About us
Cloud Chamber Studios is a sole trading enterprise founded by award-winning animator Lana Woolford in January 2020.
Meet the founder
Dr Lana Woolford
Studio Director
I started to take commissions as a graphic designer in 2012 and have worked on creative projects alongside full time work and education ever since.
During my PhD in Optical Medical Imaging at the University of Edinburgh, I decided that static images were not enough - animation is the best and most accessible way to tell the story of complex science to a wide audience.
I taught myself basic animation principles during my doctorate, gaining a placement with scientific illustrators Vivid Biology Ltd in 2018. My debut animation, 'Drosophila: Lord of the Flies', went on to win the Bristol Science Film Festival in the professional category.
From then on I decided that although I loved 'being at the bench' as an active researcher, my skills would best serve the scientific community and wider public through visual storytelling.
After working on chemistry and immune system commissions while finishing up my research, I set about creating this start-up. From January 2019 until April 2023 it lived alongside my other, full-time roles in Public Engagement and Public Involvement at the University of Edinburgh. I took the studio full time in May 2023.
This expertise allows me to offer you a balance of broad and specialised scientific understanding, a passion for patient-centred storytelling, and the skills to make research beautiful.
After helping to deliver a feature-length animated series on COVID-19 and the immune system's memory in 2020, reproductive health videos for the clinic in 2021, a variety of data- and commercial-led projects in 2022, and local and global health resources in 2023, the Studio goes from strength to strength. I hope you enjoy our work!
Some of our earliest work
Animation is the best and most accessible way to tell the story of complex science to a wide audience.
Lana Woolford
Founder
Our Vision
Our vision is to help scientists and non-scientists tell their experiences of science and medicine by equipping them with the right language, knowledge and visual tools.
We recognise that interactions between researchers and the public produce mutual benefit. Good quality visual storytelling tools and resources provide a solid foundation for better conversations about research.
Our Mission
Our mission is to produce visual communication aids for science - both animated and static - that are scientifically accurate and visually beautiful.
Our approach is to engage fully with the scientific or medical foundations of a project using published literature and close collaborations with researchers, creating work with substance as well as style.
Accurate
Fully engaged
Accessible
Concise
Audience-led
Beautiful
