Through Sliding Doors – Rosie’s Place

Communicating the complex realities young people face around bullying, exploitation, peer pressure, and online harm is a significant challenge for youth workers and educators. Educational formats like print resources and classroom materials often fail to resonate with audiences shaped by social media, gaming, and digital-first experiences. Rosie's Place needed a resource that could cut through without feeling clinical or patronising.Distil Immersive was tasked with translating sensitive, lived experiences into a format that feels at home on platforms young people engage with, balancing accessibility and literacy with a playful, approachable design language, described by Rosie's Place as "impactful and unforgettable."

Distil reimagined the graphic novel for screen, tackling a fundamental challenge: frame placement carries narrative intent in print, but rigid grids break down across screens. The team developed a design system where frames and speech bubbles adapt across screen sizes while preserving the story flow. Animated typography and painterly transitions expand the format. Elizabeth Botté's illustrations, brought to life in 3D for the web, capture the emotional experiences of young people across intimate comic frames and full-screen animated vignettes. Martin Peralta's sound design, recorded on the Sydney train network, was a deliberate choice ensuring young Australian audiences recognise the world.

Through Sliding Doors shows design serving social good, translating complex, sensitive subject matter into an experience that resonates with young audiences. Reaching 2000 users and accumulating over 65 hours of engagement in its first three months, the project has captured attention beyond its initial audience. Women's Health NSW has shared it across health centres statewide, and other not-for-profits are exploring similar approaches for their communities. The Rosie's Place team described it as "a deeply human experience that honours the voices of these young people," a sentiment echoed at a NSW Department of Communities and Justice presentation met with enthusiastic acclaim.

Through Sliding Doors is built around five chapters, each centring a different character whose stories intersect across a single train journey. Co-designed with young people, Rosie's Place, and illustrator Elizabeth Botté, every story is shaped by lived experience. Readers can explore in any order, recognising that different young people will connect with different characters.A design system was developed around a distinct spot colour for each chapter, drawn from Botté's illustrations and paired with bold, playful animated typography that feels at home with young audiences.Botté's illustrations span intimate comic frames and full-screen animated vignettes, brought to life via a custom pipeline that translates her Photoshop files into a 3D engine, faithfully reproducing her work across all device display sizes, and brought further to life with transitions and motion by Distil.Sound design by Martin Peralta draws on original recordings from the Sydney train network. Music and texture shift with the emotional register of each scene, from moments of tension to quieter, reflective flashbacks.UX considerations for a potentially vulnerable audience include content warnings, a safe exit button, and a facilitators guide connecting educators and social workers to the themes explored throughout.