48 Hour Design Innovation Workshop
Tokyo, 23-25 November 2008
Team See
Know your Way: awareness campaign
The issue
Disasters are not selective, they strike people of different ages, capabilities and beliefs. They often come undetected, giving people only a split second to escape.
Every year, governmental institutions update disaster-related legislation and training. People are taught to be prepared, but they rarely imagine that their survival skills will be put to the test. Consequently, when a disaster occurs, people are often so shocked and panicked that their reaction and movement times slow down.
There are different strategies for surviving disasters, and a quick escape is of high importance. The government provides legislation to ensure that every building has well-verified and signposted fire escapes. When the evacuation infrastructure is in place, people are responsible to become familiar with any exit strategy.
What is it?
The team worked with Masumi, a university administrator who is partially sighted. Drawing on her experience as a blind person who needs to have a detailed plan and a mental image of every movement she makes, the team found that knowing the precise position of a building's exit points, and how to get to them, can save lives when a person is in an unknown environment or in dust, smoke or darkness.
The team believes that the best way to raise awareness about survival strategies is through a clear and well-implemented campaign. The UK-based Clean Your Hands campaign and the Japanese Okashimo campaign are examples of successful campaigns. Know Your Way campaign, stresses the importance of preparing and establishing a mental image of exits in a building and how to get to them.
The campaign logo is represented in Japanese kanji characters. In direct translation it means 'knowledge leads your way out'. The team used international signage iconography as the basis of the design. Also, because the character resembles a person, the logo works across languages.
Because a crucial action in the event of a disaster is to remain calm, the logo is in blue, which signifies calmness in Japanese. The logo design works in low and high-resolution formats.
The Know Your Way campaign is inclusive as it applies to people of different ages and capabilities and in different disaster scenarios. If well received, the Know Your Way campaign could be implemented in various formats, such as cartoons, computer and board games and soap operas.
Know your way and save your life!
