Campaigns for diabetes...

Hi,

I'm a type 1 diabetic myself and have joined the forum to gain some insight on something close to me which is Type 1 diabetes but it doesn't stop there. I'd like to gain some insight on all forms of diabetes to help me with a university brief I have set myself to answer as a creative graphic designer.

The brief I have set myself is to create a campaign with an outcome that can have an impact on a chosen topic related to diabetes.

So far, I am unsure on how I can start to narrow down my options of topic areas as diabetes is such a wide subject with all different types / effects / causes etc.

One idea is a campaign aimed at people with diabetes, getting them to control blood sugars.
Perhaps a campaign aimed at Diabetes in general and making all people aware of all types of diabetes.
People that don't have diabetes and aren't aware of the causes.
People who are ignorant to the differences between each type of diabetes / People who think all diabetics are diabetic because of weight / diet issues or eating too much sugar for example.

There are loads of suggestions that i'm sure forum members can help me with as I honestly don't know where to start. I'm looking for reasons to create a campaign in order to raise awareness using visual graphic communication that grabs peoples attention and stops them or makes them think.
To get an idea of what I mean, have a look at some existing campaigns that are good examples of using creative visual communication to make people aware / stop and notice something such as:

Campaign Examples:
S OIL campaign
Expedia airport IATA codes
WWF do some great ones
Volkswagen have a few good ones using humour, one of them using cinema to publicise their product as well as an issue that arises within cinemas today.
A big one is smoking campaigns. All the visuals and horrible graphics you see on cigarette packets etc to deter people from smoking or make them aware of what smoking does to them.

My first port of call I think is talking with people on a forum about diabetes, its affects, its negatives etc is a good start for me. Getting to know what people would like to see a campaign for and what that campaign does to stop or resolve something that we as diabetics do not like / what we put up with / what we want to shout about or scream at people about and tell them / change their perceptions / make them aware of something or getting something improved.

Thank you in advance for reading and possibly having some inout that may help me on my journey of creating a campaign targeting diabetes as a topic.
Look forward to hearing from you and see where this leads... Who knows, maybe one day something form this could actually go live.

lizdeluz said:

I don't know, @CarlW92, it sounds difficult, but I would like you to portray how people with diabetes have to check and monitor their own health on a very regular basis throughout every day, and they need plenty of knowledge about their condition in order so to do.

I'd like you to portray that having diabetes isn't always so bad and that our experience of diabetes can perhaps lead us to healthier lifestyles than those who don't have to monitor their health so closely.

Depiction of diabetes in the media can be depressing, boring, sensationalist, misleading or downright incorrect so I guess a graphic artist would want to avoid that.

Best of luck with this!

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Thank you for the first reply @lizdeluz I like the points you've picked up on straight away about how diabetes is a positive in making our lifestyles and others around us healthier too. And as a designer Yes i would like to pick up on all the negatives and depressing, misleading information / media out here and making that positive, changing peoples perception. Great starting points there and already helpful.

Thank you

Hello again ladies and gents,

An update as I have been away doing other work for a while and it has now come to a point where all my time is going to be spent on this topic of designing and putting together a campaign.

Up to now my leading choice of what I would like to do is raise awareness on Type 2 diabetes.
This is because I have done some research and since found that; Out of 100% of those with diabetes, 90% of those are Type 2 diabetic. In my opinion, this gives me more of a reason to create a campaign, especially since finding out from my research that up to 80% of type 2 diabetics could actually be prevented according to Diabetes UK on their facts & figures statistics I have read through from December 2015 which you can find on the below link:

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/About_us/What-we-say/Statistics/

With this being found and said, I'd like to get you involved in order to feed back to me as much information to help me direct my approach when designing a campaign to help reduce Type 2 Diabetes..

Specific things i'd also like to hear about:
Is there any previous or current campaigns you've seen or heard about whether good or bad, that you think might aid me in direction of the campaign i'd like to design/create. Please give a reason why you think the ones you've seen are good or bad.

As somebody who has been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes or maybe has knowledge of the condition, what do you feel hasn't been said by previous campaigns or made people aware of? What would you as somebody who lives with the condition really like to get out as a message to people?

Is there anything you feel I have missed? Please say as this could also help.
Hope to hear from you soon.

Thank you kindly,
Carl.