The Background

The Irish Cancer Society is a community of patients, survivors, volunteers, supporters, health and social care professionals, and researchers who transform people's experiences and outcomes through support services and research. Its story is a human story, and in every year before 2020, it always builds a fantastic library of photography of people they have supported, its fundraising events, and the work of its volunteers and funding partners. But of course, during Covid, the access to imagery was minimal. It was, therefore, our task to look at how we could represent their work differently.

The Idea

With limited photography available, we proposed using bespoke illustrations to bring the stories to life. We worked with Irish illustrator Lydia Hughes to bring each human story to life. Each story covers a different work programme within the Irish Cancer Society – so the stories cover patients, healthcare providers, fundraisers, etc., and each story was drawn to give that tangible connection to the Irish Cancer Society's strategic pillars.

The Execution

The colour palette is a mix of sombre and bright colours to partner the two sides of the work of the Irish Cancer Society – they are helping increase the number of people who survive cancer and are there to support those who don’t.

This mix of colours is brought into the illustrations along with the international symbol of cancer – the yellow daffodil. The daffodil symbolises hope and appears in each illustration to tie in the brand and ensure that the report demonstrates the Irish Cancer Society as a support structure.