Beyond the box
▼ ▲Get in touch with the author
At the start of this process, we discovered an inspiring TED Talk by Cathrine Thimmesh, an award-winning author, speaker, and educator in creativity. In her talk, she emphasises the importance of reintroducing creative thinking into school curriculums. Her insightful perspective has deeply influenced us, motivating us to bring this concept to life visually in a meaningful way.
I believed that it would be valuable to reach out to Catherine herself, as collaborating directly with the source of our inspiration could add depth to our motion project. Through LinkedIn, I make sure to maintain communication throughout the entire process. I shared our scripts with her, requesting permission to incorporate her quotes into our video montage. Once we assembled the storyboard and audio into an animatic, I sent it to her for review, asking for feedback on the overall concept and the quotes we had chosen. After receiving her approval and securing her permission to use segments of her talk, we proceeded with the project. We also agreed to credit her by mentioning her name at the end of the video.
Think outside the box!
or...What else could this box be?
“Schools demand rules and confined spaces… Injecting creativity into the current education structure and being open to new possibilities or perspectives… Flexibility is the key… So, Instead of asking a student to think outside the box, we perhaps should ask them: what else could this box be?”
Target audience
During our ideation stage, we initially planned to target a young audience, specifically children aged 6 to 10. Given their high cognitive abilities, we believed they could absorb the information in a positive and educational way. However, after receiving feedback from lecturers and peers, we realised that a more effective approach would be to target parents instead. By shifting our focus, we aimed to emphasise the importance of encouraging children to express their creativity rather than restricting it due to the common misconception that creativity is limited to artistic activities.
Creative Conscience Brief and Research...
We were introduced to the Creative Conscience briefs, allowing us to align our project with a competition theme. While all topics were meaningful, our group chose education and learning for its potential impact. The challenge was to identify an issue within the education system and propose a solution that could drive real change. We focused on bridging the gap between the highest and lowest-performing PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) students, often caused by unequal access to quality education and resources. Our project emphasised the importance of creativity in learning, not just in the arts but across all subjects. By advocating for creative thinking in school curriculums and improved access to digital learning tools, we aimed to inspire action and promote a more inclusive, innovative education system.
Another important aspect we explored was the role of creativity in health and well-being within the education system. Research shows that one in six children aged 5 to 16 has a diagnosed mental health disorder (Creative Health, 2024). Studies indicate a social divide in children's participation in arts and culture, though this is often limited to extracurricular activities. Providing young people with access to creativity is essential for supporting their mental well-being. However, reduced funding has significantly impacted arts education and creativity in schools. The OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) recognises that creativity helps students adapt quickly, contributing to strong educational outcomes and developing transferable skills. These skills not only benefit individual learners but also enhance society’s future prospects.
Place2Be is a local charity we discovered that focuses on reintroducing creativity into people's lives, supporting families, teachers, and schools with various approaches to promote mental health and well-being. Recognising the valuable work they do, we decided to incorporate this charity into our project to strengthen our call to action. By highlighting their efforts, we aimed to emphasise the importance of creative expression in education and its positive impact on mental health, encouraging more support for initiatives that foster well-being through creativity.
Style Frames and characters experimentation...
We’ve created mood boards and style frames to guide our project’s visual identity, embracing a collage-inspired, playful approach with colourful elements and hand-drawn, animated typography to complement the storytelling.
For the visual identity of this project, we’ve developed several mood boards and style frames to guide us through the process. We’ve embraced a collage-inspired approach, incorporating free, playful drawings to reflect the creative theme. Our goal is to create something colourful, and we’ve decided to integrate hand-drawn typography in motion, as it complements the overall look and storytelling of the theme.
Characters & Team
Initially, we planned to develop individual characters and then come together to brainstorm animation ideas, ultimately deciding on the best option. Once we made our decision, we focused on maintaining consistency throughout the animation by establishing rules. Each of us contributed our input: Sam and I handled the composition, backgrounds, and characters, while Arithy and Rachel collaborated on the hand-drawn typography and illustrations. By incorporating everyone’s ideas, we ensured that each team member felt confident and had the opportunity to develop their skills in areas of interest.
We decided to give the character a box shape to reflect the structure of the TED talk script. To contrast this, we wanted the other parts of the character to have playful, wobbly, and colourful shapes, symbolising people and their creativity in a metaphorical way.
