visual Journal of
communication in medicine
Saving Lives through visual health communication: A multidisciplinary team approach Adrian Wressell1,2, Heidi Twaites1,2, Stephen Taylor2,3, Dan Hartland2 and Theo Gove-Humphries1,2 1
Medical Illustration Department, Heart of England NHS foundation Trust, 2 Saving Lives Charity, 3Birmingham Heartlands HIV Service Corresponding Author: Adrian Wressell Email: [email protected]
Introduction: Saving Lives is a public health awareness charity that aims to educate the UK public about HIV and encourage testing for the virus. In May 2011 Saving Lives contacted the Medical Illustration department at Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust to discuss the idea of working together to develop a national HIV awareness campaign. Methods: A number of local sporting celebrities were invited to a studio photography session. All the sports stars and celebrities were photographed on a Mamiya 645 AFDII camera, with PhaseOne P30 ⴙ digital back, using prime 35mm, 55mm and 80mm lenses. During the photography sessions, the team’s film maker captured video footage of the subjects being photographed. Once the final avengers’ graphical composition had been created, it was applied to the posters, billboards and public transport signs for the campaign. Results: In the three-month period following the campaign launch, survey research was carried out, the initial data being recorded by a questionnaire which was provided to each of the 1800 patients attending the Heartlands Hospital sexual health clinic for HIV testing. Conclusion: Following the launch of the initial campaign, the Saving Lives team continues to produce material to assist in the promotion of the charity and its message. Its success has led to it becoming an on-going long-term project, and to date the team have photographed and filmed 33 sporting stars and visited numerous sporting institutes.
Introduction Saving Lives is a public health awareness charity with an ambitious but simple aim: to educate people about the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), to encourage them to get tested and in doing so reduce the rate of undiagnosed HIV nationwide. HIV was discovered in the mid 1980s and belongs to a group of viruses called ‘retroviruses’. HIV attacks the immune system, and gradually causes damage. This can mean that a person infected with HIV is at risk of developing serious infections and cancers that a healthy immune system can fight off. When a person develops certain infections and cancers, they are said to have developed AIDS. HIV is present in blood, genital fluids and breast milk. The main ways in which HIV can be passed on to someone else are during unprotected sexual intercourse, by sharing equipment used for intravenous injecting, and from a mother to her baby during pregnancy, childbirth or through breastfeeding. There are ways of preventing HIV infection in all of these situations.1 Saving Lives was established in 2010 at the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust in Birmingham, England. Its founders are Medical Director Dr Steve Taylor, a Consultant Physician in HIV and Sexual Health and Dan Hartland Director of Operations. Its emergence was in response to a clear local issue: there was no agreed procedure for identifying and referring patients whose GP thought they might need an HIV test. People unaware that they are living with HIV will become progressively more
81
vis omual m Jou rna lo
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL
me u dic
ill, and late diagnosis is associated with higher mortality and numerous other serious complications.2 The aims of the Saving Lives charity are: • • • • •
To To To To To
increase awareness increase testing reduce late diagnosis reduce transmission reduce stigma
Background to the project In May 2011 Saving Lives contacted the Medical Illustration department at Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust to discuss the idea of working together to develop a national HIV awareness campaign. Its aim would be to encourage the public to think differently about HIV. It would expose the myths and tackle the common prejudices and stigmas associated with the infection and attached to the persecution of those affected. The brief for the campaign’s branding and materials was clear: to produce an attractive, inspiring and accessible brand message, which would inspire and enable the general public to understand HIV differently. The campaign’s branded materials were to be distributed and exhibited in traditional and non-traditional settings alike, such as GP surgeries, hospital public areas, public billboards, large public transport vehicles and even football stadiums and sports centres. The campaign was also to be made available on the digital platform, therefore the imagery and designs produced also needed to be suitable for social media sharing and website illustration, for example. The assembled team comprised of members of the Saving Lives charity and staff from the Medical Illustration department, namely experienced clinical photographer Adrian Wressell, graphic designer Heidi Twaites and filmmaker Theo Gove Humphries, who from that point were known collectively as the ‘Saving Lives Media Team’. A number of ideas were generated during team meetings which immediately decided that the campaign should aim to steer away from the traditional colours, typefaces, vocabulary and style of previous public health campaigns and encourage a fresh, contemporary, mass-media approach that would associate HIV with positive images, messages and designs. The team looked back to earlier HIV campaigns. Early campaign
82
Figure 1. L0052063. A HIV poster produced in the West Midlands. Wellcome Library, London.
