Shaping Better Care - Olha Protasova

Unicef Campaign

Illustration, Advertisement

Plasticine illustrations for a UNICEF campaign about family-based care for children.
Together with UNICEF Ukraine and Postmen, I created a series of plasticine illustrations for Shaping Better Care, a communication campaign promoting family-based care and alternative forms of care for children.

The campaign was developed in Ukraine during wartime and aimed to encourage potential parents and guardians to learn more about the different ways children can grow up in a family environment.

The challenge

The subject was serious and emotionally difficult.

The campaign needed to attract attention in outdoor advertising and social media while communicating a complex message about children, families and care in a warm and accessible way.

There was also an important representational challenge. The characters needed to reflect different kinds of families and include children with different appearances, abilities and needs.

olha-protasova-cs01-plasticine-unicef-family-cover

The image is curtecy of Postmen agency

The idea

The idea of campaign, developed by Postmen team, used plasticine as a visual metaphor for shaping: just as the warmth of our hands makes plasticine flexible and allows us to shape it into almost anything, the warmth and care a child receives from a family helps shape their personality and future.

Plasticine also carries an immediate association with childhood and making things by hand. Its bright colours and tactile quality helped us approach a difficult subject without making the visual language heavy or distant.

Sketches

We started with digital sketches,

Making it real

I created the characters and scenes as physical plasticine sculptures, developing the visual language through sketches and intermediate models.

Character design required particular attention. I researched how to represent different children and families, including a child with a prosthetic limb and a child using a wheelchair.

The physical models were photographed and retouched, with selected small details such as eyes and mouths drawn digitally in Procreate. This gave us greater control over facial expressions while avoiding unnecessary small-scale sculpting.

I worked closely with the art direction team throughout the process, sharing sketches, intermediate presentations and physical tests before moving into final production.

The result

The illustrations were used across a social advertising campaign in the Kharkiv region, including billboards, citylights and posters, as well as in social media.

The campaign generated 2,403 calls to the dedicated hotline, and according to the project data, 322 children found adoptive parents and a loving home.

The project also led to a further collaboration with the Postmen team for the same client.

Client: UNICEF Ukraine
Agency: Postmen, Kyiv
Campaign: Shaping Better Care
Year: 2024
Role: Illustration, plasticine sculpture, photography & retouching

Creative Director: Olga Mykhalets
Art Director: Iryna Pavlova
Copywriter: Anastasia Russu
Designer: Liza Chepugova
Account Director: Hanna Savchuk