Thesis Concept Campaign: Raising Awareness of ME/CFS Among Unaffected Audiences, 2025, Domińczuk

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Concept Campaign: Raising Awareness of ME/CFS Among Unaffected Audiences

Iga Domińczuk

LAB University of Applied Sciences
Institute of Design and Fine Arts
Bachelor of Culture and Arts, Packaging and Brand Design

Abstract
Visual communication has the power to challenge stigmas and public opinion. Social media campaign can increase awareness and understanding of a complex chronic disease that is Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). Despite its severe impact on millions of patients, it remains largely unrecognised and invisible, both in public and in healthcare.

Through the combination of literature review, surveys, and interviews, this thesis investigates how design can help with challenging this negligence. The research fuelled the creation of a campaign centred around lived experiences and respect. Key themes of invisibility, loneliness and loss are translated into visuals through considered use of tone, imagery and colour.

The result that is the concept campaign demonstrates how design and visual communication can be used as an educational tool for social and health advocacy.

PDF (Thesis: LAB University of Applied Sciences) [Open Access]
 
Aside from the fact that raising awareness with the public is irrelevant, public awareness isn't the problem, one thing Long Covid has made 100% clear is that social media advocacy is a complete waste of effort. It straight up does not work. All that ends up happening is us talking to each other, almost no one outside our bubble ever even sees this stuff.

It's definitely a fun experiment for graphic design, but from a broader design perspective, it's sadly a failure. Design is when function is given form, and the function here is a total bust. Giving form to a useless function is pointless. It's like prettifying a machine that never worked.

Instead all efforts need to be directed at working within the systems, being involved in committees, lobbying, writing directly to decision-makers. Influencing the public will never lead to anything more than a few pity likes here and there. In fact as best as I can tell, this has been largely understood and almost all social media advocacy has ceased for LC, and today it's lower for ME/CFS than it was before LC.

What is being done to us is technically illegal/forbidden in so many ways. The system has to be worked on, from as deep inside as possible, using the tools of bureaucracy. Anything that tries to get public sympathy is almost wasted, unless it goes on the kind of public record that leaves a mark, such as newspapers. But social media as a medium for advocacy has proven to be a total bust.

It doesn't even matter that we have been proven correct about everything, warning about LC as it was happening, non-biological facts are not important when it comes to medicine. Literally nothing matters other than finding out biological causes, mechanisms and treatments. Then the medical profession will care, and then it would be useful to do public awareness advocacy. But other facts are totally irrelevant to all of this, they're not trained for this.

Even economic facts, it's clear that all governments see nothing wrong with losing tens of billions per year, each, depending on the size of the country. They don't even notice it, because their medical advisers never do, and they rely on those to decide what to do.

Sorry if this is harsh for the students involved. Good intentions can be recognized, but the fact that social media advocacy is a total waste is just indisputable at this point.
 
Kitty said:
It's open to interpretation, but for me it highlights that there is no rest in ME/CFS. No rest from the symptoms, and no rest because you can never get enough to feel rested.
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That’s what I assumed as well. But I’m a little sceptical fancy graphics like that actually manage to carry that message beyond pwME. They’ll just be confused. And as someone with sensory problems that text is somewhat difficult to decypher.
 
Yann04 said:
I’m a little sceptical fancy graphics like that actually manage to carry that message beyond pwME.
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They may not be intended to in a direct way. It's a conversation starter, an opportunity to explain something.

And people with ME/CFS who recognise it will have a moment of feeling heard or understood. That's important because it's so rare.
 
Kitty said:
And people with ME/CFS who recognise it will have a moment of feeling heard or understood. That's important because it's so rare.
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For me it mainly brought frustration because i couldn’t understand it and the design was really hard to read without stimulatory overexertion.

But if it really does bring understanding for others then that sounds good.
 
Yann04 said:
For me it mainly brought frustration because i couldn’t understand it and the design was really hard to read without stimulatory overexertion.
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The second is a problem, and one that could be solved with some thought and consultation.

The first isn't, though—well, not necessarily. Maybe it depends on the level of frustration even if the design had been more visually accessible!

But it made you stop and think, and then you wanted to comment about it/ask a question about it. To me, that's what this type of artwork should do. There are a lot of potential responses, mine and yours are just two examples.

Some people would just scroll past without a second glance. Maybe a different type of visual art would stop them, or maybe they're immune to nearly all of it.
 
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