messages were often aimed at homosexual men in terms of the language and images used (Figures 1–3). It was not unusual to see HIV posters showing male homosexual couples and using connotations of sex and eroticism to capture the attention of the intended audience (Figures 4 & 5). As the message became more widely targeted, campaigns did change, losing however the strength of message by taking a gentler approach (Figures 6 & 7). The Saving Lives Media Team also discussed the famous 1986 UK TV advertisement which showed a tombstone being engraved to reveal the words – “Aids, Don’t die of ignorance” with the voice of actor John Hurt telling the viewer “It is a deadly disease and there is no known cure”. Much as this was a powerful and incredibly successful campaign the team collectively agreed to avoid negative connotations, bleak and terrifying wording and reference to homosexuality or sexual intercourse, the audience for this campaign was the general
Figure 2. L0052093. An advertisement for safe sex by the Health Education Authority for the National AIDs Helpline. Wellcome Library, London.
vis omual m Jou rna lo
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL
me u dic
Figure 3. L0052399. A campaign promoting safe sex from the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Wellcome Library, London.
Figure 4. L0052697. An advertisement for safe sex from the AIDs council of New South Wales, Australia. Wellcome Library, London.
public and so the imagery had to engage widely. Following on from these discussions and subsequent meetings, the ‘Saving lives Media Team’ was adamant that it should leave behind the paternalistic tones of the previous HIV campaigns in look, feel and content, and approach the brief with a contemporary fresh new attitude towards HIV. With a view to reach out to a new, wide and varied audience, local celebrities from the world of sport were approached to support the charity and its aims. Saving Lives seeks to alter the manner in which the public conceives HIV and the team strongly agreed that the use of celebrities would be an excellent means of engaging the public to take notice of Saving Lives literature, to associate positive role models with the campaign, and to attract the interest of mainstream news and entertainment outlets which might otherwise be less interested in carrying the Saving Lives message.
members, the team photographer produced a repeatable formula so that each image would be photographed in the same standardised way. Inspiration for the fresh contemporary style was taken from video documenting Aston Villa football players who were being photographed to promote the new team kit. The photographic identity for the campaign was established and approved by the whole team. Saving Lives although an international charity, was passionate about raising awareness in a local area; for this reason, many of the sports stars photographed for the campaign were from the West Midlands. They were depicted as a collective strong force providing a powerful message. This inspired the macho ‘Avengers’ superhero film style presentation (Figure 8). Planning for the ‘Avenger’s line up’ was essential to determine how and where our subjects would be placed within the final group graphical composition, how they would stand what they should wear. The images were captured via a digital camera tethered through a Mac computer to a large screen on the studio wall. This enabled the Saving Lives directors and media team (Figure 9) to discuss and critique elements of the images being taken while the sports stars were still present. All the sports stars and celebrities were photographed on a
Methods Photography A number of local sporting celebrities were invited to a studio photography session. After initial testing using Medical Illustration team
83
vis omual m Jou rna lo
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL
me u dic
Figure 5. L0052458. A campaign for HIV testing in Virginia, US. Wellcome Library, London.
Figure 6. L0052000. The Birmingham Body Positive poster campaign, advertising local services (including testing) for people with AIDs. Wellcome Library, London.
84
Figure 7. L0052015. A poster from the Body Positive AIDs campaign targeted at young people in London. Wellcome Library, London.
