Maryland Institute College of Art

Baltimore’s Daily Business Record reported today on a public-service ad campaign created by a team of Graphic Design MFA students and alumni. Read the whole story at Daily Business Record.

The ads are displayed on 14 bus shelters and 90 bus interiors. They promote Baltimore HealthCare Access Inc., which helps citizens get access to health care and to understand what is available to them.

“We used to only get a handful of calls a week,” said Kathy Westcoat, president of BHCA. “Now, we get about 20 calls a day.”

The campaign was generated by MICA’s Center for Design Practice, directed by Mike Weikert (GD MFA 2005) with Joe Galbreath (2009) and Christina Beard (2011), Beth Taylor (2011), and Supisa Wattanasansanee (2011). The team came up with the slogan “My health is important because I care about my _______. It’s your health. It’s your call,” paired with five different images, representing family, career, baby, future and community.

“The process is research heavy,” said student Christina Beard, 28, who was the photographer on the project. “We were spending a lot of time with the clients and [learning about] what speaks to them.”

“Trying to figure out what language — verbal and visual — would best convey [how they felt],” said Taylor. “We needed to steer away from being heavy handed, condescending or cheesy.”

The campaign also features 716 radio slots. MICA developed the script.