Visible Virals #weare

Client
Liverpool City Council – Culture Liverpool and Public Health Liverpool.

Challenge
Use high quality, engaging cultural activity to animate Liverpool residents experience of COVID 19 so far, how it impacted our communities and how it may affect people’s resilience in the next phase of the pandemic response. This was to be done using digital and traditional media across the city, with specific emphasis in certain areas of the city known for being difficult to reach with public health messaging.

Solution
Liverpool City Council, Culture Liverpool and Public Health Liverpool were looking for a team to deliver this art project in an engaging but visually interesting way. Rach and I were the graphic team behind this project but to be able to meet the brief we worked how we love to work best – collaboratively, this time with two incredible companies Focal Studios and Defproc Engineering

We began by reading The Public Health Annual Report 2019/20, a document that includes peoples’ lockdown stories of: kindness, compassion and resilience alongside equally great sorrow, fear, grief, isolation, mental health issues and loss. As a team we were asked to tell these stories in a city-wide, visually impactful and meaningful way. The important things for us, were to listen, reflect the mood of the city and tell peoples’ stories sensitively.

For such a complex social project we held several workshops in the areas where COVID most affected communities, to be able to create our concepts and the messaging. These people were also consulted on the look and style and what messages they wanted included. We know it’s vital to speak to the people for projects like this, as by listening to their experiences and taking their honest feedback we were able to determine the project concept, visual concept, tone and messaging from their voices.  The concept of WeAre was unanimously developed from 3 initial concepts shown to all of our attendees. People liked the simple message of togetherness coupled with the ability to finish off the statement to create their own lockdown messages. As one man remarked “It’s personal to you isn’t it? Your journey is going to be different to someone elses.”

The DNA double helix; the project’s visual concept also came spontaniously from one of the engagement events. During one of our sessions we thanked the group for sharing their stories and for their generosity in supporting their neighbours and communities, for example; making food, shopping, waving through windows, volunteering for foodbanks or being a key worker.  One person said ‘There’s no need to thank us, we’re scousers, it’s in our DNA’

Outputs
The council had specific outputs for us to create imagery for alongside what we suggested would be impactful, so graphically we created many different assets, including:

Social media: Covers, stories and posters.

Print Media including: Large lamppost banners, Billboards, Super Rears, Floor Vinyls, Guerilla Posters, Park Banners, Game POD vinyls, Roller Banners, Event Postcard, Signage, Schools postcards, Vinyl graphics and Hoardings. These will be around the city this year (perhaps longer in some instances).

Digital Media including: D48 Billboard, E-invites, Posters for projections, Engagement event posters, Liverpool 1 Media Screens, Museum of Liverpool Screens and Street Hubs.

Projected Media: Amazing, animated projections created by Focal who popped up at various points around the city over a 2 week period guerrilla style, on places like Byrom Point, Everton FC, The Florrie, The Albert Dock and the ventilation shaft at St Georges Place.

Interactive Media: The project culminated on the 23^rd March at the #wearegame event at the Museum of Liverpool, where passers by and attendees were encouraged to play the weare game created by Defproc, in their custom made Pod as it was projected on the side of the museum! It was such a unique experience, and everyone who played it got pretty competitive!

Working collaboratively on this project with two amazing creative companies, alongside the communities of Liverpool was a real honour. If you would like to know more, you can read about the project and its ongoing legacy at www.cultureliverpool.co.uk/wearescousers/