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A Newsletter from the UN & NGOs Designers Group Geneva

Visual Communicators Newsletter
MAY 2019

This is a monthly newsletter from the UN Designers and Visual Communicators Group in Geneva. Drop us a line if you would like to collaborate or share any material for inclusion in this newsletter: info@UNdesigners.org

Awarded web wonders

A good way to feel the pulse of trends and insights of online communications is to check the annual Webby awards. With 529 awardees, there is something for everyone – and for every SDG – 'Unstoppable' by Planned Parenthood is one of the main winners. This online campaign tackles diverse issues – from LGBT rights to reproductive rights, and from healthcare to equal pay.
We really encourage you to spend some time browsing through the winners. Some of the usual suspects deserve a special mention, e.g. Reuters with with its Ocean shock and Project Greenland, and National Geographic with What happens to the plastic we throw out? and Planet or Plastic?
UN agencies are represented among the winners by UN Women with texting video series and UNFPA Safe Birth, even here (already featured here). Various themes are covered, from water, to nuclear power, gender, child labour, migration and sustainability.

If it's well-designed, it may be true?

In this award-themed newsletter, we would also like to mention the ADC Design for Good awards category, in which we found this great idea from the Columbia Journalism Review: The Fake News Stand. Our take on this? It proves the importance of the visual side of things. Professional layout and good design, in this case, deceive readers into making credible something that is actually fake. That is why designers and visual communicators should adhere to a code of conduct in which none of our skills can be put to the service of lies or misleading information.

Photo opportunity

Typical. You wait ages for a photo award and then two come along at once. This year's World Press Photo winner is John Moore, with his photo 'crying girl on the border' which is an allusion to restrictive immigration policies, especially on the US-Mexican border.
For this year's Sony World Photography Awards, we have plenty of winners tackling humanitarian issues. First award went to 'Five Degrees' by Federico Borella, He found a very clever way to visualize the personal impact of climate change through the perspective of male suicide in a farming community in Southern India, which is facing its worst drought in 140 years. Second prize, 'Henkō' by Massimo Giovannini, tackles gender issues through a series of portraits in which lighting and make up are used to cast doubts on gender boundaries. In the third place came a familiar face, 'Palestinian Right of Return Protests' by Mustafa Hassona who was already mentioned in this newsletter.
Hope all this inspires you... time to take the dust off your camera and hit the streets to promote human rights!

May Inspiration

A campaign
Tobacco has been the subject of many memorable campaigns since Don Draper's days. Now, WHO has come out with another powerful visual to promote this year's No Tobacco Day.

A report
Are people happier in Saudi Arabia or Brazil? Find the answer in the bright World Happiness Report. The portal facilitates its reading by slicing content into chapters.

A centennial
Great initiative from Street Art for Mankind, a collective of graffiti artists that are helping ILO to celebrate its 100 anniversary by painting murals around midtown New York.

A duplicity
Uğur is a Turkish digital artist with a sharp eye for visuals and a social conscience. As a result, he has created this collection of paired contrasting visuals with a strong message.

A matrix
After last month SDG mapping tools, we present now the work of The New Division (aka Trollbäck) a dataviz solution to understand the interconnection between different SDG goals.

A cover

More awards: NYT wins gold for best magazine and best cover of the year at the SPD awards. Glad to see an independent magazine dealing with mental illness getting rewarded too.

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Copyright © 2019 UN Designers Group, All rights reserved.

This newsletter has been produced by the UN Designers group, a non-profit organization created with the purpose of raising awareness around design and visual communications in international organizations, as well as help promoting the work done in this field. Our channels are both our physical meetings, usually hosted in UN agencies or other international organizations in Geneva, and this e-newsletter.

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