The archive · Product Ideas · Product decision · 2025–2026
Aardman cartoons hold toddlers' focus in autism screening — ADC 105 Best of Pharma
EarliTec's autism eye-tracking test needs 15 min of toddler focus; Area 23 and Aardman built an animated playlist that keeps kids engaged.
EarliTec Diagnostics
What it had to solve
EarliTec's FDA-cleared EarliPoint device uses eye-tracking to evaluate autism in toddlers, but reliable data requires roughly 15 minutes of sustained attention — fragile in real clinics. Area 23 was asked to make the diagnostic experience work for a toddler's attention span.
How it works
Autism affects 1 in 36 children in the US, yet many families wait until age 4–5 for a diagnosis, past the developmental window where intervention helps most. EarliTec's FDA-cleared EarliPoint tablet uses eye-tracking to deliver objective, earlier evaluations — but a session needs about 15 minutes of sustained toddler attention, which real clinics rarely get.
Area 23 (IPG Health) and Aardman flipped the constraint: an AI trained on gaze data from hundreds of clinical sessions identified the visual traits that hold toddler attention — multicharacter interaction, rich nonverbal social cues, engaging backgrounds and diverse focus — then used them to curate a fixed animated playlist engineered for clinical-grade engagement. The EarliShow became the default interface layer of the EarliPoint device.
The work is now integrated across all EarliPoint devices, improving cooperation, data quality and access to early screening. In 2026 it won the ADC 105th Annual Best of Discipline in Pharma plus two Gold Cubes, and One Show 2026 Gold for Pharma: Creative Use of Data and Bronze for Pharma: Branded Content.
Why it lands
- It treated the child's attention span as the design problem: entertainment engineered from clinical gaze data, so the interface and the measurement share one purpose.
- Data replaced guesswork about what kids like: AI mined hundreds of real clinical sessions instead of asking parents or animators what toddlers find engaging.
- It improved the diagnostic instrument itself, not just its marketing — better engagement means higher-quality eye-tracking data, earlier screening and broader access for families.
- The partnership was unusual on purpose: a pharma agency, a diagnostics company and a stop-motion studio collaborating on a medical device's UX.
What it did
The EarliShow is now integrated across all EarliPoint devices, improving toddler cooperation, data quality and access to early screening. It won ADC's 105th Annual Best of Discipline in Pharma plus two Gold Cubes, and One Show 2026 Gold for Pharma: Creative Use of Data plus Bronze for Pharma: Branded Content.
What you can take
Don't make users adapt to the tool — rebuild the tool around how they naturally pay attention: entertainment, curated by data, became the diagnostic interface.
Since then
By mid-2026 The EarliShow was the default experience across EarliPoint devices, and the work took ADC's 105th Annual Best of Discipline in Pharma plus two Gold Cubes, plus One Show 2026 Gold for Pharma: Creative Use of Data and Bronze for Pharma: Branded Content. EarliTec keeps framing the device as a path to earlier, more equitable autism diagnosis — an evaluation can be completed within an existing appointment and the company expects shorter waitlists — with the Aardman partnership remaining a standing part of the product rather than a one-off campaign.
Sources
- The EarliShow — D&AD Awards Archive
- EarliPoint: The EarliShow — Ads of the World
- EarliPoint Evaluation for Autism Spectrum Disorder Authorized by FDA
- Washington Square Films Wins Big at The ACD Awards and The One Show
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