Early in the UK’s first Covid lockdown the news industry was tasked with helping deliver important health information clearly and memorably to often hard-to-reach audiences.

Our core device created a memorable smile in the mind, a more persuasive alternative to the official language. Designed as the cornerstone of a campaign run across all the UK’s newspaper covers on the same day (the first time this has ever been done), it had to work as well for The Sun as The Guardian.

We had to move fast, from pitch to design system to print in a little over a week.

With 76% awareness amongst newsreaders it one of the most successful news campaigns ever for the government.

The initial campaign set the creative template for a subsequent six-month campaign carrying health information messages that responded to the quickly evolving events.

The impact and scale of the launch day was phenomenal. Day one saw 600 national and local newspapers wrapping their papers, and the nation took notice.

In one day the campaign was remembered by half of the UK population.

Research conducted by Newsworks to measure effectiveness showed that:

80% of readers agreed that the design helped them understand the importance of the measures put in place.

83% agreed that the message was clear, relatable and easy to understand and that it helped them to understand that we all need to play our part.

With 71% saying the campaign increased their resolve to play a part in stopping the virus, testing indicated that the campaign significantly outperformed all previous UK Government campaigns.

Simply put, the campaign will have helped to save lives.

• Design Strategy lead, copywriting and creative wrangler: Silas Amos Ltd.
• Design concept and design system: Alec Tear.
• Client: Newsworks Uk for HM Government.
• Project Directors: Tracy DeGroose and Jo Allan.