Mamiya 645 AFDII camera, with PhaseOne P30 ⫹ digital back, using prime 35mm, 55mm and 80mm lenses. All the photos were taken at 200 ISO, 125/s at f8–16, dependent on the composition and lighting used. The majority of the images were captured using a standard 4-light set-up, a keylight softbox and a fill flash softbox, both 45 degrees in front of the model, and two flash heads pointing towards the model from behind, again at a 45-degree angle using barn doors to direct the light falling on the model and eliminate the possibility of lens flare in the camera. (Figure 10). Over the following months a number of sporting celebrities visited the studio. These included Professional footballers (Figure 11 &12) Darren Bent, Karen Carney and Ron Vlaar and Olympic Athletes such as Bronze medal winning hockey player Sally Walton (Figure 13), boxer Kal Yafai (Figure 14) and middle distance runner Hannah England. Further into the campaign more athletes, footballers, water polo players such as Vicki Hawkins (Figures 15–18) and American footballers were inspired to be photographed for the campaign and voluntarily approached the team based on the strength of the materials being produced, and by word of mouth from the sports stars who had previously been a part of the campaign.
vis omual m Jou rna lo
me u dic
Video
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL
During the photography sessions, the team’s film maker captured video footage of the subjects being photographed. This provided some moving portraits and cut-away shots of the action. The additional visuals were used in the final edit to coincide with separate interview footage of the sports men and women talking to camera about the charity and its aims. A Canon 7D with a 50mm f.1.4 lens was used for filming in the studio, as this is an excellent combination to shoot with in low light situations. Having a film-maker work with the photographer during the studio sessions enabled a synchronised multi-media approach to establishing the campaign brand. The videos can be found at (link in online version) https://www.youtube.com/user/HIVsavinglives
Graphic work Once the photography had taken place, the images were passed onto the Saving Lives team graphic designer. During initial team discussions regarding the design, there was a strong desire for the new branding to be timeless, therefore it was
Figure 8. The ‘Avenger’s’ line-up from the Saving Lives Campaign.
Figure 9. Members of the Saving Lives Media Team. Top L-R Adrian Wressell (Photographer) , Dr Steve Taylor (Director of Saving Lives UK) Jack Butland and Nathan Redmond (footballers) and Theo Gove-Humphries (Video). Bottom, Heidi Twaites (Graphics).
important that the design style and concept chosen could be adapted and easily applied to different marketing tools. The main idea of the brand was to create a clear and accessible message conveying the charity’s aims and purpose. Making the leading colour red would create impact and grab attention. The block-form font is easy to read quickly but also facilitates the rapid selection of key words in the slogan. The colour palette uses black to contrast the red, and although black is a challenging colour to use and problematic in print form, the team decided it was right and fitted in with the overall style and the growing concept. Using a strong typeface and bold colours helped all the elements come together and when placed on signage in busy areas it was felt they would be an instant draw and the message would be spread widely within the public domain (Figure 19). The main content areas on the posters were kept in neat blocks to enable easy re-location to a different layout if required without diluting the brand in any way (Figure 20). Once the final avengers’ graphical composition had been created, it was applied to the posters, billboards and public transport signs for the campaign (Figure 21 &22).
85
vis omual m Jou rna lo
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL
me u dic
Figure 10. Diagram of the studio layout. Created using lightingdiagrams.com.
Results
86
In December 2012 the poster and media campaign went live, costing in excess of £8,000 to produce. However, the immediate success was impressive, featuring on local
news channels as well as local and national radio stations. In the three-month period following the campaign launch, survey research was carried out, the initial data being recorded by a questionnaire which was provided
Figure 11. Saving Lives studio portrait of Karen Carney, Footballer.
Figure 12. Saving Lives studio portrait of Darren Bent, Footballer.
vis omual m Jou rna lo
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL
me u dic
Figure 13. Team GB Bronze medal winning hockey player Sally Walton. Figure 14. Team GB boxer Kal Yafai.
to each of the 1800 patients attending the Heartlands Hospital sexual health clinic for HIV testing. The survey reported that 28% of patients attending were in the 21–25 age group, with 14% in the 16–20 age group.
The ethnicity breakdown was White 69%, Black 16%, Asian 13% and 1% Other. The top five reasons cited for attending the clinic were as follows:
Figure 15. Saving Lives studio portrait of Vicki Hawkins, GB Water Polo Player.
