Malaria — Design for Good
Justin Ahrens · 2012–2013 · Public-health education poster · photographed project prototype
Recognizing symptoms is the first step toward seeking help. This malaria education poster places a human figure at the center of a ring of simple, color-coded pictograms. Swahili and English labels identify fever, headache, sweats, chills, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting, and dry cough; a clear downward arrow leads to a clinic icon and the instruction SEEK TREATMENT. The photographed prototype makes a complex public-health message approachable without relying on long blocks of text.
Developed in 2012–2013, the wider HealthcareVisualsKibera project brought Rule29 together with Kent State graduate design students and Life in Abundance to create visual communication tools for communities in Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya. The work was completed free of charge with support from donations and grants. The students studied language, religious beliefs, sanitation practices, and malaria through ethnographic research and photo ethnography, consulting Kent State's Pan-African Studies department, African international students, and doctors.
Justin Ahrens served as advisor and research assistant. During a separate trip to Africa, he field-tested the team's findings in Rumbek, South Sudan, interviewing community members and gathering audio and video with input from a Kenyan doctor familiar with Kibera. Graduate students used the evidence to refine their prototypes for children and trusted adult community leaders.
The larger system included malaria and dosage leaflets, symptom cards, a children's board game and activity book, and a family-focused visual campaign. Rule29's article describes a planned fall 2013 release through Life in Abundance in Kenya and South Sudan; it does not establish the final distribution date or a print date for the poster shown here. Contemporary reporting identifies Sanda Katila as faculty advisor, while Ahrens's account also thanks Kent State Associate Professor Ken Visocky O'Grady. Individual authorship of this particular poster, its dimensions, printer, paper, and printing process are not separately documented.
View this poster in The 29 Collection