Feedback

Challenge

In 2020, during peak remote work and Zoom fatigue, Invitae—a leader in medical genetics—needed to train new hires on how to give and receive feedback. The original plan? A 7-minute explainer video with a founder on camera.

But feedback is not just instruction. It is identity, ego, fear, and vulnerability. And a talking head wouldn't cut it.

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Getting it right was crucial to the company culture, healthy communication between the teams, and the well-being of each individual employee.

Solution

I proposed a different approach: an emotionally resonant animated short that used metaphor, visual tension, and performance art references to model psychological safety—not just talk about it.

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Visual concepts included:

• A bow and arrow stretched between two figures → shared emotional stakes
• A cracking pedestal → identity under pressure
• A hair-shaped fortress → persona as protection
• A glowing stage-lit thumbs-up → critique of performative praise

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My goal was to make people pay attention and understand the importance of the message. I achieved this through the use of metaphors and shaping animation.

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“It takes a high degree of trust and psychological safety to provide honest feedback. It can also be very difficult to be on the receiving end of radical honesty.”

“Being open and honest about what’s not working for us can feel dangerous.”

“Will our teammates still like us when we open up about what we feel they should be doing better? Will we face retaliation?”

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“At the same time, hearing about our own shortcomings can really sting. It’s easy to get defensive, try to shift the blame elsewhere, and start to feel like a complete failure.”

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I led the project end-to-end:

• Script adaptation for visual storytelling
• Art direction and character design
• Team leadership across animation, illustration, editing, sound, and color
• Full remote pipeline management across time zones

Tone: striking, emotionally intelligent, quietly disarming. Think: Marina Abramović meets Dalí’s Destino—but in service of workplace trust.

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“All of us are, to a greater or lesser extent, constantly contending with our own egos, our sense of self-worth.”

“Most of us will instinctively go to great lengths to protect our self-image.”

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“Before providing feedback, I should try to ask myself a few questions. What’s going on for me here? Am I reacting to what’s actually happening, or am I in my head, in my own ego?”