Project:REMS:

Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools
U.S. Dept. of Education (ED)
Office of Safe and Healthy Students (OSHS)

In early autumn 2014, I received scripts for five REMS modules on school safety and emergency procedures. Collaborating alongside Content Editors and UI Educators, I:

• Organized and executed storyboards
• Ensured visual and content continuity
• Assisted communications between all teams,
• Partnered with admin in coordination and hiring of production personnel
• Executed final still and animated art with fellow animator Rebekah Fredenburg.

As Co-Art Directors, Ms. Fredenburg and I designed and illustrated school environments and dimensional characters of various cultures and backgrounds. With my knowledge of traditional cell, computer graphics and documentary filmmaking, I devised a unique REMs “look” with the intent to go well beyond the pre-fab avatars and stiff templates included in current instructional design presentation systems. My art direction was not simply to beautify –but to organize concepts and aid learners in understanding an average school’s challenges, their staff’s inner workings and each individual’s (educator, community partner and student) responsibilities to the whole. A diverse, memorable character functions like a tab on a folder, or a highlighted line within a large document. Users have more lesson retention when they can identify/empathize with characters and follow each plot thread that leads to unique choices and outcomes.