Robert Matthews and Janky Patel
Students at the Yale School of Public Health and Yale University School of Art collaborated recently on a project that yielded an exhibition of posters designed “to educate and motivate broad sectors of society about some of today’s pressing health issues,” according to a Yale University news release. While the posters are no longer on display at the School of Art, they are viewable in a slideshow format on the School of Public Health website.
According to the Yale University news release, “The idea for The Art of Public Health was first conceived last spring at the conclusion of a course taught at the Yale School of Public Health by assistant professor Catherine Yeckel. She challenged the class to apply and translate theoretical scientific knowledge into a public health campaign to educate the public on a specific health topic. This led to a collaboration with Julian Bittiner, a critic in the Department of Graphic Design at the Yale School of Art, who guided the visual communication process.”
Yeckel said in an e‑mail, “The collaboration between the public health and graphic design students was intended to establish a means of communication about both the public health issue and the form the visual communication would take to enable the poster art work to convey the public health issue most effectively. There was certainly a realization on the part of the public health students that simply providing more information on the work itself is generally ineffective for communication. The progression from complex to simple communication, letting the image speak, was probably the most powerful insight for all the groups. In my mind, gaining this insight becomes the launching point for tackling a public-health campaign and movement.”
Jessica Svendsen and Adam VanDeusen
Bittiner, also in an e‑mail, said, “While the design students are accustomed to researching and editing their own content, and tailoring their visual ideas and the tone of their messages for specific target audiences, I think the intensity of this collaboration with their public health partners really elevated the quality and depth of their process. The public health students functioned as creative partners and crucially, through their research, could ensure that the images and words were sensitive to the nuanced complexities of each issue. The students learned from the working processes of one another and the work they produced collaboratively was that much stronger and more meaningful as a result.”
The School of Public Health website indicates that “a total of 28 students (14 pairs) participated in the inaugural project, which seeks to provoke awareness, stimulate thought and change behavior on health issues as pressing as obesity, breast cancer screening, self-respect and child development.”
View a slideshow of the posters they created here.
According to the Yale University news release, “The Connecticut Office of Health Reform and Innovation will sponsor a showing of The Art of Public Health exhibit at the State Capitol in July. Yeckel and and Bittiner are hopeful that the posters produced in this collaboration The Art of Public Health will go on tour following the Hartford exhibition.”