Captain Quarantine is a character created entirely in-house by the Communications and Engagement office at the City of Gainesville. Captain Quarantine was created in order to promote fun and positivity during the pandemic by delivering positive messages, reminders and helpful tips to the neighbors of Gainesville during the stay-at-home order. The graphic design and character design were all created by myself, Dustin Walsh (Marketing and Communications Specialist at the City of Gainesville). The videos and animations were created by Scott Littler (Digital Media Producer at the City of Gainesville) in collaboration with myself, Dustin Walsh. All of the messaging, ideas and communications from Captain Quarantine were created in collaboration between all of our community builders (staff) in the Communications and Engagement Office at the City of Gainesville, including, Shelby Taylor (Communications Director), Laura Rawson (Creative Services Supervisor), Raul Merlo (Broadcast & Digital Media Producer, Senior) and others.
In order to deliver important public service communications during the pandemic and provide helpful tips, we developed a series of social media graphics to communicate our messaging. These messages were shared on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to a combined audience of over 61,000 users. These graphics were created using Adobe Illustrator.
These yard signs were designed using Adobe Illustrator, and printed on 18”x 24” corrugated plastic. We printed, distributed and displayed signage all around the city. These signs were used as a tool for the purpose of delivering important public service communications to remind residents to stay home whenever possible during the county’s “stay at home” ordinance to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
With the schools being shut down and utilizing remote learning during the pandemic, we wanted to create something fun for kids and teenagers to be able to bring positivity as well as increase awareness of the stay-at-home order and brand awareness for our “Captain Quarantine” campaign and messaging. We created a black and white outline of our “Captain Quarantine character, along with a line for “Name” “Date” and “Age” using Adobe Illustrator. We uploaded a PDF of the page to our website, for parents to be able to print at home and give to their kids to color. For judging, we split up entrees in groups of age ranges consisting of: ages 4 and under, 5-7, 8-10, 11-14, and 15 and up. All of the photos were uploaded online into a form for voting for a winner in each age group. We had a total of 10 judges that were selected within several different departments within the City of Gainesville, and we were able to choose a winner for each age group. Using the winners’ photos, we created a “Coloring Contest Winners” poster utilizing Adobe Illustrator that was then shared on social media to congratulate the winners who received some City of Gainesville branded mugs, pens, and reusable bags.
One of the main thoroughfares in Gainesville is FL-121 (34th Street) with an average of 41,500 vehicles per day. There is a public wall facing traffic that is legal to paint on. We utilized this space to deliver important public service communications during the pandemic, by painting a Captain Quarantine mural to remind drivers, pedestrians and people using public transit to stay home during the stay-at-home order, unless they are essential workers or performing essential tasks. The wall mural design and layout was created using Adobe Illustrator. The mural design was then mocked up in Photoshop with a one inch by one inch grid, which translated to a one foot by one foot grid on the actual wall. The total size of the mural was 9' x 24'.
What's a superhero without an origin story? We created cartoon episodes to provide our Captain Quarantine superhero character with a unique origin story. These cartoons were used as an entertaining public communication tool to bring awareness to our Captain Quarantine campaign, and remind people to wash their hands, avoid touching their face, social distance and avoid gathering in groups of 10 or more according to CDC guidelines. The graphics and vector files were created in Adobe Illustrator and then animated using Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro.
