4 minute read
Putting people back at the heart of care with animations
Organisations like the NHS and the populations it needs to reach are so huge and diverse that communication is often an issue.
Change and development is constant and new initiatives and ways of working need to be communicated to everyone involved at every level quickly, clearly and succinctly.
This is a huge challenge for all sectors of the NHS, but one it is getting to grips with thanks to a little outside help.
The Department of Health and Social Care, in collaboration with NHS England, recently launched the Digitising Social Care Initiative, with the aim of easing the admin burden on workers and ultimately providing a better quality of care for patients.
But it needed to inform and educate everyone within the system as the new technology was brought in.
So it turned to Cardiff-based animation studio Motion Manor with a request to create a number of animated videos to support their objectives and ease the workforce through the transition.
Motion Manor turned out to be a perfect choice.
Ant Green, managing director, said when he founded the business two and a half years ago, his aim was to work with changemakers, who were working to make the world a better place. The opportunity to work with the NHS was one he couldn’t pass up.
“At Motion Manor, we believe we have the moral obligation to leave the world a better place than we found it,” Ant says.
“Storytelling has this incredible ability to engage, educate and influence so we feel we have a responsibility to use that to drive social impact to create a better world for future generations.
“Their mission was perfectly aligned with our values so we were really happy to lend our expertise and creativity to shape a product that would really help make an impact.
“We get more joy from creating work that changes lives, more than we ever would creating work that just makes someone more money. These are the clients, campaigns and missions that get us out of bed each morning and keep us so excited to keep growing.”
The DHSC project was a complex one, but it was a challenge Ant and his team embraced.
Firstly, they needed to ensure they catered to a diverse audience, many of whom might be resistant and in fear of the impact of digital technology.
Then they needed to condense the huge amount of information involved into a short, easy to understand message. The animation also needed to be memorable and feel warm and relatable rather than clinical and corporate.
The resulting short video was a big success.
Ant says: “Animation has this powerful ability to combine concise targeted messaging, with a style of visual that is uniquely tailored to connect with the target audience. Animation taps into a nostalgia we all have from when we were children which helps to ‘disarm’ the viewer so your story can really resonate.
“The client was so happy; they’re now using the illustrations we created across the whole Digitising Social Care Brand.” advice about how to use the videos to greatest effect.
Ant says many animation studios pass up opportunities like this in favour of working with big corporate brands with big budgets.
But he remains committed to helping organisations that need help the most, also offering expert guidance and advice about how to use the videos to greatest effect.
His team are now looking to future similar challenges, such as a campaign to boost the number of foster carers in the UK. Ant aims to create a package that can be tailored to each local authority but needs at least 12 local authorities to sign up.
To learn more about the project, contact Ant at anthony@ motionmanor.co.uk
To find out more about Motion Manor’s work and to get in touch, visit the company’s website here.
