“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'” – Fred Rogers
These are strange times. At Cerebral Lounge it means we’re looking at each other through a camera instead of over a cup of coffee. We’re emailing, and texting and chatting with folks, but we’re not wearing pants.
Regardless, we’re still hard at work, trying to do our part to make this world a better place. That’s when longtime friends Meredith Light and Beth Ruoff contacted us to help create an informative PSA about slowing the spread of Covid-19 for Gillman Communications, sponsored by the Gates Foundation and Public Health Seattle & King County. Needless to say, we jumped right in.
Creative Director Giles D’Souza came up with a geometric approach that was “…simple and expressive… The circles needed to emote. The simplicity added to the inclusive nature of the messaging.” With support from designer Richard Mijangos, Giles created a powerful, elegant animation that amplified steps we can all take to save lives, and leveraged the elementary nature of the geometry to deliver easy to understand messaging about how to slow the spread of Covid-19.
Harry Evans, Senior Sound Designer and Mixer with our sister company Clean Cuts, took inspiration from the animation approach and utilized subtle musical elements to reinforce the message; placing low reversed piano behind every mention of Covid-19 and adding synths and bells to punctuate movement and ideas. Harry’s signature musicianship proved advantageous allowing him to create a new melody for the close of the spots.
We’re keeping our spirits up during this scary time by watching the helpers, and doing anything we can to fall into that group ourselves. Stay safe everyone, we’ll only beat this if we all do our part.