Marketing for Change Co. approached us with a deeply relatable yet emotionally nuanced challenge: visualizing the experience of navigating mental health struggles while feeling out of place. From the start, we knew a hand-drawn aesthetic was the right choice, and one that would bring a sense of warmth and humanity to the story.

Our process began with character development, designing not only the protagonist but the world around her, including family members, a dinner table, and traditional Hispanic dishes that would ground the scene in cultural authenticity. From there, we focused on her facial expressions, ensuring they captured the quiet discomfort of the moment with subtlety and intention. In the color phase, we made deliberate choices to draw the viewer’s eye to her as the focal point, while giving the surrounding environment just enough life to evoke familiarity. Every frame of the final animation was handled with care, ensuring her body language and emotional state came through fully, all within a seven-second window.