MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Information about COVID-19 has been circling around social media. Many come from medical practitioners, frontline workers, and so much more. But to make it easier to understand, infographics and illustrations are being created to send the message across effectively.
This pandemic has inspired artists, illustrators, and designers around the world to create visuals on what the virus really is, and what people can do to avoid it. So here’s a list of some of the inspiring work we’ve come across.
1. Hydra Design Group
Hydra Design Group, a Philippine-based design supergroup composed of Plus63 Design Co., Inksurge, The Acid House, and KM Interior Design, created a series of graphics that show what they’ve been doing while inside their homes, and what they want others to do as well.
2. Uncurated Studio
Another design studio who did the same was Cagayan De Oro’s Uncurated Studio. They illustrated preventive measures to avoid spreading the virus.
3. Jap Mikel
The metro and other parts of the Philippines is in lockdown as a precautionary measure, which resulted to daily wage earners being forced to stay where they are and making it difficult for them to earn a living. This made Filipino illustrator Jap Mikel create posters about the country’s current situation.
4. Brent Sabas
Limited supply of testing kits is causing unrest between the local government and the community in the Philippines. Filipino illustrator Brent Sabas created a posters about the country’s current situation.
5. Lockdown Lab
Lockdown Lab is a community for open-source solutions and hacks against the COVID-19 virus. They share resources and survival tips for the lockdown caused by the pandemic. And also to help people understand and be aware of the gravity of this virus.
6. Rocio Egio Studio & Ana Duje
On the other side of the world, Switzerland-based Rocio Egio Studio and Argentinian illustrator Ana Duje, kickstarted an online movement called the #coronaretreat. This hashtag challenges designers and illustrators around the world to create visuals based on the preventive measures of COVID-19, and how people can cope while isolated inside their own homes. By tagging illustrator friends on instagram to do the same, this hashtag follows what people have been up to and what they’re doing to prevent the further spread of the virus.
7. Martyna Wójcik-Śmierska
In Poland, designer Martyna Wójcik-Śmierska created her version of COVID-19 poster series.
8. Pawel Jonca
Another Polish designer Pawel Jonca, shares his daily art describing what his life is like in quarantine every day.
9. Andre Levy
Andre Levy’s typographic poster shows what a person can do at home. The illustrations are the letters that form the phrase ‘STAY HOME’.
10. Dani Maiz
Meanwhile, German Illustrator Dani Maiz draws ‘pills’ of information to remember during this pandemic – one of them a reminder to enjoy time at home.
11. Fotini Tikkou
Unlike most designers and illustrators, Fotini Tikkou takes her art a different way. She describes the quirky upsides of being at home during this crisis.
12. Valerie Liu
On the other hand, Valerie Liu illustrates her thoughts and talks about how it’s important to check up on yourself while practicing isolation because at the end of the day, mental health is just as important as physical health.
13. Kurzgesagt
Kurzgesagt, meaning ‘in a nutshell’ in German, is a Munich-based design studio that formed a Youtube channel to create vibrant motion graphics videos about everything that is Science. Because of the COVID-19 crisis, they made a detailed video explaining what the virus is, what it does, and how it came to be. The colorful graphics and story makes it fun to watch and easy to understand, even for children.
Now that people are forced to isolate, they are now turning in to art and creativity to remain sane during this tough time. Whether it be a visual diary, a poster, or even a video, this has made it possible for everyone to understand easily how we can prevent the virus from spreading any further. There are many creatively-driven people who are using their passion to create engaging work, but turning this social isolation and sadness into beauty and belief is something everyone is doing to cope as the pandemic further tightens its grips on the world.
