The Lesser Evil: Real Choices to Confront HIV's Drivers

Wow there are a lot of negative comments here. I think this infographic is actually pretty good. Of course there are ways it could be improved and expanded upon, but I don't necessarily think it deserves to be so blatantly rude and elitist about the construction and design choices made. In fact, it's more than a little disheartening to see other users tear down work that people have spent their time and energy on in pursuit of a good cause. I like the color scheme and, newsflash, just because your super tech-savvy self thinks a power fist graphic is "overused" does not necessarily mean it will be perceived as such by the target audience, a group who has infrequent and/or limited access to the internet and thus less exposure to the supposed plethora of power fists flooding the infographic scene and ruining everything with their simple, clear and unmistakable message. Oh wait, could that actually be of benefit? I think that people here are getting a little too technical with their complaints about fonts and specific background schemes and forgetting that the point of an infographic, while it should catch the eye and be easy to interpret, is to INFORM. As riagpal has commented, the infographic is seeking to reach the most at-risk and likely the least accessible audiences, something many of the competitors failed to do. I also notice that while criticism abounds, no alternative solutions or helpful suggestions are offered to improve the work. This was not made by graphic designers with access to expensive programs and software-- it was created by unpaid college students with no disposable income or budget to spend and no one giving them pointers. However, in the spirit of change and social justice, GlobeMed at University of Rochester is seeking to be on the frontlines of social change, to take action and participate in the change it is advocating, regardless of what font, background or particularly cliche icon it has employed herein. "Never underestimate the ability of a small group of committed individuals to change the world...Indeed, they are the only ones who ever have."- Margaret Mead

good luck guys

definitely a novel perspective, and an important one to keep in mind. great idea :)

Thanks, neilsen! :]

Hmmm, while I can't say whether this poster will influence its intended target audience, I do think it is innovative. riagpal, it seems like you are trying to reach out to those who are vulnerable to the disease, while other posters focus on statistics for an audience who might not be as susceptible. While there is no right way to design a great poster, yours stands out in its unique audience choice. Good job.

Thanks so much for the encouragement!

I'm agreeing with sfpedsign. While I definitely appreciate your effort, and am very into the concept of representing information in a non elite way, this infographic really does nothing to support that claim. It's very uninspiring design wise and has absolutely no nuance. How is this different than any other infographic? Does this really present the information about this data in a new way? There is more to data/aesthetics than icons and text, its about making meaningful, visual connections between those elements, not just representing them with icons that can be easily downloaded from the internet. Many infogprahics in this competition are actually guilty of taking that route. Big fonts and icons. So what? This competition asked for describing this kind of information in a new, distinct way.

Hi lisachi1414, you're definitely right in that the final version needs to be much enhanced from what's presented here - visually, it's incredibly simple, and we hope to ultimately present something that is more striking (and more informative!) than what we had the resources to produce during this contest. Once the group is back at school (at the beginning of September), we'll have several more designers, access to programs, etc., and we can assure any skeptics that we'll be much more capable then. The graphics will change. What we hoped to convey, as you mentioned, was a non-elite infographic that would actually present and humanize the difficulties faced by the women targeted in this competition- something that, for all of the variety in this contest, we did not think was as clearly communicated in other entries.

I find the background pattern really distracting and I don't think Sketch Rockwell was the right typographic choice for a serious topic like this. Moreover, I would like to know what the point of the arrow motif is because right now I just don't see it. Oh and you could at least try to be a little more creative with the graphics; the Power Fist is overused and the rest seems like men & women bathroom signs that show no real effort put in by the designer in making them.

Hi sfpdesign, thanks for your input. To address your concerns: our intention with the font (as well as the color scheme) was to create a less academic feel - to make it attractive and easily understood to those who are not interested in HIV jargon. That it could take away from the gravity of the situation is a valid concern, and something we had not considered. The purpose of the arrow motif was to emphasize the direction that it should be read, rather than simply from top to bottom or left to right. If we win, we'll definitely work to find clearer ways to emphasize that. The graphics are another example of that; we are a student group, and considering that the infographic team was all over the country, had no budget, and very limited access to design programs, our goal was to present a rough draft of our perspective: namely, that the infographics do not do justice to the choices that the women must face, and that they are not easily read and absorbed by those who might benefit most from the information (in this case, women in rural areas of developing nations). Again, thanks for your input.

If you haven't already, please check out the full version of our rough draft here: http://postimage.org/image/eejlqib85/

Hm, what's the concept here? This one seems to be really lacking... What's new/innovative?

Our infographic seeks to fulfill two objectives: 1) To speak directly to the women within these oppressive environments through simple language and relatable situations with the goal that we can appeal to them with solutions that reflect their values and the difficulty of the choices they must make. 2) To communicate to the educated public the profound difficulty of the circumstances that these women are in as we demonstrate that their choices are never of right from wrong but from the greater of two goods or the lesser of two evils. - There exists a lot of information on the structural drivers of HIV that speaks to the educated public but in the way its communicated, it's too general, too vague, and too visually convoluted to be understood by the people who actually need it. - Visually, while the connections between the drivers do show the complexity of these situations, they do not show the perpetual state of ambivalence that these women are in with the choices they are forced to make. - We are aware that our infographic does not do justice to all the dimensions of the issue. This is targeted primarily to the women within these environments, and we deliberately prioritized micro-level/relatable circumstances over macro variables - with the belief that the women are more to likely to visually process, appreciate and remember this info. Thank you for the interest!

- There exists a lot of information on the structural drivers of HIV that speaks to the educated public but in the way it's communicated, it's too general, too vague and too visually convoluted to be understood by the people who actually need it. - Visually, while the connections between the drivers do show the complexity of these situations, they do not show the perpetual state of ambivalence that these women are in with the choices they are forced to make. - We are aware that our infographic does not do justice to all the dimensions of the issue. This is targeted primarily to the women within these environments, so we deliberately prioritized micro-level/relatable circumstances over macro variables - with the belief that the women are more to likely to visually process, appreciate and remember this info.

GOOD LUCK COUSIN RHETT

major. boss. sauce.

OMG THIS IS SO COOL YAYAYAYAYAY

View our full sketch at http://postimage.org/image/eejlqib85/ Note: due to time constraints, limited access to design programs, etc., we were only able to put the infographic's core feature on this sketch--its "first person" approach and emphasis on microlevel circumstances. If we win, we will add graphics to represent the interventions (such as getting tested and going to school) as well as concrete statistics about HIV at the bottom that quantify the impact of the situations described above.