Animated illustration of a woman with her arms crossed protectively across her chest, surrounded by dark disembodied hands grasping at her body, on a teal background

Intimate partner violence resources for Canadian Veterans and their Families

English and French animations and illustrated booklets,
co-designed with a Veteran advisory committee

Overview

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is significantly more common in military and Veteran communities than in the general population. The same cultural values that define military identity such as loyalty, resilience, obedience to authority can make it harder for Veterans to recognize abuse or seek help. Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families is a Canadian national nonprofit advancing mental health and wellness for Canadian Armed Forces members, Veterans, and their families.

We collaborated with the Atlas Institute to design a suite of educational resources for their IPV Knowledge Hub. Built with and for the Veteran community, these tools are designed to help Veterans and their Families identify IPV without stigma, understand what they are experiencing, and feel empowered to seek out support.

I loved collaborating with Anatomii on the IPV resources. That experience was a very meaningful one professionally, and I often think how amazing the team was at effective and authentic co-design. Anatomii set a standard that I carry with me to date re: meaningful collaboration on an interdisciplinary team, including folks with lived expertise and external vendors.

Catherine Virelli, MHSc
Knowledge Mobilization Specialist, Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families
(now Program Coordinator, SickKids)

Cover of a patient education guide for veteran families showing an illustrated landscape with a winding road, sunrise, and milestone markers representing a path forward
Interior spread from a patient education guide showing a checklist of warning signs of abuse organized by category, with supporting illustrations and plain language descriptions
Cover of a patient education guide for veteran families showing a silhouette of a child beside an illuminated dollhouse
Interior spread from a patient education guide showing illustrated sections with practical tips for supporting children exposed to intimate partner violence

Approach

Participatory design

We facilitated design sessions with a Veteran advisory committee. Their input shaped how we represented military culture accurately and illustrated the sensitive topic without being triggering. Learn more about our participatory design approach.

Health literacy

Each animation uses distinct title cards to separate scenes and chunk information into digestible segments. Key terms appear on screen timed to narration, so viewers process one concept at a time. In the illustrated guides, we used a consistent layout with a clear visual hierarchy to optimize navigation and readability. Besides illustrations, we also used callout boxes and pull quotes to help space out the text-heavy content.

Trauma-informed

We included content warnings, predictable layouts, calm colour palettes (blues, greens, neutrals) and no explicit imagery. To represent themes of violence, we used visual metaphors and silhouettes: a faceless figure for the abuser, disembodied eyes for stalking, shadow hands for sexual violence.

Animation still of a woman looking at her phone while a dark shadowy figure looms behind her, representing coercive control in an intimate partner relationship
Animation still depicting stalking using visual metaphor, from the IPV educational video series

Cultural responsiveness

We showed different ages, ethnicities, body types, and partnerships (e.g. gay, interracial). We researched Canadian CADPAT uniforms, medals, rank, and salutes to illustrate them correctly.

Animated GIF of a diverse group of veterans moving from fearful, closed body postures to open, empowered stances, representing recovery from intimate partner violence
Two men looking together at a display of military service medals and certificates on a wall

Interested in our approach?
See our design principles and how we partner to design patient education resources.

Deliverables

We created English and French resources, including:

  • 2 educational animations (video files)

  • 3 illustrated resources (PDFs)

  • Closed captions (.srt files)

  • Descriptive transcripts (.md files)

  • Social media stills (PNGs)

Next

Mental health animation series for youth