Design study, Public Safety
Ready Before It Happens
A self-initiated design study: Get households to make a family plan, build a basic kit, and sign up for local emergency alerts.
These are self-initiated studies, not client work. Each is a fictional campaign; none was commissioned by, produced for, or approved by any agency or organization.
The brief
- Line of business
- Public Safety
- Audience
- Households, especially renters and multilingual families, who do not yet have an emergency plan or kit.
- Objective
- Get households to make a family plan, build a basic kit, and sign up for local emergency alerts.
- When and where
- Tuesdays in September | 6 pm, Neighborhood libraries
Concept A: Where Will You Meet 12
Starts with the hardest question in an emergency, how you will find your family, to make planning feel urgent. Type style.
Concept B: Kit From Home 12
Breaks a kit into items most people already own, like water, food, meds, and a flashlight, so it feels doable. Scene style.
Concept C: Alerts Over Rumors 12
Contrasts official alerts with the neighborhood group chat, a gentle jab that pushes people to sign up. Grid style.
Spanish adaptation of Where Will You Meet 12
The first direction adapted rather than translated: the headline, supporting line, and call to action rewritten in Spanish, with the layout reflowed for the longer text. Type style.
What was checked
Every one of the 48 pieces was checked as it was composed. The lowest text contrast measured anywhere in this study is 4.82 to 1, against a minimum of 4.5 to 1. Type sizes are in the units of each format: pixels for digital formats, and for print, units of the drawing at the sizes shown.
| Format | Minimum type size | Smallest set | Lowest contrast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poster, 18 by 24 inches | 11 | 13.2 | 4.82 to 1 |
| Flyer, letter | 11 | 13.5 | 4.82 to 1 |
| Social story, vertical | 13 | 13.0 | 4.82 to 1 |
| Retractable banner | 10 | 10.0 | 4.82 to 1 |
| Display ad, 160 by 600 | 10 | 10.0 | 4.82 to 1 |
| Social post, square | 13 | 13.2 | 4.82 to 1 |
| Display ad, 300 by 250 | 10 | 10.0 | 4.82 to 1 |
| Postcard, 6 by 4 inches | 13 | 13.2 | 4.82 to 1 |
| Event cover | 12 | 12.0 | 4.82 to 1 |
| Billboard | 12 | 12.0 | 4.82 to 1 |
| Email header | 11 | 11.0 | 4.82 to 1 |
| Display ad, 728 by 90 | 10 | 10.0 | 4.82 to 1 |