IT’S OKAY, TAKE YOUR TIME
awarded Gold at the 2024 Better Future Gov Design Awards
CHALLENGE
How might we empower a generation of primary school students to openly discuss, learn about, and manage anxiety?
The Department of Education NSW initiated a project to tackle the rising levels of anxiety among primary school students, a situation worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative aimed to develop a program that would provide primary school communities with the resources to better understand and manage anxiety, especially in young children.
Our focus was on addressing the universal experiences of worry, fear, and nervousness that can hinder children's learning. We concentrated on supporting primary school students, along with their key adults—parents, caregivers, educators, and support staff.
This case study highlights my role as the Senior Visual Communication Designer on this project.
INITIAL VISUAL BRIEF
I joined the project midway, with existing design outputs already in place. The initial visual brief was to update three classroom posters based on our research findings and the testing conducted in schools.
Initial poster designs before I joined the team
RESEARCH
I participated in research at 10 of the 22 schools visited by the Portable team across NSW. During this time, we conducted interviews and workshops to:
Assess the knowledge of anxiety in children and their supportive adults (school staff and parents).
Gather insights into their needs and expectations for the project’s outcome.
Test prototypes as they develop, observing how people interact with them.
Documentation of visual prototypes at various design stages
INSIGHTS
A few insights that we gathered
From children:
They generally have a good understanding of their feelings.
Some children struggle to explain their feelings to adults.
Some are more comfortable communicating through hand signs rather than words.
They often express their feelings physically.
They need to connect with and relate to the icons presented on visual materials.
From supportive adults in schools:
Many existing programs use complex vocabulary, leading to a high cognitive load.
There’s a desire for a consistent, easy-to-implement program.
They want resources to share with parents and caregivers.
From supportive adults outside of school (parents and caregivers):
While they can manage their child’s anxiety at home, they find it more challenging in school settings.
They seek easily accessible resources from trustworthy sources.
Many suggested a tool in a fridge magnet form.
Illustration:
Black outlines in illustrations aid those with visual impairments.
Some students find exaggerated facial expressions in illustrations unrealistic and struggle to engage with them.
Some students need facial features to stay within the face area, not extend outside the black outline.
Some students struggle with the white areas around eyes in illustrations.
PERSONAL PROBLEM STATEMENT
I wanted to place our audiences at the heart of the solution, so I set myself a personal problem statement. My belief was that if I could develop a solution that met the following requirements, it would address the original challenge:
How might we:
Engage each audience with the materials?
Honor the insights from seven months of research?
Create materials tailored to the unique needs of each audience, while still maintaining common ground?
Establish a cohesive thread that ties all the materials together?
MY INVOLVEMENT
My primary role in this project was to deliver the final printed materials for distribution to schools. Throughout the process, I:
Expanded the visual materials from three classroom posters into a comprehensive suite that fosters a shared understanding of anxiety between school and home. This suite includes booklets and worksheets for students, classroom and home posters, background information for supportive adults, and versatile assets for educators.
Future-proofed the program by creating a toolkit to help expand the materials beyond the initial suite.
Recognised the need for a trusted character that children could relate to.
Art directed an illustrator to bring this character to life.
Designed all materials within the suite.
Ensured visual consistency across all outputs.
Managed all print production.
THE SOLUTION
A comprehensive suite of materials
This suite caters to students, educators, and caregivers, considering how each group interacts with the materials.
1. Bringing a character to life.
I art directed the creation of Bean, a lovable, emotive character free from identity labels like gender or age, to make it relatable to all children.
2. A set for children
I aimed to create materials that children could grow with, continuing the dialogue throughout primary school. A series of books was developed for different learning stages: Stage 1 (K-Grade 2), Stage 2 (Grade 3 & 4), and Stage 3 (Grade 5 & 6). These books were designed to be both informative and interactive. Accompanying posters were designed to reflect key pages from the books, serving as a visual shorthand to identify feelings, techniques for regulation, and the hand model.
3. A set for the educators
We provided visuals, templates, resources, and informative guides in the form of a toolkit, enabling educators to create their own materials and resources tailored to their classrooms.
4. A set for caregivers
A book was also designed specifically for adults, containing both the same information provided to children and additional topics aimed at supporting adults in their role.
FUTURE PROOFING
We future-proofed the program to ensure it could grow beyond the initial suite of materials. A year after our involvement, the Department of Education NSW has adopted the program, commissioning a series of 60-second videos to promote it.
RESULTS
By the end of our involvement, the suite of materials had consistently proven effective with students, teachers, expert advisors, and departmental stakeholders. The program was ready to be piloted across 20 primary schools in NSW by the end of 2023.