Figure 16. Saving Lives pool shoot of Vicki Hawkins, GB Water Polo Player.
87
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Figure 17. Behind the scenes of the Saving Lives studio portrait of Vicki Hawkins, GB Water Polo Player.
Figure 18. Behind the scenes of the Saving Lives pool shoot of Vicki Hawkins, GB Water Polo Player.
Word of mouth 17% Sexual Health Website 16% GP 13 % Avengers Bus Campaign 12% Search Engine 7% The overall survey reported 16% of all patients attending clinic for HIV tests cited the Saving Lives campaign as a reason for reporting to the clinic. 39% had experienced no other exposure to sexual health messaging other than the Saving Lives campaign. 3 The Saving Lives website www. savinglivesuk.co.uk surpassed its target for daily visits, unique users from the inception of the charity website in 2011 was 140 growing to 697 unique users following the initial launch. The final figures for the three month period further exceeded the target as the user group grew to 1200. Furthermore the Saving Lives twitter feed @SavingLivesUK had grown to more than 1400 followers. The images featuring the footballer Darren Bent were re-tweeted, enabling the photography, designs and videos produced by the team to reach an audience in excess of 0.5 million of his twitter followers.
on to be awarded ‘Silver’ at the 2013 Institute of Medical Illustrators annual awards. “I’m proud to say we have created a look and feel which communicates valid and clinically-approved health messaging in a new and accessible way”, “We are primarily an awareness-raising campaign, and therefore our materials are in many ways the very face of the charity.”
Discussion Celebrity advocates, particularly from the football and sporting worlds, were key elements to the materials, and the campaign was built around this vision of strength, health and contemporary relevance. The award-winning professionalism of the materials produced helped persuade these sport stars, and the clubs to which they belong, to endorse an HIV testing campaign for the first time in the UK, a significant testament to the quality and freshness of the brand. The images and artwork produced went
88
Figure 19. Saving Lives campaign leaflet.
vis omual m Jou rna lo
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL
me u dic
Figure 20. Series of Saving Lives campaign posters showing standard template.
Medical Director Dr Steve Taylor, a Consultant Physician in HIV and Sexual Health. “The team’s IMI silver award was richly deserved. They responded to a difficult brief and exceeded our expectations. The charity’s graphics, imagery and branding design have been absolutely central to Saving Lives – and to its success.” Dan Hartland Director of Operations at Saving Lives.
Conclusion
Its success has led to it becoming an ongoing long-term project, and to date the team have photographed and filmed 33 sporting stars and visited numerous sporting institutes. In the wake of this success, the Saving Lives brand has become visible nationwide, resulting in campaigns in the North-East, North-West, Midlands, London and South-West.
Acknowledgements
Following the launch of the initial campaign, the Saving Lives team continues to produce material to assist in the promotion of the charity and its message.
Aston Villa FC - Villa Park and Bodymore Heath Training Complex Birmingham City FC - St Andrews and Wast Hills Training ground Coventry City FC - Ricoh Arena
Figure 21. Saving Lives public transport campaign.
Figure 22. Saving Lives Bus stop artwork. Broad Street Birmingham, UK.
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Wolverhampton Wanderers FC - Sir Jack Hayward training ground West Bromwich Albion training ground Alexander Stadium – home of Birchfield Harriers Athletics team Stratford Town FC – home of Birmingham City Ladies FC Edgbaston Cricket ground – home of Warwickshire County Cricket Dan Brown – Medical Illustration HEFT Hannah Causer – Medical Illustration HEFT Imke Daugs – Medical Illustration HEFT Cynthia D’aguilar – Saving Lives
Notice of Correction The version of this article published online ahead of print on 27 Nov 2014 was missing information in the Acknowledgements section. The error has been corrected for this version.
Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine October 2014; 37, No. 3–4, pp. 81–90 ISSN 1745-3054 Print/ISSN 1745-3062 online © 2014 The Institute of Medical Illustrators DOI: 10.3109/17453054.2014.981800
90
All our celebrity campaigners who agreed to take part.
Declaration of interest The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.
