Creating the Red Nose Day 2026 Campaign Identity
Visual Identity
Branding
Campaign
Another year, another Red Nose Day. But how do we make it different, how do we make it stand out, how do we make a campaign that can help raise millions for people who need our help?
The answer might be right at the very end of our noses.
The Challenge
Photography @dannynorthphoto
The Solution
We created an identity and campaign that takes its lead from the famous Red Noses themselves.
This year the noses are fully customisable, which puts the power of Red Nose Day into the hands of the Great British Public allowing them to bring their humour and personality to life as we as a nation Take Ourselves Funny For Money.
Our magic formula for the campaign would be to blend that human touch together with the Comic Relief sense of humour and allow us Brits to do what we do best and take the piss out of ourselves.
Campaign DNA
Our design system DNA focuses on those 2 magic ingredients humanity and humour aiming to bring them into every part of the campaign.
We did this through drawn elements, scribbles, fun characterful typography all coupled with photography that made you smile, doodles that brought the noses to life and bold punchy colours that shout FUN.
Shout out to Danny North and Sam Riley who are the photographers on the campaign.
The FUNometer
As much as Red Nose Day is all about having fun, the real reason why it exists is to raise money for those less fortunate than ourselves.
The campaign needed to be able to handle the two sides of Red Nose Day, the Comic and the Relief, that was when the FUNometer was created, a guide that allowed us to tread the line between the two whilst keeping the campaign under one unified look and feel.
Making the Noses
One of the funest parts of this project has to be sitting down with the Comic Relief creative team and spending some quality time just doodling away on the noses, to get them photoshoot ready for the campaign.
Photography @samrileyphotography
Bringing the Identity to Life
The campaign identity and then the design system would need to work really hard across everything that will be needed for the Red Nose Day campaign 2026, from digital ads, Amazon stores, printed material and even europes largest billboard screens. But by having a strong DNA, a consistency on execution and enough room to have some fun. It’s an identity that keeps on giving.
Making the identity move
Integral to all of our identities whether they are campaign or brand is movement. With this project we kept the human touch going with hand animated doodles coupled with a huge library of mogrts to make life easier for the whole Happy Ending and Comic Relief creative teams when campaign fulfilment was in full swing.
“I’ve found working with Happy Ending an absolute pleasure. From the outset they’ve felt like a true extension of my team rather than an external agency. Their open communication and direct access to the creatives has been a real game-changer, allowing ideas to move quickly and evolve collaboratively. The entire team have embraced the Comic Relief brand and supported my vision at every stage. They’re the kind of collaborators every internal team hopes for, strategic, responsive, and deeply invested in supporting our work.
Working together has been a brilliant example of what happens when strong creative ambition meets a team that knows how to turn big ideas into powerful work. I've truly valued and continue to value their on-going collaboration, creative counsel, support, and expertise.
Jacqui Black, Senior Creative Lead, Comic Relief
