Case Study
Northern Rail 'All right?'
A sensitive animated campaign showing how small human interventions can save lives.
CLIENT
01
The Challenge
Communicating a life-saving message with sensitivity and impact.
Around 4% of all suicides in the UK occur on the railway, with consequences that extend far beyond the individual — affecting passengers, station staff, drivers and the wider network through significant emotional and operational disruption.
Northern Rail and their partner agency, Juice Learning, wanted to address this issue head-on. They had commissioned a poem by Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, centred on a simple but powerful intervention: asking someone near the railway line, “All right?”
The challenge was to translate this delicate, emotionally charged message into a visual form that would resonate with the public — without sensationalising the subject or diluting its seriousness.
02
The Approach
Letting the words lead, supported by a warm and expressive visual language.
We worked closely with Northern Rail and Juice Learning to bring Armitage’s poem to life through animation, ensuring the visuals supported the message rather than overshadowing it.
To reflect the emotional tone of the poem, we used a rotoscoping technique, creating an illustrated ink-spill animation style that evoked the softness and fluidity of watercolour painting. This approach allowed the film to feel human, expressive and intimate — while remaining respectful of the subject matter.
The pacing, colour palette and motion were all carefully considered to balance sensitivity with clarity, creating a piece that invited reflection and encouraged action through empathy rather than alarm.
03
The Outcome
A widely shared campaign that amplified a simple act with profound impact.
We delivered a 90-second animated film that was shared across Northern Rail’s YouTube and social channels, reaching an audience of over 130,000 followers.
Building on the success of the film, we developed a suite of supporting digital assets for use on on-board train screens and digital advertising platforms, all using the same distinctive visual language. We also designed print posters featuring the campaign artwork, each including a QR code linking directly to the film.
Together, these assets ensured the message reached people at key moments — on platforms, in stations and during journeys — reinforcing how a small human intervention can make a meaningful difference.