References 1, 2, 3 www.savinglivesuk.com
Copyright of Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
communication in medicine
Saving Lives through visual health communication: A multidisciplinary team approach Adrian Wressell1,2, Heidi Twaites1,2, Stephen Taylor2,3, Dan Hartland2 and Theo Gove-Humphries1,2 1
Medical Illustration Department, Heart of England NHS foundation Trust, 2 Saving Lives Charity, 3Birmingham Heartlands HIV Service Corresponding Author: Adrian Wressell Email: [email protected]
Introduction: Saving Lives is a public health awareness charity that aims to educate the UK public about HIV and encourage testing for the virus. In May 2011 Saving Lives contacted the Medical Illustration department at Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust to discuss the idea of working together to develop a national HIV awareness campaign. Methods: A number of local sporting celebrities were invited to a studio photography session. All the sports stars and celebrities were photographed on a Mamiya 645 AFDII camera, with PhaseOne P30 ⴙ digital back, using prime 35mm, 55mm and 80mm lenses. During the photography sessions, the team’s film maker captured video footage of the subjects being photographed. Once the final avengers’ graphical composition had been created, it was applied to the posters, billboards and public transport signs for the campaign. Results: In the three-month period following the campaign launch, survey research was carried out, the initial data being recorded by a questionnaire which was provided to each of the 1800 patients attending the Heartlands Hospital sexual health clinic for HIV testing. Conclusion: Following the launch of the initial campaign, the Saving Lives team continues to produce material to assist in the promotion of the charity and its message. Its success has led to it becoming an on-going long-term project, and to date the team have photographed and filmed 33 sporting stars and visited numerous sporting institutes.
Introduction Saving Lives is a public health awareness charity with an ambitious but simple aim: to educate people about the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), to encourage them to get tested and in doing so reduce the rate of undiagnosed HIV nationwide. HIV was discovered in the mid 1980s and belongs to a group of viruses called ‘retroviruses’. HIV attacks the immune system, and gradually causes damage. This can mean that a person infected with HIV is at risk of developing serious infections and cancers that a healthy immune system can fight off. When a person develops certain infections and cancers, they are said to have developed AIDS. HIV is present in blood, genital fluids and breast milk. The main ways in which HIV can be passed on to someone else are during unprotected sexual intercourse, by sharing equipment used for intravenous injecting, and from a mother to her baby during pregnancy, childbirth or through breastfeeding. There are ways of preventing HIV infection in all of these situations.1 Saving Lives was established in 2010 at the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust in Birmingham, England. Its founders are Medical Director Dr Steve Taylor, a Consultant Physician in HIV and Sexual Health and Dan Hartland Director of Operations. Its emergence was in response to a clear local issue: there was no agreed procedure for identifying and referring patients whose GP thought they might need an HIV test. People unaware that they are living with HIV will become progressively more
81
vis omual m Jou rna lo
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL
me u dic
ill, and late diagnosis is associated with higher mortality and numerous other serious complications.2 The aims of the Saving Lives charity are: • • • • •
To To To To To
increase awareness increase testing reduce late diagnosis reduce transmission reduce stigma
Background to the project In May 2011 Saving Lives contacted the Medical Illustration department at Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust to discuss the idea of working together to develop a national HIV awareness campaign. Its aim would be to encourage the public to think differently about HIV. It would expose the myths and tackle the common prejudices and stigmas associated with the infection and attached to the persecution of those affected. The brief for the campaign’s branding and materials was clear: to produce an attractive, inspiring and accessible brand message, which would inspire and enable the general public to understand HIV differently. The campaign’s branded materials were to be distributed and exhibited in traditional and non-traditional settings alike, such as GP surgeries, hospital public areas, public billboards, large public transport vehicles and even football stadiums and sports centres. The campaign was also to be made available on the digital platform, therefore the imagery and designs produced also needed to be suitable for social media sharing and website illustration, for example. The assembled team comprised of members of the Saving Lives charity and staff from the Medical Illustration department, namely experienced clinical photographer Adrian Wressell, graphic designer Heidi Twaites and filmmaker Theo Gove Humphries, who from that point were known collectively as the ‘Saving Lives Media Team’. A number of ideas were generated during team meetings which immediately decided that the campaign should aim to steer away from the traditional colours, typefaces, vocabulary and style of previous public health campaigns and encourage a fresh, contemporary, mass-media approach that would associate HIV with positive images, messages and designs. The team looked back to earlier HIV campaigns. Early campaign
82
Figure 1. L0052063. A HIV poster produced in the West Midlands. Wellcome Library, London.
