Brand | Campaign | Illustration | Local Government | Health & Fitness
Active Essex Illustration Suite
Active Essex is the physical activity partnership for Essex County Council, with a mission to get Essex moving.
The team found me through my website and came with a clear sense of direction, reference images, a logo, a colour palette, and a brief that quickly revealed what really mattered. The characters needed to be relatable, human, and representative of the full range of people Active Essex was trying to reach, from competitive cyclists to people taking their first steps into activity. We explored a range of ways to do that, particularly around facial details, diversity, and showing bodies of all kinds, before settling on the final look – a simple, lighthearted style capable of carrying the level of detail required without feeling overwhelming.
From that foundation, I built a library of over 75+ illustrations: individual characters across a huge range of activities, detailed scenes featuring locations across the county, and a map of Essex.
Beyond the core library, the relationship has grown into a series of specialist sets built for specific audiences and programmes. A children and young people library, Essex Activate, a holiday activity club, Essex Pedal Power, a set about mental health and exercise, and a suite for older people showing specific exercises and how to do them.
Some of the characters from this project are among my favourite illustrations I’ve ever made. There’s something about the brief, drawing normal people doing normal things, that pushed me toward a kind of specificity that makes them feel real. You can tell their characters. There are quiet details and small moments in there that I’m still fond of years later. I mean, look at those ducks!
And it can’t have just been me, Active Essex has returned repeatedly to extend the library across new campaigns and audiences.
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