project: CAL is a social campaign aimed at teens raising awareness and education about drug harm reduction. project: CAL was designed to be a youth campaign for the National Harm Reduction Coalition (NHRC).
The goal with this campaign is to equip teens with life-saving knowledge, that is not delivered through the usual institutions, such as school or parents.
As far as visual design goes, my goal was not to over design this campaign. The content speaks for itself, but was not being delivered in a youth friendly way.
I avoided trendy, flashy design or language that talked down to teens, and opted for a straightforward approach with a tongue and cheek tagline to grab the youth’s attention.
The Facts
13.2% of 12th graders surveyed, used illicit drugs (not including marijuana) in the past year.¹
US drug overdose deaths in teens are increasing.¹
Illicitly manufactured fentanyl was involved in 84% of teen overdose deaths.¹
2/3 of these incidents had at least one bystander present, “but most provided no overdose response.”¹
Harm reduction strategies “reduced the possibility of harms associated with substance use” in youth.²
“Teens equipped with “harm reduction knowledge” and “drug related knowledge”, had decreased levels of substance use and students were “less likely to consume harmful levels.” ³
The What
Poster and zine about drug overdose response.
Poster and zine about drug overdose prevention.
Poster and zine about fentanyl tips and myths.
A 6-part flyer and zine series aimed to place harm reduction knowledge directly in the hands of teens.
Tone
The tone for this campaign is straight forward and direct. Talking down to teens or trying to over explain the issues will dilute the message. Bold, simple copy is also more attention grabbing and easy to digest.
The copy has a good balance between being straightforward as possible but explaining topics thoroughly enough to actually be helpful.
By avoiding trendy language or slang will improve the longevity of the campaign.
Focus on the facts.
No sugarcoating.
Realistic expectations.
Campaign Goals
Start conversations between peers.
Improve safety among teen drug use.
Any interaction with the content, this can including printing and posting them, scribbling on them. balling them up, chucking it on your backpack, laughing at it, taking pictures, sharing with your friends, etc..
The goal of this campaign is to give agency to teens exposed to drug use and equip them with lifesaving knowledge.
Moodboard
I had the amazing opportunity to tour the LetterForm Archives in San Francisco and see their exhibit “Strikethrough: Typographic Messages Of Protest”. So I took a lot of inspiration from 20th century protest and social justice campaign media.
Final Deliverables - Flyers
All of the flyers and zines are formatted to fit 8.5x11” and look great on both white and colored printing for easy printing and distribution.
Final Deliverables - Zines
These are scans of the final folded zines.
How To: Respond to an Overdose
8
1
4
How To: Fentanyl Facts and Tips
8
4
How To: Prevent an Overdose
8
4
5
1
5
1
5
2
3
6
2
6
7
2
6
7
3
3
7
Dissemination
This campaign begins with an initial distribution of 30-50 flyers within a community. Places they can be posted include skateparks, bus stops, parking garages, parks, etc..
Each poster has a QR code to lead you to more printable resources. Posters are double-sided with zines.
Ideally, teens would see the flyers, scan the QR code, print some themselves and distribute to their friends, or hang more flyers. But any interaction with the content is considered success and is important to the campaign.
Information is given directly to teens and shared amongst peers.
The motivation is spreading important knowledge that is detached from the usual institutions, i.e. school.