messages were often aimed at homosexual men in terms of the language and images used (Figures 1–3). It was not unusual to see HIV posters showing male homosexual couples and using connotations of sex and eroticism to capture the attention of the intended audience (Figures 4 & 5). As the message became more widely targeted, campaigns did change, losing however the strength of message by taking a gentler approach (Figures 6 & 7). The Saving Lives Media Team also discussed the famous 1986 UK TV advertisement which showed a tombstone being engraved to reveal the words – “Aids, Don’t die of ignorance” with the voice of actor John Hurt telling the viewer “It is a deadly disease and there is no known cure”. Much as this was a powerful and incredibly successful campaign the team collectively agreed to avoid negative connotations, bleak and terrifying wording and reference to homosexuality or sexual intercourse, the audience for this campaign was the general
Figure 2. L0052093. An advertisement for safe sex by the Health Education Authority for the National AIDs Helpline. Wellcome Library, London.
vis omual m Jou rna lo
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL
me u dic
Figure 3. L0052399. A campaign promoting safe sex from the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Wellcome Library, London.
Figure 4. L0052697. An advertisement for safe sex from the AIDs council of New South Wales, Australia. Wellcome Library, London.
public and so the imagery had to engage widely. Following on from these discussions and subsequent meetings, the ‘Saving lives Media Team’ was adamant that it should leave behind the paternalistic tones of the previous HIV campaigns in look, feel and content, and approach the brief with a contemporary fresh new attitude towards HIV. With a view to reach out to a new, wide and varied audience, local celebrities from the world of sport were approached to support the charity and its aims. Saving Lives seeks to alter the manner in which the public conceives HIV and the team strongly agreed that the use of celebrities would be an excellent means of engaging the public to take notice of Saving Lives literature, to associate positive role models with the campaign, and to attract the interest of mainstream news and entertainment outlets which might otherwise be less interested in carrying the Saving Lives message.
members, the team photographer produced a repeatable formula so that each image would be photographed in the same standardised way. Inspiration for the fresh contemporary style was taken from video documenting Aston Villa football players who were being photographed to promote the new team kit. The photographic identity for the campaign was established and approved by the whole team. Saving Lives although an international charity, was passionate about raising awareness in a local area; for this reason, many of the sports stars photographed for the campaign were from the West Midlands. They were depicted as a collective strong force providing a powerful message. This inspired the macho ‘Avengers’ superhero film style presentation (Figure 8). Planning for the ‘Avenger’s line up’ was essential to determine how and where our subjects would be placed within the final group graphical composition, how they would stand what they should wear. The images were captured via a digital camera tethered through a Mac computer to a large screen on the studio wall. This enabled the Saving Lives directors and media team (Figure 9) to discuss and critique elements of the images being taken while the sports stars were still present. All the sports stars and celebrities were photographed on a
Methods Photography A number of local sporting celebrities were invited to a studio photography session. After initial testing using Medical Illustration team
83
vis omual m Jou rna lo
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL
me u dic
Figure 5. L0052458. A campaign for HIV testing in Virginia, US. Wellcome Library, London.
Figure 6. L0052000. The Birmingham Body Positive poster campaign, advertising local services (including testing) for people with AIDs. Wellcome Library, London.
84
Figure 7. L0052015. A poster from the Body Positive AIDs campaign targeted at young people in London. Wellcome Library, London.
