malin bengtsson
Thesis
What: Design-oriented bachelor's thesis
When: 2023
Target group: Swedish sexually active young adults (aged 18-29)
Objective: To explore how visual communication may be used in order to encourage sexually active young adults to get tested for STD's
Challenges: One of the biggest challenges was figuring out how to communicate about a sensitive and somewhat stigmatized topic in an appealing way. I based my design work off of a frame of reference that dived into sexual health and risk-taking, health communication, cultural aspects and behavioural design, and combined this with a preliminary study that sought to gain an understanding of the target group's relation to and experience with getting tested. This led way to a design process, where multiple rounds of brainstorming followed by evaluations of themes and concepts eventually produced two concepts to be user tested. One of the concepts performed better in the user tests, and was chosen to be finished and developed into a campaign consisting of three ads.
Translation of final design copy: Even sexier when you get tested afterwards. Sometimes STDs are spread despite safety precautions. Get tested with every new partner to catch and treat them early on. Order a home test today via klamydia.se, or go to umo.se or 1177.se to read more about how and where to get tested.
See the published paper here.