Stop, Look, Listen, Live

Talking to people my age about animated public information safety ads has brought up lots of cute films from my childhood, such as the hedgehog road safety adverts. I think everyone remembers these years later because of the combination of animation and song; they clearly made an impression on our young minds in the 90s, meaning they did their job well! The animation is simple and quite basic in comparison to other animated film from the time, but the animated form clearly drew kids in. I remember singing along and loving the hedgehogs as a small child, and I know my mum cashed in on the idea by reminding me at roadsides to remember 'what the hedgehogs would do'.
This kind of source material is something that reiterates what I'm thinking about with my dissertation research... that illustration/animation offers a gateway and a medium to educate children outside the standard classroom, learn-by-rote system. The style of drawings themselves actually work so well I think because they are simplistic enough for a child to copy easily, possibly making them more relatable. Roman Mars hits the nail on the head when he talks about the important qualities of design in general by focussing on flags. He discusses how the best flags are kept so simple as to be replicated by a child, and I think this is a design principle to stand by when your target audience is children!