storyboard with around 3-4 compositions.

ROUTE ONE: Character led – a child walks us through the recent pandemic to explain Unicef's response
ROUTE TWO: Illustration led (chosen) – The focus here was to create snappy animation to keep the viewer's attention

Animation

As soon as the route was chosen a storyboard was created and a few animated comps created to give a feel of the overall animation. Keeping a clean file with well-composed pre-comps allowed me to quickly react to iterative copy edits.

Phil has a deep understanding of our complex design needs and always delivers a range of creative solutions to fit our briefs. He is our first port of call when it comes to designers especially because he can produce a variety of high-quality content from videos to podcasts and infographics… and more. Not only that – he’s also a pleasure to work with and often goes above and beyond to create work that exceeds our expectations. I highly recommend working with him!

Sara Davis

Campaign and Content Lead

Client:

UNICEF

Project Management:

OXFORD POLICY MANAGEMENT

Year:

2021

Designer:

PHILIP APPLETON