To make content to share the campaigns message.
A series of square graphics for social media or print.
Print it and post it.
Share it on social media. #FreeTheVaccine #PeoplesVaccine
They were shared often, as well as printed and wheatpasted in public spaces.
July, 2020
Image/graphic, Online/web thing, Print
United States, Seattle
1500 x 1500 px
As a project, Goodnight Stories for Rebel Scientists aimed both to start conversations with scientists and incentivize them to sign the Open COVID Pledge. As an interesting project/piece of art the book was meant to captivate the attention of scientists we reached out to. Then it aimed to incentivize them by offering recognition of their work by including them among a collection of other important figures, IF they signed the OCP or worked in some other way to free the COVID-19 vaccine.
Goodnight Stories for Rebel Scientists is the beginning of a book that tells the tales of scientists and access to medicines champions who worked diligently to end the COVID-19 pandemic in a just and equitable way. The book is a series of square images. The front cover is dark blue with the title “Goodnight Stories for Rebel Scientists” with drawn images of a syringe, the COVID-19 virus, an erlenmeyer flask, and a face wearing a mask. Following the cover are entries for two scientists, Hanneke Schuitemaker and Marion Koopmans. Each entry has a story written about the scientist and a portrait of them made by different artists. The last page of the book draft features an email written to the featured scientists asking for their help finishing their story in the book and to sign the Open COVID Pledge.
Make a version for your target.
The project helped us get the attention of Marion Koopman’s assistant. It also brought us in contact with access to medicines champion Ellen ‘t Hoen who gave our group instrumental advice in carrying forward with the campaign and who will also be featured in the book.
July, 2020
Netherlands, Amsterdam
2658 X 2658 pixels
Download Original/High-Resolution File: 0001.jpg, 0002.jpg, 0003.jpg, 0004.jpg, 0005.jpg, 0006.jpg, 0007.jpg, 0008.jpg
The project was inspired by the book Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls which shares the stories and work of important women throughout time.
What skills or perspectives did the collaborators bring to this?
Each collaborator brought different skills from art, design, writing, and organizing.
What would be your next steps, building on this idea, if you had a million dollars and all the time and skills in the world?
If we had a million dollars and all the time in the world we would turn this project into a printed book with entries of all the important figures in access to medicines. We’d also commission portraits for each entry and support artists around the world.
This poster references Tinder by using the word “match,” a flame symbol similar to the Tinder logo, and a pink/orange gradient similar to the Tinder colors.
The objective is to get students to question the role of patents in the pandemic and to ask their university to sign the Open COVID Pledge.
June, 2020
United States, Phoenix
1728 x 2304 pixels
Download Original/High-Resolution File: PatentsandPandemicsRevised.png
People familiar with Tinder were immediately able to get the reference and found it amusing! Hopefully, this means it can effectively catch students’ eyes on a university campus.
What was the process/journey of creating this work?
I created a draft, modified it using the feedback of other Free The Vaccine participants, and then submitted it for review by Avram Finkelstein. Using Avram’s feedback, I then revised the poster again. I also added a QR code created by Fiona Davey.
What would be your next steps, building on this idea, if you had a million dollars and all the time and skills in the world?
If I had unlimited resources, I could imagine having giant posters installed all over university campuses. (We could modify the ask as needed, but continue using the concept of patents and public health/pandemics/coronavirus being a “bad match,” and continue using the pink/orange color scheme and flame symbol.)
Print it and post it.
Share it on social media. #FreeTheVaccine #PeoplesVaccine
The goal of the postcard was to get the attention of Pittsburgh researchers (and some administration staff), in order to start a conversation/rally some support for the Open Covid Pledge. We all know how easy it is to ignore emails these days, and we thought the personalized design and hand-written messages would be a better way to get through to our targets.
