Illustration: Aysha Tengiz for Fine Acts x OBI
Insights from behavioral, cognitive and neuroscience studies tell us that opinions change NOT through more information and dry facts – but by empathetic and compelling experiences, visual communications and effective storytelling. That’s where visuals come in: our brains are hardwired for visual content. Coupling our campaigns with powerful imagery can help us get attention, facilitate retaining information, and provoke an emotional response and action.
But how to know which are the right visuals for your next human rights or environmental campaign? Below are some tips based on our multi-year work with hundreds of artists and nonprofits. We’ve written these mainly with illustrations in mind, but they very much apply to other forms of visual art, such as photos, videos, etc., that accompany our campaigns and communications.
Consider your context. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. As a rule, art has the potential to communicate important messages in a creative, impactful and engaging way; and powerful visual content on social issues raises visibility and engagement, and fosters understanding and empathy. However, depending on your context, a visual could be truly effective or have no impact at all. More than anything here, consider your audience and what content would resonate with it.
Don’t forget about representation: Do the people in your creative reflect the diversity of your audience? Are you reinforcing gender or racial stereotypes with your visuals? What we’ve seen again and again is that reflecting your target audience in your visuals is key to getting your message across. It’s much easier for someone to imagine themselves engaging with your campaign if they see someone that looks like them represented in your campaign creatives. Various A/B tests we’ve performed with illustration sets across geographies showed us that in each country different visuals triggered engagement, depending on the familiarity of the characters in the creative and which ones they could associate more with. Reflecting your community in the visuals you use can mean thinking about gender, religion, race, disability, sexual orientation etc. Overall, it is not advisable to use generic illustrations or stock photos.
Diversify your visual imagery: Different types of imagery and visual symbols emotionally appeal to your different audiences. Our tests have shown that in some countries, the classic protest pose imagery received more engagement, while in other countries, other less used types of imagery and symbols were more appreciated. Always test the visual imagery that you use to see what gets more engagement.
Inspire hope and awe: When choosing your visuals, whenever possible make sure that the artwork does not rely on a dry, edifying, dark or aggressive tone, but on the contrary – it connects on a human level by provoking empathy, it empowers and inspires hope. Don’t use visuals that simply reflect the direness of a situation, or ‘what it is’ – be more interested in what ‘it could be’. Aim at inspiration, excitement, bringing hope, activation, aspiration.
Craft effective slogans: When crafting your slogans, don't just tell people what you oppose, also tell them what you stand for. Use hope-based communications in your messages and slogans to share your vision. People want to join something bigger themselves and be part of the change. Also, make sure to align the copy you are using with your visual/illustration. The copy should not repeat, but should complement the illustration. Avoid using slogans that are too obvious, or include possible trigger words that could lead to getting your post banned on social media.
Consider these tips next time when you’re commissioning an artist, or when you are selecting an illustration from our unique platform for free social impact visuals TheGreats.co – published under an open license and allowing non-commercial use and adaptation.
Want to know more about effective visuals? Dive straight into Seeing Hope – our visual messaging guide for human rights developed in collaboration with Thomas Coombes of hope-based comms. It offers the human rights movement a new visual vocabulary, one that shows what it looks like to enjoy and spread human rights, and promotes the core ideas – kindness, empathy and shared humanity – that underpin support for human rights policies.