Our collaborative module allowed CSAD students across multiple subject areas to come together and create outcomes that displayed the strengths of multiple fields. As graphic communicators, we were paired with illustrators to create several visual outcomes across a few weeks that would be part of a larger live protest, protesting for or against something that we, as a group of students, felt strongly about.
Within our group of five, we decided to tackle the issue of child neglect, as it was something we agreed was still a problem in today’s society and was worth protesting.
Our first task within the collaborative design process was to identify a target audience for our protest. Our goal with this campaign was to raise awareness of child neglect and help people to recognise the signs, and even encourage children affected by neglect to speak out to someone they trust. With this in mind, we decided to target both adults (with a focus on parents and teachers) and children, and we knew we had to create visual outcomes that would be suitable for these people.
Following the establishment of our target audience, our group then moved onto researching some statistics around child abuse and neglect, such as how many children are affected by it, where it occurs and what constitutes neglect – all important information that we would need to relay to our target audience if we are to truly make an impact.
These statistics, sourced from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)’s website, gave us an immediate insight into the alarming facts of child neglect. These statistics would go on to underpin the rest of our protest, as well as give us some initial ideas of some strong visual metaphors and info-graphics we could potentially use within our outcomes.
At this early stage, I decided to take a look at existing campaigns to get an idea of the visual language and techniques used to raise awareness of child neglect. I examined some poster adverts used in an annual campaign run by Family Centre that advocates for the protection of children against neglect. Below are three adverts for the campaign that displays their effective use of visual language.
These images are incredibly moving and powerful through their simple visual communication of innocence – the use of child actors and child-like writing to tell a short yet alarming story that definitely punches you in the gut. The visual hierarchy is incredibly effective too, immediately drawing the eye to the narrative the children are telling then guiding the viewer over to the important information regarding neglect, including the numbers to call to report and support children affected by neglect, as well as a bold call to action through three short, simple sentences. It’s clear that these type of poster adverts work well to captivate and move a person into taking some action, so this medium is a strong contender for what our group could create for our own outcomes.
With our protest established, we will be moving onto doing some further research into our topic. I aim to examine and deconstruct some posters further as well as take a look at some visual metaphors which will prove incredibly valuable within later outcomes.
Sources:
Rise in child neglect reports to police by NSPCC Wales: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-41015905
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/child-abuse-and-neglect/neglect/
http://bernews.com/2016/09/neglect-is-abuse-see-it-stop-it-campaign/
BA (Hons) Graphic Communication - Journal 