Sunbed

Cancer Research UK Skin Cancer Promotional campaign Brief synopsis: Cancer research UK is particularly concerned by the current high-level use of sunbeds for cosmetic purposes, especially by young people. The task at hand is to create a thought provoking campaign that will be focused around the use of sunbeds and the desire to acquire a tan for fashion or cosmetic purposes.

The reason I chose to undertake this brief is because I was diagnosed with Melanoma cancer less than a year ago, during one of the busiest times of my life, I was faced with the worst type of skin cancer. What makes this so ironic, is that a tan fades and scars don’t. I felt inspired to reach out and let people know the devastating effects of aquiring a tan.

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Photography & Type

As a result of my research and the fact that the shape of my scar was a ‘C’, it provided me with a perfect opportunity to combine type with my scar. Initially I drew up the type digitally and was going to overlay the text on my body, however, drawing the type directly onto my chest proved to be the better option, this was because it allowed the type to follow the size and shape of my chest and gave the text a much more rugged and worn appeal. (synergy with the effects of the sun on skin)

After heavily editing the photographs, I was able to manipulate and disect the text to create a new structure of type for the background of my photography.

The orange overlay represents the desire for a tan and the black and white image reinforces the idea that I’m dying for a tan. The balaclava has been used to suggest that cancer doesn’t discriminate i.e. it doesn’t matter who’s under the mask.

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Inspiration

The amount of primary research I was able to collect during this brief was collosal, I had folders full of numbers and contacts that were able to supply information on every aspect of Skin Cancer, most importantly I was able to include my first-hand experience of the diagnosis. One of the most important factors for me, was my TMG. The campaign ‘Dying for a Tan’ is aimed at young people, specifically 18-30 year olds, this is because rates of malignant melanoma in the UK are rising rapidly.

Effecting those who haven’t had chance to fully experience life and understand its fickleness. Although the effects of cancer are visible cosmetically through scars, people often fail to understand the mental and inner struggle people face because of Cancer. In light of this, I began my research into letterforms (inspired by the success of Mcmillans type). I wanted to create a bold and striking aesthetic. The bottom-right image displays my initial attempts at creating a personal type.

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Campaign promotion

The reasoning behind using such a heavily based type background for the campaign posters, is that it represents the thoughts and emotions that go through your mind once you’ve been in this position, it provides the public with all of the emotional questioning that should be done prior to obtaining a tan, not after.

As you can see from the two images following the paste-ups, the campaign re-inforces different aspects of skin cancer, (as oppose to just promoting that it’s a bad thing). When a passer-by stood infront of the advertisement, there facial features would be placed behind the balaclava suggesting that cancer doesn’t discriminate. If it were to be a real world campaign I’d also have to use a female model as skin cancer doesn’t just effect genders.

The bottom-left image and the image following show a billboard that will advertise around the clock, even when dark, I’ve took into consideration that this could be a distraction to motorists so the light emitted would only be activated with a soft light.

The bottom-right image displays the roof of a sunbed, the idea was that this campaign would be introduced into sunbed shops. The bed would appear perfectly normal until the UV goggles are worn, this would show the following image, giving the impression that the customer is lying in his own grave rather than a sunbed.

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Route 1 Route 2

Web presence

Now that my campaign was active in the public space, I also needed to make all of the information accessible in the public domain. Therefore I designed a website that would involve my target audience, I feel this was successful because it allows a level of interactivity that other ‘Cancer’ sites do not offer, especially toward the younger sufferers.

On the homepage of the website, you are able to take two different route’s.

Route 1 consists of scolling down to reveal all of the information you require to broaden your knowledge of skin cancer, this information is aimed at the more serious visitors. Whereas Route 2 appeals to the more casual user, allowing people to discover ‘real-life’ stories by hovering there mouse over the text background.

If the user hovers over my scar, it will go white, signifying a link to my own personal struggle. The sub-page to this link is shown on the bottom-right.

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