Communicating
Vaccination

In 2019 the World Health Organisation listed vaccine hesitancy as one of the top ten threats to global health. In the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination has been viewed as a fundamental exit strategy, and vaccine hesitancy is once more at the forefront of public health concerns.

This collaborative project between the Universität der Künste Berlin and the University of Oxford revolves around the topic of design, communication and vaccination. Images have always been important in disseminating opinions and information on vaccination. And, since the mid-twentieth century, visual communication has played a significant role in public health campaigns promoting vaccines.

Joining forces to bridge the fields of graphic design, medical history, and health communication, we set out to find visual forms of communicating about vaccines. Our project ‘Communicating Vaccination’ inspired a new course for Visual Communications students at UdK. The project aims to generate new interdisciplinary research and resources, including this student led website and the online exhibition ‘Pieks, sip, jab!’.

Participant students:
Marcus Bücken, Imry Gefen, Rachel Haase, Mario Kreuzer, Joël van Rooij, Alisa Verzhbitskaya

A project by:
Constanze Hein, graphic design lecturer at UdK Berlin, and Dr Sally Frampton, medical historian at Oxford.

Collaborators:
Lucienne Roberts, London-based designer and Dr Franziska Kohlt, York-based researcher in Science Communication, the History of Science & Literature

Funded by:
Oxford – UdK Berlin Partnership in Arts and Humanities – Spaces, Bridges, Encounters

Website:
Alisa Verzhbitskaya, Marcus Bücken, Hauke Irrgang