The pandemic is rattling the world and in this situation, visual artists and creative thinkers from across the globe have been putting their best art forward to create awareness and at the same time not induce panic.
Local artist, B. Gowtham, founder of the Chennai-based organization Art Kingdom, decided to leverage his creative thinking to help the Chennai Police to keep the population off the roads.
He felt that since people couldn’t see the severity of the situation, they didn’t follow the rules strictly. And so, he came up with the famous Coronavirus helmet for the cops to wear. So the head-gear he made looked like the image representation of the virus as released by the WHO.
Seeing the measures taken by the police force to keep people indoors, he knew that this collaboration would reduce their work-load and spread awareness about the issue. When he got them on board with his idea, he got to work.
With all the supplies curbed, Gowtham didn’t have much to work with rather than the abundantly stored paper and tissues. So he improvised and used them to create the spikes of the virus. The design in addition to the colour red created an unsettling feeling for anyone who looked at it, helping the artist achieve exactly what he wanted.
He approached Inspector Rajesh Babu with the helmet and the officer was thrilled about the idea. Wearing the helmet, he stopped people in cars or motorcycles, educated them on the importance of staying indoors, wearing masks and the need for social distancing. This sent ripples across the country. The Telangana Police sported similar coronavirus helmets in a rally in Malakpet.
Taking a page out of pop-culture, the Karnataka police force performed the famous ‘coffin dance’ video explaining to people what would happen if they stepped out and did not practice social distancing. Many autos in Chennai wore a new look with alterations made to look like the corona virus.
Another unique invention that’s come out of this pandemic is the literal face mask. A Photographer Binesh from Ettumanoor, Kottayam in Kerala has come up with an interesting way to solve the issue of fear of not being recognized while wearing the mask. In just 15 minutes, the picture of the portion covered by the mask is printed on the mask. Binesh has already sold 3000 masks and has another 5000 orders. Binesh plans on incorporating triple layer and N95 masks as well now.
Binesh’s Masks have become quite famous and now he has orders from Kuwait and even the US. During the lockdown Binesh had to shut down his business and had no income, he hopes he can make up for it now with his unique masks. With masks becoming part and parcel of our lives, he hopes we wear one with a smile – on and under it.
With the concept of touch, becoming a scary experience for all across the world, people are looking at ways to go about their daily lives without touch. Measures like, using the elbows to push buttons, wearing gloves or even carrying a surface disinfectant are being deployed. There are also many creative methods designed by creatives across the globe to battle with, or even cope with this situation.
Cleverly, a mall in Thailand came up with an idea to use foot pedals in place of the buttons in an elevator in order to prevent the spread of the virus and at the same time bring back a sense of normalcy. The customers were initially confused but welcomed it with open hands (no pun intended) eventually.
Be it for business development or to provide solutions to pressing issues, designers all over are using this pandemic induced lockdown to upskill, think, create and solve. These were a few that inspired us. If you’ve come across some interesting design initiatives, share them and get it featured too.
References: https://theblog.adobe.com/designing-for-change/
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/hyderabad-traffic-police-sport-coronavirus-inspired-helmets-to-raise-covid-19-awareness-1663162-2020-04-04
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/30/asia/coronavirus-helmet-chennai-intl-hnk-scli/index.html
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/covid-19-coronavirus-thailand-mall-lift-foot-pedal-12753862
https://www.indiatoday.in/trending-news/story/kerala-photographer-makes-masks-with-your-face-printed-on-it-price-just-rs-60-1682369-2020-05-27