Mamiya 645 AFDII camera, with PhaseOne P30 ⫹ digital back, using prime 35mm, 55mm and 80mm lenses. All the photos were taken at 200 ISO, 125/s at f8–16, dependent on the composition and lighting used. The majority of the images were captured using a standard 4-light set-up, a keylight softbox and a fill flash softbox, both 45 degrees in front of the model, and two flash heads pointing towards the model from behind, again at a 45-degree angle using barn doors to direct the light falling on the model and eliminate the possibility of lens flare in the camera. (Figure 10). Over the following months a number of sporting celebrities visited the studio. These included Professional footballers (Figure 11 &12) Darren Bent, Karen Carney and Ron Vlaar and Olympic Athletes such as Bronze medal winning hockey player Sally Walton (Figure 13), boxer Kal Yafai (Figure 14) and middle distance runner Hannah England. Further into the campaign more athletes, footballers, water polo players such as Vicki Hawkins (Figures 15–18) and American footballers were inspired to be photographed for the campaign and voluntarily approached the team based on the strength of the materials being produced, and by word of mouth from the sports stars who had previously been a part of the campaign.
vis omual m Jou rna lo
me u dic
Video
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL
During the photography sessions, the team’s film maker captured video footage of the subjects being photographed. This provided some moving portraits and cut-away shots of the action. The additional visuals were used in the final edit to coincide with separate interview footage of the sports men and women talking to camera about the charity and its aims. A Canon 7D with a 50mm f.1.4 lens was used for filming in the studio, as this is an excellent combination to shoot with in low light situations. Having a film-maker work with the photographer during the studio sessions enabled a synchronised multi-media approach to establishing the campaign brand. The videos can be found at (link in online version) https://www.youtube.com/user/HIVsavinglives
Graphic work Once the photography had taken place, the images were passed onto the Saving Lives team graphic designer. During initial team discussions regarding the design, there was a strong desire for the new branding to be timeless, therefore it was
Figure 8. The ‘Avenger’s’ line-up from the Saving Lives Campaign.
Figure 9. Members of the Saving Lives Media Team. Top L-R Adrian Wressell (Photographer) , Dr Steve Taylor (Director of Saving Lives UK) Jack Butland and Nathan Redmond (footballers) and Theo Gove-Humphries (Video). Bottom, Heidi Twaites (Graphics).
important that the design style and concept chosen could be adapted and easily applied to different marketing tools. The main idea of the brand was to create a clear and accessible message conveying the charity’s aims and purpose. Making the leading colour red would create impact and grab attention. The block-form font is easy to read quickly but also facilitates the rapid selection of key words in the slogan. The colour palette uses black to contrast the red, and although black is a challenging colour to use and problematic in print form, the team decided it was right and fitted in with the overall style and the growing concept. Using a strong typeface and bold colours helped all the elements come together and when placed on signage in busy areas it was felt they would be an instant draw and the message would be spread widely within the public domain (Figure 19). The main content areas on the posters were kept in neat blocks to enable easy re-location to a different layout if required without diluting the brand in any way (Figure 20). Once the final avengers’ graphical composition had been created, it was applied to the posters, billboards and public transport signs for the campaign (Figure 21 &22).
85
vis omual m Jou rna lo
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL
me u dic
Figure 10. Diagram of the studio layout. Created using lightingdiagrams.com.
Results
86
In December 2012 the poster and media campaign went live, costing in excess of £8,000 to produce. However, the immediate success was impressive, featuring on local
news channels as well as local and national radio stations. In the three-month period following the campaign launch, survey research was carried out, the initial data being recorded by a questionnaire which was provided
Figure 11. Saving Lives studio portrait of Karen Carney, Footballer.
Figure 12. Saving Lives studio portrait of Darren Bent, Footballer.
vis omual m Jou rna lo
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL
me u dic
Figure 13. Team GB Bronze medal winning hockey player Sally Walton. Figure 14. Team GB boxer Kal Yafai.
to each of the 1800 patients attending the Heartlands Hospital sexual health clinic for HIV testing. The survey reported that 28% of patients attending were in the 21–25 age group, with 14% in the 16–20 age group.
The ethnicity breakdown was White 69%, Black 16%, Asian 13% and 1% Other. The top five reasons cited for attending the clinic were as follows:
Figure 15. Saving Lives studio portrait of Vicki Hawkins, GB Water Polo Player.
