Delighted by Russian public broadcaster VGTRK's invitation to design the identity for Bibigon (their first children's channel), we were nonetheless mindful of an old and cautionary Russian proverb: "Small children give you a headache - big children a heartache." And with a target audience of 4 to 17 year olds, our challenge certainly embraced both the small and the big parts of the proverbial equation. But thankfully that's where all similarity ended.

In fact, the project went incredibly smoothly. The key to this was a great relationship with a decisive and highly responsive client that made light of the respective differences in language, script and broadcast culture. Not to mention the pressure that being in such a public spotlight (the channel was the brainchild of Russian President Vladimir Putin) would put on the main decision makers.

Establishing the channel proposition of 'a world of discovery for hungry minds' the aim was to give viewers insight into a 'wider world', by making learning an enriching and entertaining experience. From here we developed two individual but complementary creative routes: 'Knowledge Plus' - a range of intriguing factual discoveries from everyday life; and 'Factually Fun' - a variety of larger than life animations which contain a fascinating and possibly unknown fact.

Our Creative Director Ian Wormleighton and Designer Amy Johnson shot the eight live action sequences initially commissioned for 'Knowledge Plus', whilst the fifteen 'Factually Fun' IDs were developed in a happy collaboration with animation company Trunk.

Designer Claire Powell enhanced both creative routes with a lively and engaging on-screen presentation system (in Cyrillic script) to provide consistent navigation for the channel's viewers.

Far from the heartache or headache the old proverb suggested, we're inclined to leave the last word on this project to a certain Dostoevsky: "The soul is healed by being with children."