Covid-19 Through The Eyes of Design

In times of overflowing information and endless news updates, design can guide us through the chaos from COVID-19. As we navigate through a global pandemic, design becomes a translator between public health experts and the wider public. It’s not just designers who know this; back in January, as news of the coronavirus began to spread, the UN issued an open brief for “iconic and visually arresting” work to inform the public about preventing the spread of the virus. Our visual language is critical for disseminating information, but also for expressing the hard-to-pinpoint feelings that have arisen in this bizarre time.

So as designers transmit vast wealths of urgent public health advice into shareable images, let’s investigate how their work reflects our current moment. We caught up with Lily Ha and Corey Cavagnolo of the projects* design team to get their hot takes on emerging stylistic currents, and how we can learn from them.

Mona Chalabi
Creating Joy Through Juxtaposition
Artist Mona Chalabi creates playful COVID-19 infographics that pair up-to-date statistics with hand-drawn illustrations. Her use of analog elements adds a humanizing texture, making what is otherwise very sober information more approachable and comforting. With many of her graphics going viral over the last few weeks, Chalabi’s work reveals the effectiveness of merging seemingly opposing tones, such as presenting public health information in a personable, stylized format. As Lily notes, this DIY aesthetic indulges our “yearning for a human touch” during this collective separation. Embracing the hand-drawn reminds us of the person on the other side of the screen, connecting us to the people who made them. “It’s human-centered design, in that sense.”

Judy
## Disaster-Chic

Embracing clean minimalism, poppy colors, and catchy text in sans serif font, Judy is a disaster preparedness kit with a millennial sensibility. The “millennial aesthetic”, found everywhere from coffee shops to skincare start-ups, conveys a sense of ease and expertise. By referencing this style, the Judy kit wants to reassure, even comfort, their audience while preparing for emergencies. Familiar design can help us tackle scary topics, as well as raise awareness among specific audiences. “Design, in this case, is less about function and more about an expression of one’s values,” Corey explains. Judy’s use of a familiar aesthetic sensibility turns what could be an anxiety-inducing purchase into an easy sell.

South China Morning Post
Turning Data Into Storytelling
This scrolling web graphic from South China Morning Post manages to present comprehensive information in an accessible format for Gen Z and Baby Boomers alike. The incorporation of expressive elements– subtle gifs, analog techniques, and text-reveal animation–are of particular note to Lily, as they “help turn a clinical graphic into a more friendly presentation of information that conveys its credibility.” The scroll turns the information into a subtle, but legible, narrative that allows the reader to orient themselves within a rapidly evolving situation.

The New York Times
The Emotional Impact of a Graph
Amongst headlines of the March 27th front page of The New York Times, this simple graphic made its own headlines. This orange bar graph illustrates the weekly number of unemployment claims, with the massive spike following the U.S. responses to the outbreak framing the entire front page. Lily describes how the “simple use of composition and placement of the graph puts focus on the scale,” emphasizing the figure as an extraordinary outlier. A very different strategy from the above examples, this design purely relies on the data’s peculiarity to contrast against the regular news flow. With a simple and elegant visual gesture, the NYTimes designers were able to create an emotional impact from COVID-19 and bring creativity to a format as rigid as the front page.

Visual Capitalist
Visualizing Historical Context
Visual Capitalist gives a distinctly modern look to an infographic covering up to the beginning of the human history of Pandemics including COVID-19. Their use of 3D-rendered graphics to demonstrate scale and depth helps viewers contextualize COVID-19, giving a better understanding of how this outbreak compares with past pandemics. By looking to the past, we gain greater clarity of our present situation. Although covering a somber topic, Lily sees the optimistic reading in this graph. “Perspective is at play here, both in design and history, to help visually communicate that we’ve overcome these events before– and we will certainly do it again.”

For a time as frantic as now, paying close attention to our visual world can be incredibly insightful. Our aesthetic choices indicate larger cultural values and desires, often ones that are difficult to put into words. Graphic designers are working to spread information to help all of us maintain a sense of control during this unpredictable moment. With so many people working to help inform the public, it’s clear that there is no single strategy or style for how to do this. It’s a collective effort to find the right way to reach people where they’re at. Right now, Corey says that “designers are relying just as much on other people” for information, resources, and publication, “working together to get the finished product.” If design is our guide, it’s showing us that we need collaboration and cooperation now more than ever to help navigate through the storm.