True to form, Beyond Blue has been ahead of the curve in helping people speak more openly about anxiety, depression and the other burdens so many people carry.
Their Not Alone podcast has reached millions of people by sharing the stories of everyday Australians encountering difficult times and finding ways through them.
We were honoured to help advertise the second season with a series of mini animations, each bringing one of those personal stories to life with care, clarity and a very gentle touch.
No emotional sledgehammers. No “sad piano fixes everything” energy. Just honest stories, thoughtfully told.
The challenge was to create short animations that could support real lived experience without overwhelming it.
For Colin’s story, the script explored more than 30 years of living with anxiety, from shyness and fear of confrontation, to panic attacks, workplace stress, medication and learning to live well with the condition.
The strategy was to keep the focus on Colin’s inner experience. What does anxiety feel like when no one else can see it? How do you show the difference between appearing calm on the outside and feeling raw fear on the inside?
Tiny animation question. Enormous emotional job.
The creative idea centred on the two versions of Colin.
On one side was Col, the rational voice. On the other was Colin, the anxious voice that jumped to the worst-case scenario and grew louder over time.
This gave the animation a simple, powerful way to show an internal experience visually. Thought bubbles could grow. Backgrounds could shift. One voice could crowd out the other. Anxiety could become something the audience could see, not just hear described.
It also made the turning point feel clear: recovery was not about magically silencing anxiety forever, but learning how to turn the volume down.
The visual style needed to feel personal, accessible and respectful.
We used character animation, colour shifts, symbolic props and simple visual metaphors to help communicate Colin’s experience. Paperwork weighing him down showed stress. Split-screen versions of himself showed the conflict between rational thought and anxious thinking. A volume-down gesture made the role of medication and coping skills easy to understand.
The visuals were there to support the story, not decorate it.
Because when someone is sharing something this personal, the animation should know when to step forward and when to quietly hold the door open.
Refinement focused on tone.
The animation needed to make anxiety understandable without making it feel cartoonish. Each metaphor had to be clear, but never flippant. Each moment had to carry the emotion of the story without making the audience feel like they were being pushed into a feelings blender.
We shaped the pacing, visuals and transitions around Colin’s voice, making sure the animation stayed close to the humanity of the story.
The goal was simple: help people recognise something true.
The final mini animations helped Beyond Blue promote the second season of Not Alone, giving audiences a visual entry point into stories of anxiety, recovery and living well.
For Colin’s story, the animation helped show that recovery is not always a cure. Sometimes it is learning, adjusting, accepting support and finding ways to live well with the condition.
A small animated piece with a big reminder at its heart:
You are not alone.
