Design in the time of coronavirus

We’re now at the end of week six of lockdown here in the UK. I feel a certain level of acceptance in this ‘new abnormal’. We are likely to be in a version of this situation for the foreseeable future. That brings with it its own level of uncertainty to get used to.

At the beginning of this crisis, I found stress affected my creativity levels. A friend recommended I keep a diary, but I just couldn’t write it all down, it felt too overwhelming. I managed to find wellbeing resources to share on Miss Grizzly’s new website, and repurposed some of the illustrations from my 2019 PechaKucha talk for social media, but I couldn’t create anything new.

What I did instead was curate a collection of other people’s creative outputs, for inspiration. I’m full of admiration for the imaginative offerings I’ve seen at this time. Creatives have been designing for their own wellbeing, designing to record, and designing to inform.

The Coronavirus explained

I saw this video on Facebook mid-March. It’s a great explainer for children and adults alike. It talks about the science behind the virus and what we need to do to keep ourselves and others safe.

The Coronavirus Explained & What You Should Do by Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell on YouTube

The Gruffalo

The makers of the children’s book The Gruffalo have drawn their characters practising social distancing to help children understand the regulations.

WWF on social media

To help spread the word about social distancing, WWF UK created some friendly graphics for social media, wildlife style!

Give a Sheet?

Two designers repurposed the world’s most in-demand household item into a canvas for detailed illustrations to raise money for WHO’s Covid-19 fund. Creatives Guillaume Roukhomovsky and Blaz Verhnnjack launched Give a Sheet – a platform where artists can sell their works on a sheet of toilet paper.

Masks by © Michele Ravanetti, from Roccabianca, Italy created on day #35 of quarantine.

Oliver Jeffers

The author and illustrator Oliver Jeffers posted this on his Instagram account on March 14 2020. The following day, he started reading his books live every day on the platform ‘until it’s safe to go out again’.

TimeOut New York

TimeOut New York temporarily changed their logo to acknowledge this new reality. On brand, and on point.

The Guinness ad that wasn’t

At first Guinness got all the credit but the brand had nothing to do with the ad. Irish freelance copywriter Luke O’Reilly created the ad as part of a One Minute Briefs challenge and it went viral in 24 hours. The brief was to create pub posters that discourage pub outings. So simple, so clever.

4 ‘harmless’ habits that sap your brain power

Scriberian created this fantastic infographic that sums up common activities we find ourselves doing that could be avoided for better mental wellbeing.

Vic Lee storytelling project

Vic Lee started a storytelling project and launched it on YouTube. He’s intimidatingly good at visual recording. I’m really enjoying seeing his updates on Instagram. Vic’s going to get this made into a hardback book, I’m sure many of us will snap it up as a visual record of this crazy time.

Carry Us Through stamps

Glazier Design Creative Agency has created a set of stamps that will replace all stamps in the Isle of Man for the next month. The theme is to thank the NHS and key workers. What a lovely idea, I hope something similar is rolled out across the UK.

Gary Scribbler

Gary Andrews is an artist I’ve followed on Twitter for a while. He uploads a sketch every day documenting his life as a single parent. They’re often very poignant.