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Animation: Super fun animation created to teach children about the perils of the internet

Date
4 March 2014

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Illustration and animation are often typecast as mediums for kids, and while usually we take enormous pleasure in digging up evidence to prove this isn’t the case, occasionally it is true. Especially when it comes to finding a way to take boring, patronising adult advice and making it fun and engaging for younger generations. Cottoning on swiftly to this home truth, the UK’s very dully-named Internet Advertising Bureau commissioned illustrator Dominic Owen and animator Will Samuel to make a short illustration educating kids about internet ads.

The pair combined their respective skills to come up with a two and a half minute animation which gets the tone exactly right, and with seemingly minimal effort. It’s fun and dynamic and subtly informative, and includes pictures of cats, skateboarding, and a game called Willy the Walrus. Now if they could be commissioned to make something similar to explain how tax returns work, we might be on to something.

A digital illustration of a browser window with a bright pink background. Bold green text reads “COOL THINGS”, with the two “O” letters rendered as wide-open eyes.
Above

Animation for Internet Advertising Bureau: Illustration by Dominic Owen, Animation by Will Samuel (still)

An illustration of a web browser window showing a search for “Cool pictures of cats”. Below the search bar, a grid of colourful images features stylised cats and a person hugging a black cat.
Above

Animation for Internet Advertising Bureau: Illustration by Dominic Owen, Animation by Will Samuel (still)

An illustration of a web browser window showing a dark grey screen. A blue and green globe is centred behind the pink text “WWW.” and the yellow words “world wide web”.
Above

Animation for Internet Advertising Bureau: Illustration by Dominic Owen, Animation by Will Samuel (still)

An illustration of three stylised figures standing in front of a grey website interface. A blue poster beside them reads “FREE COMPUTER GAMES CONSOLE! (NOT FREE)”.
Above

Animation for Internet Advertising Bureau: Illustration by Dominic Owen, Animation by Will Samuel (still)

A search bar contains the phrase “what is” with a dropdown list of suggested queries. One option is highlighted in blue and reads “what is the worlds best brussel sprout milkshake”.
Above

Animation for Internet Advertising Bureau: Illustration by Dominic Owen, Animation by Will Samuel (still)

An illustration of a web browser search page. The search bar contains the phrase “what is the worlds best brussel sprout milkshake”, while the results area is filled with colourful blocks that all read “ADS”.
Above

Animation for Internet Advertising Bureau: Illustration by Dominic Owen, Animation by Will Samuel (still)

An illustration of a yellow dog standing before a bowl of pink food. A speech bubble above the dog reads “OOH RUVVERY”, and a nearby container is labelled “WOOF”.
Above

Animation for Internet Advertising Bureau: Illustration by Dominic Owen, Animation by Will Samuel (still)

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About the Author

Maisie Skidmore

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Maisie joined It’s Nice That fresh out of university in the summer of 2013 as an intern before joining full time as an Assistant Editor. Maisie left It’s Nice That in July 2015.

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