Illustrators and celebrities unite to help struggling parents in lockdown

Creative production studio Toad has partnered with King’s College London, the NHS and Maudsley Charity to produce a series of advice-based animations for families.

“As lockdown was initiated, there was a growing concern among us about what this was going to do to families – even those who had never before shown any signs of anxiety,” says Henry Waterfall-Allen, digital director at Toad. It was this concern, he tells Design Week, that sparked the team’s latest project: Families Under Pressure.

Aiming to support parents feeling the continued strain of the coronavirus pandemic, the London-based creative production studio has partnered with psychologists and child psychiatrists at King’s College London (KCL) and the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLAM) to launch a series of animated videos offering practical, science-backed advice for families in lockdown.

In total, the team has so far launched eight animations under the initiative, designed with help from four different illustrators. Each has been narrated by a celebrity parent, with videos featuring the likes of Olivia Coleman, Danny Dyer, Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill and Rob Brydon.

To find out more about Families Under Pressure, head to the website.