Figure 16. Saving Lives pool shoot of Vicki Hawkins, GB Water Polo Player.
87
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me u dic
Figure 17. Behind the scenes of the Saving Lives studio portrait of Vicki Hawkins, GB Water Polo Player.
Figure 18. Behind the scenes of the Saving Lives pool shoot of Vicki Hawkins, GB Water Polo Player.
Word of mouth 17% Sexual Health Website 16% GP 13 % Avengers Bus Campaign 12% Search Engine 7% The overall survey reported 16% of all patients attending clinic for HIV tests cited the Saving Lives campaign as a reason for reporting to the clinic. 39% had experienced no other exposure to sexual health messaging other than the Saving Lives campaign. 3 The Saving Lives website www. savinglivesuk.co.uk surpassed its target for daily visits, unique users from the inception of the charity website in 2011 was 140 growing to 697 unique users following the initial launch. The final figures for the three month period further exceeded the target as the user group grew to 1200. Furthermore the Saving Lives twitter feed @SavingLivesUK had grown to more than 1400 followers. The images featuring the footballer Darren Bent were re-tweeted, enabling the photography, designs and videos produced by the team to reach an audience in excess of 0.5 million of his twitter followers.
on to be awarded ‘Silver’ at the 2013 Institute of Medical Illustrators annual awards. “I’m proud to say we have created a look and feel which communicates valid and clinically-approved health messaging in a new and accessible way”, “We are primarily an awareness-raising campaign, and therefore our materials are in many ways the very face of the charity.”
Discussion Celebrity advocates, particularly from the football and sporting worlds, were key elements to the materials, and the campaign was built around this vision of strength, health and contemporary relevance. The award-winning professionalism of the materials produced helped persuade these sport stars, and the clubs to which they belong, to endorse an HIV testing campaign for the first time in the UK, a significant testament to the quality and freshness of the brand. The images and artwork produced went
88
Figure 19. Saving Lives campaign leaflet.
vis omual m Jou rna lo
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL
me u dic
Figure 20. Series of Saving Lives campaign posters showing standard template.
Medical Director Dr Steve Taylor, a Consultant Physician in HIV and Sexual Health. “The team’s IMI silver award was richly deserved. They responded to a difficult brief and exceeded our expectations. The charity’s graphics, imagery and branding design have been absolutely central to Saving Lives – and to its success.” Dan Hartland Director of Operations at Saving Lives.
Conclusion
Its success has led to it becoming an ongoing long-term project, and to date the team have photographed and filmed 33 sporting stars and visited numerous sporting institutes. In the wake of this success, the Saving Lives brand has become visible nationwide, resulting in campaigns in the North-East, North-West, Midlands, London and South-West.
Acknowledgements
Following the launch of the initial campaign, the Saving Lives team continues to produce material to assist in the promotion of the charity and its message.
Aston Villa FC - Villa Park and Bodymore Heath Training Complex Birmingham City FC - St Andrews and Wast Hills Training ground Coventry City FC - Ricoh Arena
Figure 21. Saving Lives public transport campaign.
Figure 22. Saving Lives Bus stop artwork. Broad Street Birmingham, UK.
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Wolverhampton Wanderers FC - Sir Jack Hayward training ground West Bromwich Albion training ground Alexander Stadium – home of Birchfield Harriers Athletics team Stratford Town FC – home of Birmingham City Ladies FC Edgbaston Cricket ground – home of Warwickshire County Cricket Dan Brown – Medical Illustration HEFT Hannah Causer – Medical Illustration HEFT Imke Daugs – Medical Illustration HEFT Cynthia D’aguilar – Saving Lives
Notice of Correction The version of this article published online ahead of print on 27 Nov 2014 was missing information in the Acknowledgements section. The error has been corrected for this version.
Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine October 2014; 37, No. 3–4, pp. 81–90 ISSN 1745-3054 Print/ISSN 1745-3062 online © 2014 The Institute of Medical Illustrators DOI: 10.3109/17453054.2014.981800
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All our celebrity campaigners who agreed to take part.
Declaration of interest The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.
References 1, 2, 3 www.savinglivesuk.com
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