Author: Rachel Warner

Testing beyond Covid: Our point of use instructions at IIID Vision Plus 2023

At the 2023 IIID Vision Plus conference, Josefina gave a presentation about her, Sue Walker, and Al Edwards’s work on the project ‘Information Design for Diagnostics: Ensuring Confidence and Accuracy for Home Sampling and Home Testing’, which looked at the design and usability of instructions for point of use Covid-19 lateral flow rapid tests.

The talk focused on Josefina and Sue’s experience of applying the research findings and the design approach to a set of documents explaining how to use a test for viral flu. The team developed a toolkit to support the creation of point-of-use instructions, taking account of views from diagnostic industry members to inform an understanding of how instructions are produced currently and what guidance might be helpful.

A person presenting at a conference with a presentation slide behind them

Plus, the IIID award ceremony closed the conference, and Josefina won an award in the Healthcare category for her work with CwPAMS on their Antimicrobial Stewardship Toolkit. Congratulations to Josefina!

Design that cares? – IIID Vision Plus Conference 2023

Healthcare was the theme for the 2023 IIID Vision Plus Conference, held in the Design Forum in Vienna. Rachel and Josefina gave a joint talk about their ongoing work looking at documents from the Forms Information Centre Collection held at the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication. The documents were produced by the British government in the 1970s–80s to guide citizens in navigating public services. These services included claiming benefits, accessing healthcare, supporting disabilities, and help for those with caring responsibilities.

Presenting at the conference was a good opportunity to share examples of healthcare-related documents that are held in this unique collection. They shared a brief timeline of what was happening during the time that these documents were being produced. They then shared examples of document design that were of particular interest during their initial work. These include how symbols, pictograms, and illustrations were used to communicate healthcare topics, and how colour and layout helped people understand their options and take steps to access public services.

Two people presenting at a lectern with presentation slide behind

Design for change project + Sky Creative

In their third year, our undergraduate students have the opportunity to complete a ‘Design for change’ project. The project aims to give a space for exploring how design can contribute to social change. Past projects include:

  • Say something – an anti-sexual harassment campaign
  • A hidden disabilities learning kit – designed to build a more considerate atmosphere for those living with hidden disabilities through awareness within schools
  • A non-profit initiative called ‘Wear Conscious’ – a social media campaign for change in consumer behaviour and the fast fashion industry

This year, Aanand Tank (a graduate of the Typography & Graphic Communication department) and Shraddha Depala, from Sky Creative, joined the teaching team to inspire students through their experience working on Sky campaigns including Black History Month and Pride turns 50.

The students were also invited to visit Sky Creative, shadow a Diversity & Inclusion meeting with Aanand and Shraddha, and experience a tour of the campus and design studios.

A person pointing towards a screen with the text 'The brief: Self initiated brief to share the experiences and raise awareness of the triumphs that our LGBTQ+ community within Sky have experienced'

Freeing Liberty through information design

This July, Rachel Warner and Emily Allbon presented their project ‘Freeing Liberty through information design’ at the International Conference on Typography and Visual Communication (ICTVC). Their project focuses on designing information on our civil liberties, provided by Liberty. Liberty gave Rachel and Emily a challenge: to identify how information design might help to make their online legal information advice more accessible, useful, and understandable. At the conference, initial ideas were presented for information on:

  • Stop and search – a downloadable online checklist to use when faced with a stop and search event
  • Police complaints – a flowchart that aims to communicate the steps and roles involved in the police complaint process
  • Immigration – the use of illustrations to accompany text to acknowledges experiences and emotions

The project continues to develop, with future plans for workshops with information users, legal experts, and advisors. So, watch this space!

Sketch of a flowchart working out the police complaints processDesign process: sketching out the police complaints process

An image that displays text as a checklist that can be used as an aide memoire in a stop and search eventInitial ideas: draft solution for stop and search information