Comic Relief

Solution

We wanted to support Comic Relief in the creation of a complete online experience that amplified the voices of communities affected by malaria, shared knowledge from sector stakeholders across government, policy, academia, funders, and civil society, highlighted the many success stories and, ultimately, and helped showcase the legacy of the five-year GSK partnership long after it came to an end in 2021.

Previously, the content had been shared across multiple channels, including the Comic Relief and GSK websites, and social media.

By building a standalone site, we were helping create a central repository - a Legacy Collection - of content and assets, including films, images, case studies, reports, and evaluations to make the acquired learning available for others in the long-term and to demonstrate the value of partnerships in global health. 

DCX hosted a series of client workshops to explore the scope of the project, and better understand the priorities and barriers to communication.

We established a simple information architecture and impactful design that put people, projects and their inspirational stories at the core.

Taking visual cues from Comic Relief’s website, but differentiating the approach, we used our experience to flex the assets to create standout and interest, and provided flexibility for content editors with clearly-labelled design components and selectable on-brand variables. We helped Comic Relief create and curate the stories, turning quite formal reports into accessible bite-size human stories designed to inspire. In a further move to enhance the overall user experience, we used intelligent tagging and content curation to help readers explore by country and discover related content.

Real people and real stories

For us, it was all about focusing on the projects and the people involved.

This focus had a significant influence over the website design. The challenge was to adhere to Comic Relief’s brand assets and guidelines, yet still make the new site bold, memorable and distinctive.

We developed a look and feel that put people at the heart of the partnership. Real people, real stories, and hero images for maximum impact – with design principles that acknowledged Comic Relief’s leading role in the partnership but did not overpower.

Content is king

If people were at the heart of the partnership, then content was at the core of the website. A large project like this across multiple countries creates a lot of information. We helped Comic Relief in their editorial by creating and curating stories, often turning quite formal reports into accessible bite-size, more-human stories that brought results to life.

We created a seamless experience for content editors by using the Contenful content management system (CMS) that allowed Comic Relief to work in the same environment as their main website. The combination of clearly-labelled design components and selectable variables gave editors flexibility when creating new content, while ensuring visual consistency across the site and overall alignment with the Comic Relief brand. 

Inspiring global action

Behind the scenes, intelligent tagging and content curation further enhance the user experience by allowing readers to explore on a country-basis, or discover related stories and projects.

This ‘joined up’ approach is central to both the partnership between Comic Relief and GSK, and to the global fight against malaria.

In a joint statement, they said: “Comic Relief and GSK believe that one of the best ways to fight malaria, especially in high burden settings, is to help strengthen local and national health services and improve their ability to combat the disease. The partnership seeks to inspire global action against malaria by telling compelling stories that demonstrate need and impact.”