Hand-written & Animated Type
Arithy worked a lot with hand-drawn figures and handwritten typography, giving our motion project a more personal and unique style. This made the animation feel more natural and expressive, adding character to the overall design. The mix of freehand drawings and custom lettering helped bring out the playful and creative theme. These elements made the project more engaging and visually distinctive, enhancing the storytelling. Arithy’s contributions were key in shaping the final look, ensuring the motion project had a strong and personal identity.
Background & Collage
My main responsibilities included designing collage-style visuals, creating animated backgrounds, and developing transition components for the motion project. Using After Effects and Photoshop, I worked on bringing these elements to life, ensuring they complemented the overall animation style. My role involved setting the visual foundation, establishing a cohesive look, and enhancing the fluidity of movement throughout the project. By crafting dynamic backgrounds and smooth transitions, I helped build the base structure of our animation, allowing the team to develop further details and refine the final piece. This work was essential in maintaining consistency and ensuring a polished visual outcome.
Developing Skills
I consider myself a versatile designer, so it’s been really interesting to work with a variety of software tools, including new ones for me,like Adobe Audition, Premiere Pro, and After Effects, as well as classic tools like Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator.
Story Board Development
From the initial sketches in the first image(top left)to the final outcome of our storyboard, it’s been a process of editing and refining how we want to deliver a strong, impactful message. We were careful not to miss the call to action with our visuals, aiming to stay true to the script while translating it into a compelling visual. We edited multiple times to perfect the mood board, ultimately shaping the final outcome for our animation.
Final Story Board
In the final storyboard, we focused on framing the key sequences and camera angles to get a clear overall vision of what we needed to accomplish by the end of the assignment. This included considering colours, facial expressions, and the environment to better understand the backgrounds and characters. It also helped guide us toward finalising the message and call to action.
Scripts Development
For the script, we numbered the lines to correspond with the frame numbers in our storyboard, allowing us to measure time more effectively. As I was responsible for the animatics and audio editing, I first needed to find sounds to fill the gaps in the scenes and then match the recorded audio to the appropriate frame as outlined in the script.
Animatics
For the animatics, we first recorded the audio, then expanded the script. I adjusted the audio with sound effects and synchronised it with the script, placing the visuals over the storyboard.
Last Animatic
First Animatic
Presentations and Team-work
Throughout the process, my team and I made sure our communication was strong by creating a shared freeForm board to exchange research, ideas, and colour palettes etc. We organised meetings to finalise these into clear decisions. For our presentations, while I focused on designing the decks, we also came together to determine who would present each section and made sure everyone was comfortable with the information before presenting. Everyone’s input and ideas made the project particularly engaging.
Final Reflection
At the start of this project, we were inspired by a TED Talk by Catherine Thimmesh, an award-winning author and creativity educator, who aims for the reintroduction of creative thinking in school curriculums. This concept deeply influenced our motion project, and I even reached out to Catherine herself to maintain direct communication throughout the process. We shared our scripts, animatics, and requested feedback and permission on using part of her talk into our scripts, which she kindly provided and agreed on, allowing us to incorporate her quotes into our video montage.
Initially, our target audience was children aged 6-10, but after receiving feedback, we decided to focus on parents, encouraging them to enhance their children's creativity. This change met with our goals for implementing creative thinking across all subjects in the education system, not just the arts. It responded well to the Creative Conscience brief aims as well, into creative a better and brighter future starting with adjusting our education system and its quality. We also explored the impact of creativity on mental health and well-being in education. Research highlighted the importance of access to creative outlets for children's mental health, especially as funding cuts have diminished arts education. This reinforced our belief in creativity's role in shaping positive educational outcomes and transferable skills. We found a local charity Place2Be that supports mental health through creative activities to strengthen our call to action.
Our visual identity was made to match both our target audience and the call-to-action, wanted to be collage-inspired and with a playful approach. By creating mood boards and style frames, we integrated hand-drawn typography in motion to reflect the creative theme. Throughout the animation process, as a team we wanted to ensure consistency and we wanted everyone to be heard, which allowed us to refine our work continuously. The project provided me an amazing learning experience, where I worked across various software. Ultimately, the journey was both creatively challenging and collaborative, resulting in a project that we were all proud to contribute to.