Recognise is an organisation based around recognising the signs of domestic abuse. After researching the current campaigns tackling similar things, I noticed that they all followed the same aesthetic that could often be off putting and intimidating. I wanted to create one that would be approachable and effective.
I liked the idea of having physical object being able to tell the story of someone who is unable to. I love the work of Grayson Perry and David Shrigley, they have the amazing ability of being able to tell stories through objects.
I knew, if I were to create a campaign or an organisation, I wanted it to stand out against the classic domestic abuse campaigns we currently see, I feel as if we have been desensitised to the violence in them and the directness of them. In my opinion, to create a campaign or organisation that works, it has to stand out, have layers, be interesting, not be what you’d expect, not blend in with the rest, at the same time as being educational and meaningful.
Inspired by the work or Grayson Perry and David Shrigley, I made some mugs out of fimo to represent victims of domestic abuse, they are misshapen and imperfect. I then painted stories all over the mugs. I played with different tones of voices, some were written in perspective of the mug, some were written in the perspective of a victim, and some were written as if the mug was the victim.
I then looked at taking the mugs further and making them the centre point of a campaign I called Recognise, which focused on recognising the signs, I feel that the campaign is interesting and unusual which is why it has the potential to be successful.
The idea would be that Recognise would hold pop up cafe events where anyone is welcome, at the events, the drinks are served in these mugs, which will spark conversation. The events won’t be intense and overwhelming but they will serve a purpose of educating and potentially saving lives, in a simple, non-intrusive way.
The organisation would be a collaboration with Mind, as they are a trusted company which would mean the audience may be more willing to attend the events.
Above is an example of a leaflet that would appear on the tables at the pop up cafés for the customers to read. The leaflets focus on recognising the signs of domestic abuse that often go unnoticed, such as psychological abuse. They are simple and easy to understand, and will hopefully trigger a thought in the reader that could save someone or themselves.
The idea behind putting on the events is to simply educate people about what signs they should be looking out for, as they’re not always obvious.
The events would be run by psychological professionals, therefore they would be on hand to talk to immediately to anyone in need. They would also provide various methods of help and support that the customers could have access too.
Recognise would have interesting merchandise to sell to raise money and awareness. The money raised would go into organisations helping victims of domestic abuse get back on their feet. The copy would be thought provoking and would link back to the different ‘types’ of domestic abuse. Clothing with quotes promoting owning your own body such as ‘my body my choice’ are very common at the moment, therefore, to have t-shits that have an opposing message as part of the campaign will provoke an interest and get people to question the statements.
It’s the 21st century and platforms such as Instagram are ever-growing, so why not use it to our advantage? People love to be able to Instagram their lives, show everyone what they’re up to, they are drawn to beautiful aesthetics. Therefore Recognise would consider this, the pop up events would be a beautiful experience as well as being educational and valuable. People would Instagram their time with Recognise, which is a win win as this is then advertising for the event as it will entice more people to go to the next one, thus raising more awareness.
In the area that the pop up cafe is going to appear in next, small cues such as the logo of the eyes would emerge, an element of intrigue, and continuing with the brand story of objects having a personality.
To really bring the organisation to life I wanted to visualise how the brand identity works across the different touch-points. (See below) The mugs that are available to buy would be sold in boxes like this.
The hash-tag on the lid means that a conversation can be started on social media, spreading the awareness even further.
There are several ‘types’ of domestic abuse, ranging from psychological abuse to physical abuse. And in this experiment, I have portrayed the different ‘types’ of abuse using plastic figures of people, accompanied by a piece of copy that reflects the abuse. The way the figures are positioned has been carefully decided to reflect the ‘type’ of abuse. The colourless figures represent the victims, suggesting that their body and personality no longer belongs to them. The warped typography reflects the idea of loss of control, which is often experienced by victims of domestic abuse.
They would stand out against other domestic abuse campaigns, they have potential to be more thought provoking and as they’re less ‘in your face’ and intense, I believe this makes them more approachable.