Hand Hygiene Campaign / Germ Smart
When the Saskatchewan Health Authority approached Studio Jensen to discuss how to improve public hand washing awareness and compliance, we were naturally eager to be involved with a campaign that could potentially make a difference. Illness in the workplace and schools actually takes an enormous toll on our economy and society as a whole, and the possibility of reducing it represented an exciting and truly rewarding opportunity. Now with the devastating effects of Covid, the campaign has taken on a new significance.
The key to the power of this campaign was to avoid creating or manipulating the germ images using photoshop, it had to be the real deal. To further drive home the immediacy of the problem, the bacteria used was sampled from around the viewers own local environment, and this fact was highlight in the campaign. Samples were taken from local store shelves, cel phones, door knobs and many other places, producing many different types of bacterial growth.
The University of Saskatchewan microbiology lab was recruited to facilitate a safe environment to produce the germ images, and after much trial and error, a technique was developed to both show the germs and the images clearly.
The Results
The reaction both from the Health Authority and in the public has been extremely positive and responsive. We think these unsolicited client and public comments speak for themselves:
"It is awesome that our long time goal of getting hand washing on the public radar has finally come to fruition, thanks to your expertise…"
"Posters are making a big splash in the community."
"So proud of the end result. You're a magician!"
"Such great results. I so much appreciate your efforts, creativity and the fact that you have created such a great product."
"I noticed those in the Endo unit last week...I washed my hands so much… they became dried out and chapped!"
"Speaking as someone that spent 3 weeks in the hospital in June, I can assure you these are appropriately arresting and visually impactful..."
As part of the overall hand hygiene campaign, we created the Germ Smart logo that is applied to all campaign materials.
Microbiology Lab or Art Studio?
A brief insight into the process.
Once the University of Saskatchewan microbiology lab agreed to partner in the project, the fun began. Between restricted lab hours and the imposed lab protocols, there wasn't much room for creativity... but the show must go on.
The problem is that usually designers illustrate in predictable media like pencil or paint, so working with something that could grow in any color, any shape, in any direction, and on it's own timetable… challenging to say the least.
After several weeks and what seemed like hundreds of dishes similar to the above, I developed a technique that clearly showed the 'grossness' of the germs, while at the same time allowing a clean rendering of the characters. I found that placing clear vinyl stickers of the 'sick people' on the petri dishes and then infecting the surrounding area, revealed the 'sick dude' images beautifully as the germs grew around the stickers.
The Germ Smart Campaign was awarded the 2013 National Graphex Gold Advertising Award
Awarded 2013 Saskatchewan Premier’s Design Merit Award
