The Aeronauts
Helping children learn about asthma triggered by allergies
Project Background
When the FDA approved Xolair for pediatric allergic asthma, Genentech and Novartis asked us to help them design a communication tool for caregivers of children aged 6–11. They wanted unbranded educational content about asthma triggered by pet dander, dust mites, and cockroaches.
Our Work
We created original characters and a comic book story about children with asthma helping other children. The story follows The Aeronauts (Maggie, Chris, and Kevin) as they help trapeze artist Frankie The Flying Girl figure out what is triggering her asthma. The children are assisted by robot A-9 and Dr. A back at Aeronaut Headquarters. In the end, Frankie goes with her father to see Dr. A for a medical appointment about her asthma.
Results
Our comic book was included in a toolkit distributed to clinicians for talks with families. The comic book was so popular that, a few years later, Genentech and Novartis asked us to redesign the cover so they could distribute it on its own without the rest of their toolkit.