An XL, originally-designed postcard. One side has “Bridge The Gap” along with the Free The Vaccine logo printed at the top. Below there is a typical Pittsburgh bridge and the Cathedral of Learning building. On the bridge walks a researcher holding a syringe (presumably with a COVID vaccine inside). She is giving the vaccine to the public, who is displayed by a series of hands reaching up. The other side also has the FTV logo and says “Pittsburgh: Home of Vaccines for the People!” There is a a short blurb about the Salk legacy and the Open Covid Pledge, and then blank space for a hand-written message!
Print some and send them.
Make it specific to your community.
Crafting the message on the back of the card was a helpful exercise. By forcing ourselves to condense our message into a short few sentences, we were able to see more clearly exactly why and what we want from our targets.
June, 2020
United States, Pittsburgh
5.5 x 8.5 inches
Download Original/High-Resolution File: FTV-postcard-6-20-v2-1.pdf
What skills or perspectives did the collaborators bring to this?
Each of the collaborators brought a different set of skills to designing this postcard. Some of us are Pittsburgh locals, and knew how to best capture some of the classic features of the city. Some of us have experience in design, and helped with the graphics of the card. And some of us contributed to the text on the back of the card, to make sure we could quickly and effectively get our message across.
The objective behind the video was to raise awareness of UT’s role in the pandemic, to raise awareness of the petition, and to move university researchers to sign it.
“Push the University of Texas to Openly Share Their Research for COVID-19” is the title of my video on YouTube. The video itself is a music parody of “What a Wonderful World It Would Be [if we freed the vaccine]”, targeting the University of Texas Pharmacy department and representatives from AskBio pharmaceuticals.
Share it on social media. #FreeTheVaccine #PeoplesVaccine
Make a version for your target.
The quality of the video and audio (and singing!) wasn’t too shabby. I was very limited to my equipment and space (and singing capabilities), but I managed to produce the video very simply in one day. It could have been even simpler and it still would have been effective. Making a music parody was not as hard as I initially imagined. So, having just made it, whether or not it got the response I desired, was still a success in itself.
June, 2020
United States, Austin
1920×1080
According to UT, “researchers are racing to develop innovations in fields like virology, immunology, epidemiology and medical engineering to support the fight against COVID-19” (giving.utexas.edu/covid-research/). They have already developed and licensed an innovative vaccine delivery method to AskBio pharmaceutical (hnews.utexas.edu/2020/03/04/new-delivery-method-could-transform-vaccine-distribution-to-remote-developing-areas/).
I believe UT should pledge to make their intellectual property available free of charge for use in ending the COVID-19 pandemic and minimizing the impact of the disease! So instead of just posting online about our petition for UT students/staff/professors and other members of the Austin community to sign urging UT to join other heroic companies and universities in making the Open Covid Pledge (opencovidpledge.org)… I thought instead that I would try to make an eye-catching video with the hopes of gaining more traction on social media.
What would be your next steps, building on this idea, if you had a million dollars and all the time and skills in the world?
I would love a team who could simply help me make social media posts on a regular basis, with targeting popular groups/individuals on social media who might be interested in sharing our video, and with taking other measures for making the video go viral. It would be cool to make the process of sharing the video more interactive, where students/staff/professors at UT in particular could be part of the fun and voice their own opinion rather than merely sharing/re-posting our video. It might mean remaking the video and getting students/staff/professors to lip-synch (see next reflection question).
If someone else were going to make/use/do something like this, what advice would you give them?
I had to unfortunately make this video on my own, but I believe it would be so much more effective if I had a team of people, videos showcasing different UT students/staff/professors lip-synching. For example, the #JoleneVaccineChallenge by another team with Free the Vaccine was very popular (they also made a parody using Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” song to target Vanderbilt University).
Raise awareness in Boston (home of many academic/pharma labs) that we should be concerned about access to Covid technologies and that Free The Vaccine exists!
This work was inspired by Avram Finklestein’s lessons on poster creation. I wanted to create something that was succinct, eye-catching, and region specific. The font and donut messaging is a spoof on the Bostonian love for Dunkin Donuts. The “masshole” messaging was inspired by a political add which caught attention by using the phrase “we’re massholes, not assholes”.
