Disease X: Hunting the Next Pandemic
Client - Open University
Direction - Oackbeam Pictures
My Role - Animation
Project Overview
For this project I worked with the super talented Matthew Keen at Oakbeam Pictures on a set of animations for Disease X: Hunting the Next Pandemic, created in partnership with The Open University. The programme follows virologist Dr Chris Van Tulleken as he investigates the search for the next potential pandemic and the science being developed to prevent it.
My brief was to design and animate a series of looping GIFs for an interactive online test linked to the programme:
https://connect.open.ac.uk/nextpandemic/#misinformation
My Role
Matthew supplied a collection of hand-drawn illustrations, and my job was to bring them to life through subtle, clean motion design. The goal was to help users understand each stage of the test without pulling attention away from the questions themselves. Every animation needed to feel light, readable and perfectly aligned with the programme’s visual style.
Approach and process
To keep the hand-drawn aesthetic, I built each animation in Adobe After Effects, adding movement that complemented the illustration style rather than overpowering it. This involved:
Designing soft, minimal loops
Adding natural timing and easing to match the tone of the content
Keeping the colour and line details faithful to the original artwork
Exporting optimised GIFs suitable for fast loading and responsive behaviour
The challenge was finding the balance between clarity and restraint. The animations had to be informative but never distracting — an approach that works particularly well for explainer content and educational motion graphics.
