Creative & Art Direction • Talent & Project Management
A snapshot into my journey of leading a young and fresh team to co-create, design & develop relatable whimsical characters narrating impactful stories.
Media types: Character Design, Animations, Graphic stories | Industry: Third Sector
Cyber safety is crucial for everyone, particularly vulnerable groups
It All Began With
The need for support learning material
The "Safety First" face-to-face workshop series specifically caters to the LGBTQ+ community, a vulnerable group in the region, addressing the unique challenges they face in staying safe online.
The training aims to empower participants to understand and utilise digital security measures that protect both themselves and their colleagues from malicious activity. By developing effective online safety habits, participants will ultimately develop positive behavioural changes that contribute to their long-term wellbeing, especially in light of their vulnerabilities within the region.
The Destination
Digital collateral for Engaging in-person workshops
The client, Arab Foundation For Freedoms And Equality (AFE),wanted to develop support learning collateral for their diverse MENA region workshop participants. These materials needed to break down complex technical content into easily accessible information, and engaging, ultimately leading to behavioural change.
The Path
The main actions towards an engaging e-learning solution
Be it supporting or main learning material, the learner is always at the centre of it, so always starting with user research to lay the ground for problem and solution parameter definitions before moving forward to media design & development.
The Result
In-Person engagement - A Serious & Whimsical Journey
Crafting Connection: Diverse Characters and Relatable Scenarios
The team crafted whimsical situational animations around three relatable LGBTQ+ protagonists. These custom designed characters navigate culturally relevant scenarios, seamlessly weaving in crucial digital safety principles, risks, and precautions. Through their experiences, viewers embark on a fun and informative journey, learning valuable lessons about online safety in four engaging animations.
Building Trust and Engagement: From Icebreakers to Safe Spaces
The animations effectively broke the ice, increased trust, and created a safe space for the diverse participants during the in-person training, leading to high levels of relaxed engagement.
The animations effectively broke the ice, increased trust, and created a safe space for the diverse participants during the in-person training, leading to high levels of relaxed engagement.
Amplifying Impact: A Voice for Safety and Continued Learning
The success of the animations led to repeat business and the creation of four additional graphic stories. The characters became the face of the "safety first" program and associated initiatives, solidifying their impact and empowering the community through continued education and awareness.
The success of the animations led to repeat business and the creation of four additional graphic stories. The characters became the face of the "safety first" program and associated initiatives, solidifying their impact and empowering the community through continued education and awareness.
40" Outcome
Key features
Our primary objective was to ensure the content resonated deeply with the target audience, fostering positive behavior change in their online interactions.
Humour in storytelling: Not only to break the ice, but also to create a trysting environment for sensitive and security topics. the whimsical tone was reflected in choice of situations, the character profiles, the visual and audio language.
Original and Lovable Characters: We developed unique, charming characters belonging to the LGBTQ+ community, fostering a strong connection with viewers. Each with their own relatable quircks, visually abstracted geometric and inclusive. Became the face of some AFE programs
Witty Situations for Relatable Learning: Humorous and lighthearted scenarios were crafted, where the characters encounter online safety topics in a witty and entertaining manner. This approach kept the material engaging and accessible, moving beyond technical jargon to demonstrate how these concepts directly impact viewers' daily digital lives.
Dynamic Visual Storytelling: Four vibrant animations were produced, utilizing captivating visuals to simplify complex concepts and deliver information clearly and effectively. Additionally, five graphic stories were created, expanding on the characters' relatable situations and enriching the educational experience.
Notes on a Process
From Understanding to Solution
User-Centred Design: Understanding Needs and Challenges
Following a human-centred approach, we conducted user research to understand the needs of both users and stakeholders. The client, as the subject matter expert in delivering the in-person training, provided valuable insights. We learned that ice-breaker activities played a key role in creating a safe space for participants to discuss critical matters. Additionally, we identified a challenge in relating the technical learning content to the daily lives of the client's constituents.
Balancing Seriousness and Engagement: Animation as the Solution
To address the identified user needs, we chose animation as the supporting material due to its inherent ability to engage and educate. We opted for character-based scenarios relatable to the everyday lives of the LGBTQ+ community, drawing inspiration from real-life anecdotes shared by the trainers that had previously proven effective in fostering engagement. We employed a lighthearted and whimsical tone to break the ice and create a safe space for discussion. This approach also helped maintain engagement throughout the in-person training by utilising visually rich animations that complemented the learning journey.
To address the identified user needs, we chose animation as the supporting material due to its inherent ability to engage and educate. We opted for character-based scenarios relatable to the everyday lives of the LGBTQ+ community, drawing inspiration from real-life anecdotes shared by the trainers that had previously proven effective in fostering engagement. We employed a lighthearted and whimsical tone to break the ice and create a safe space for discussion. This approach also helped maintain engagement throughout the in-person training by utilising visually rich animations that complemented the learning journey.
Bringing the Solution to Life: Media Design and Development
Given the time and budget constraints, we chose development techniques that allowed for a focus on the content's quality. The quirky animation style aligned with the whimsical tone, while the simple flat visual style and cheerful background music further supported the learning objectives by enabling participants to concentrate on the content. This allowed the participants to easily access the technical information through relatable storylines within the animation.
Given the time and budget constraints, we chose development techniques that allowed for a focus on the content's quality. The quirky animation style aligned with the whimsical tone, while the simple flat visual style and cheerful background music further supported the learning objectives by enabling participants to concentrate on the content. This allowed the participants to easily access the technical information through relatable storylines within the animation.
In retrospect
Sometimes it's worth the risk!
Young team full of hope and excitement to tell stories. Debut script writers paved the path to an engaged animation. The LXD & Designer collaboration was fruitful, multilevel richness in story telling in details of contextualisation, character building, tone of voice & script writing, to audio visually capturing it all. This was possible by creating a safe space to experiment in designing the solution.
Scope creep, a positive risk: in the midst of excitement, the character writing and designing, took a life of its own. Aware we're experiencing scope creep, we were also noticing the motivating emotional reward the team was experiencing in this process. So we factored it into the process and kept going!
Design process of co-creation with Client: Eventually not only was the team on a buzz from delivering a completed fun project, but also having a good time doing it. The client also enjoyed the experience of co-creating the learning solutions, and experienced first hand the impact of these characters and their stories made on their training sessions, which was part of their motivation to request 5 additional graphic stories.
Outcome snapshots
Fig X: xxxxxx
Fig X: xxxxxx
Team
Client: Arab Foundation For Freedoms And Equality (AFE) - MENA
Project for: Kashida Learning
Kashida team: Lead LXD (Zahraa Karnib), Designers (Anthony Al Assad), Animator: (Hussein Hodroj)
Project for: Kashida Learning
Kashida team: Lead LXD (Zahraa Karnib), Designers (Anthony Al Assad), Animator: (Hussein Hodroj)
