Healthier lunchbox campaign with Kung Fu Panda

Fewer than 2 in 100 school lunchboxes were meeting nutritional standards. Working with Veg Power and DreamWorks Animation, I designed a Kung Fu Panda-themed guide and planner to help parents pack healthier lunches. The resources were tested across 20 UK schools with 2,000 children.

Client

Veg Power and Dreamworks' Kung Fu Panda

Role

Design & Illustration

Year

2022

The Brief

Veg Power is a not-for-profit alliance working to increase vegetable consumption among UK children. Their research revealed a stark problem: fewer than 2 in every 100 packed lunches in English primary schools met nutritional standards, and only 1 in 5 contained any vegetables or salad at all. With the cost-of-living crisis pushing lunchbox staples up by 70% over 18 months, families needed support that was practical and affordable. Crucially, it also had to be something children would actually engage with.

The brief was to create resources that would help parents pack healthier lunchboxes while getting children excited about the contents. The materials needed to work in schools and homes, balancing practical nutritional guidance with fun activities.

Approach

Working with DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight characters, I developed a visual system that framed healthy eating as an adventure. The design had to appeal to primary school children (ages 5–11) while giving parents clear, actionable guidance.

Design considerations

Character placement that supports the nutritional content

Print-optimised for home and school use (A4/A3)

Visual hierarchy that makes guidance scannable at a glance

Adaptable across print (guides, posters) and digital (social, web)

Deliverables

Lunchbox Guide

Illustrated wall chart showing the five food groups

Weekly Planner

Planning sheet for parents and children to use together

Icon System

Custom food group icons for consistent visual language

Social Assets

Campaign graphics for Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter

Web Graphics

Landing page assets and downloadable PDFs

Outcome

The campaign assets were well received by both parents and educators, supporting healthier lunchbox habits through tools that were easy to understand, engaging to use, and practical in everyday settings.

The resources were tested with 2,000 children across 20 primary schools in Scotland, Northern Ireland and England in early 2023.

74%

of children thought the Lunch of Legends was fun to engage with

68%

of parents said it helped their children make healthier changes

69%

said it would make a lasting improvement to lunchbox contents

"The artwork was very appealing and helped get my son on board, allowing me to make changes that I had wanted to introduce for some time."

Parent
Evaluation survey

"I struggled to get my child to eat healthy options but when she brought this home, she will only eat the items on the chart now."

Parent
Evaluation survey

"We're very pleased with the work Jon has done for us. Excellent quality design, reliable and a pleasure to work with. We look forward to working with him again. Highly recommended."

Dan Parker
Chief Executive at Veg Power
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