Informing Public Health
When the first locally-transmitted dengue fever case in 67 years emerged in Key West, both lives and a $2.7 billion tourism economy were suddenly at risk.
Approximately $21,000 in tax dollars was allocated to the FKMCD to develop informational collateral (ie: newspaper, radio, door hangers, pamphlets, etc) to prompt residents to empty standing water to prevent the spread of dengue in Key West, Fl. The messaging lacked focus and clarity, and left residents confused and apathetic about the dangers of dengue how they could help prevent it.
How could we transform ineffective public health communication into actionable behavior change when residents didn't perceive a threat? This research delivered a plan to help the FKMCD maximize their budget by streamlining production of collateral by promoting a singular message to increase community engagement and reduce the risk of dengue.
Heuristic Evaluation
A review of FKMCD collateral materials revealed disparate messages with no clear call to action, and no brand re-enforcement. The newspaper map graphic (see fig. A) was the latest effort to communicate the risk of dengue fever from water samples taken across the island. The graphic suffered from perceptual, verbal, and contextual issues that ultimately led to increased cognitive effort due to mis-interpretation or mis-understanding of the map resulting in a lack of participation by Key West residents.
fig A: The map required high cognitive effort to decipher.
Disparate messages resulted in a diluted CTA.
Interviews + Contextual Inquiry + Prototype Testing
Key West residents were told that emptying standing water on their property was important, but they were never told WHY.
Our research included in-depth interviews with Key West city officials and residents across diverse neighborhoods, 2 full-day field operator ride-alongs, and prototype testing with 25 local participants. We learned that there were competing perspectives regarding the roles between field operators and residents on how to effectively reduce the risk of dengue.
Field operator’s felt frustrated by the residents’ dependency upon them to test and dump standing water on their properties, while residents simply didn’t understand the importance of emptying standing water because they weren’t told why it was important.
This knowledge gap revealed our core opportunity: transforming confusion into action through education-based messaging that connected larvae to disease risk
fig B: Testing potential copy blocks for new CTA. Residents overwhelmingly chose copy block C.
Field research materials.
We engaged residents to test new CTA copy for the map graphic (see fig B). Of the three options, residents responded to the CTA that clearly stated WHY they should empty standing water…mosquito larvae could reach adulthood and increase the risk of dengue.
Recommendations
Our intervention strategy addressed the three key barriers: awareness, understanding, and action triggers…
Map graphic: The district wasn’t getting much traction with the map, so along with copy changes from the testing feedback, we recommended the adoption of a color spectrum for the map (similar to those seen in weather maps) along with a legend to decipher the colors, and a more prominent location in the newspaper.
Vehicle messaging and print collateral: Embrace and promote FKMCD branding and focus on a singular primary message (ie: “larvae can reach adulthood in 7 days. Empty standing water in your yard every 3–4 days.”)
Trash can tags: Waste collection ran twice a week in Key West. We suggested affixing weather resistant tags to city trash cans as a twice weekly reminder to empty standing water in their yards.
Suggested trash can tags to remind residents to empty standing water.
A detailed case study can be read in the book, Information Design as Principled Action
Research conducted alongside Clinton Carlson