Print some and send them.
Make it specific to your community.
It connects with popular culture.
June, 2020
United States, Boston
346×500 png
Download Original/High-Resolution File: MassholesRecto.png, MasholesVerso-1.png
This is a conceptual post card that hasn’t been printed and sent yet. We could write individualized messages and send to targets in the future.
To target the Technical Transfer Office at the University of Texas, I decided to make a gift box. Representatives at the office were not responding to my emails or phone calls, so I decided to go with generous snail mail. The gift boxes I made included handmade masks with the Free the Vaccine logo on it and coffee cups with the University of Texas logo on them (except I changed their tagline from “What starts here changes the world” to “What starts here SAVES the world”. It also included beautiful flyer of the Open Covid Pledge, article from the World Health Organization advocating for the pledge, and an imaginary cover of TIME Magazine with UT Pharmacy’s faces (see images).
Make a version for your target.
The main objective was to get representatives from the Technical Transfer Office at the University of Texas to respond to me, so that we can start a discussion about the Open Covid Pledge, on how to pledge making their research for COVID-19 free / available to all and how to make their therapeutics for COVID-19 sustainably priced. My tactic was to take a generous approach, to show that the Austin community deeply cares about their researchers’ efforts in ending the pandemic.
June, 2020
United States, Austin
N/A
Download Original/High-Resolution File: IMG_6365-3.09.19-PM.jpg
This was one of my first attempts to “craftivism,” as inspired by Sarah Corbett.
What was the process/journey of creating this work?
As mentioned above, I watched Sarah Corbett’s TED Talk on “craftivism”. This really inspired me to make a gift box for my targets. I did not really personalize the crafts to the targets themselves, but will try this the next time. Meaning, I will do more research on the targets – their interests, hobbies, history, etc. – and incorporate these elements into the crafts.
What were some of the responses to this work?
Unfortunately, I still did not get a response from the Technical Transfer Office. I actually cannot even confirm if they received the packages. Hence why I am considering sending another gift box…
Create language to support the larger goal of ensuring that publicly funded COVID meds are available to everyone, sustainably priced, and free at the point of delivery.
This a slogan anyone can use in the campaign for a People’s Vaccine.
Put it on a poster.
Share it on social media. #FreeTheVaccine #PeoplesVaccine
It builds on the phrase “in this together,” which was especially popular during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Borrowing familiar language connects our work to words and ideas on other people’s minds. It also offers a gentle critique by showing what being “in this together” really needs to look like.
May, 2020
,
11 words
This was a poster created to be used as a way to gain support for the Free the Vaccine campaign from the general public.
This image is a red square poster. At the top in a darker red the words say “You wouldn’t pay for a hot dog twice…” The word twice is in a light pink for emphasis. Below those words is an image of a hot dog. Below the hot dog are more words in a dark red that say, “So why would you for a vaccine?” In the bottom right corner in a white cursive font is “#FreetheVaccine.”
Share it on social media. #FreeTheVaccine #PeoplesVaccine
Make it specific to your community.
Make it a performance: ask people to pay twice for something.
An early metaphor for the “paying twice” idea we hope to communicate.
May, 2020
Image/graphic, Online/web thing
United States, Grand Rapids
Scaleable Vector Graphic
The idea for this poster came from an idea that Aly Bancroft had in a Mentor meeting.
Pressure the Researcher, or the University as a whole, to sign the Open Covid Pledge.
Sports-style trading cards depicting University Researchers, customized with their photo, school colors, and achievements as stats listed on the back. The cards were sent to the researchers, as well as the President or Chancellor of their University, with yarn pom poms and a hand written note asking them to sign the Open Covid Pledge.
Make a version for your target.
Invent a game to play with them.
The cards were eye-catching but also easy to send by mail (as social distancing is still happening on campus).
May, 2020
United States, Los Angeles
2.5″x3.5″
We targeted UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) and USC (University of Southern California) because there is a long-standing sports rivalry between the two universities, which are both in the city of Los Angeles.