Oct 18, 2019

From on-air promos to Instagram, this team brings the brand’s characters to life with “an explosion of creativity.”

The characters of Nick Jr.—from Bubble Guppies to the Paw Patrol pups to Peppa Pig—aren’t just television personalities. They are multiplatform characters who come to life on screens of all sizes, across TV shows, social media, and digital shorts. The team responsible for maintaining the visual continuity and creativity required to make that happen? Nick Jr.’s animation and design teams.

Led by Christopher Papa, vice president of animation and VFX, and Joelle Lau, vice president of brand design, the team’s task is to carry the most creative and enticing elements of the Nick Jr. brand and its characters across mediums.

“From original ideas to visual effects to fully animated pieces featuring famous preschool characters, we’ve been part of an explosion of creativity. It’s very fulfilling to see that our efforts, ideas, and content have led to amazing audience and industry responses,” says Papa. “Developing shorts and engaging educational content is really special, but it’s also a fantastic responsibility.”

According to Lau, the team’s purview is unique for its range and the scale of its audience. “We produce a wide variety of engaging creative content that entertains and touches millions of our young viewers’ lives every day,” she says.

To make it work, the animation and design teams work in tandem with their internal Nick Jr. partners, including writers and producers, strategy, and project and production management, to find creative ways to fulfill requests from the larger Nickelodeon organization, such as the show units, marketing, and programming divisions.

“Nick Jr. has built a full-service internal agency, which didn’t exist to this capacity a few years ago,” Lau said. “We are able to deliver quickly on high demands and optimize promotional needs efficiently across platforms in this quickly evolving media landscape.”

As more and more platforms arise, the teams are constantly executing new ideas across digital assets, whether that’s a short-form video for YouTube, or a stunt on Social media.

“Everyone has a vision,” Papa explains. “We have to act efficiently and be nimble.”

Here’s what each member of the team says about their work:

 

 


 

Hover your mouse across the image to learn more about some members of the Nick Jr. animation team. This experience is best viewed on desktop.

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