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Powerpoint-like health messaging for Camel Convoys: Graphic Design for Maternal Health

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At the Art Center for Design DesignMatters program, the students do not shy away from employing design in the most remote places.  How about teaching HIV prevention and family planning to nomadic communities who travel by camel convoy? The students worked with the Mpala/Nomadic Community Trust, a mobile clinic in Kenya that reaches these isolated populations with camel convoys.   How would you translate key messages into a powerpoint-like messaging system tailored to this population? The students tackled the issues in truly creative ways, putting together a grandmothers' kit for teaching about HIV, a set of imprinted 'coins' with pictographs, a small pouch for distributing key commodities and this, probably my favorite, a simple cloth-based slide show with beautifully depicted messages about family planning.  The level of thought that went into designing this information, education and communication for this particular community coupled with the high quality of the product is evident in the tactile nature and artefact-like quality of some the materials.  See Images Speak for a full description of the students' process and results.