VACCINATE PASADENA

About the Project

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In partnership with the Pasadena Public Health Department (PPHD) and with a grant from the Rose Hills Foundation, this Designmatters studio challenged ArtCenter students to co-create a community-based campaign to encourage caregivers and parents to vaccinate their children ages 6 months to11 years in a specific Black and Latinx Pasadena neighborhood.

Project Brief

In the Spring of 2022, with a grant from the Rose Hills Foundation, ArtCenter transdisciplinary students worked in partnership with the Pasadena Public Health Department (PPHD) to co-create an effective Covid vaccination campaign for children 6 months to 11 years that targets caregivers and parents in a specific Black and Latinx Pasadena neighborhood. 

With a goal of an increased childhood vaccination rates and to instill trust in PPHD, students immersed themselves into the community and learned from on-the-ground subject matter experts including promotoras, lay health advocates and community clinic workers. Employing traditional and non-traditional media and methods, the students’ campaign engages children but also resonates with adults with the goal of countering their vaccination hesitancy and mistrust within the medical community.

On-the-ground field observations

Field work thrust the students in their target neighborhood where they would seek common ground with residents, gather important data points and find connections that would provide foundational insights for their concepts. 

Students had the opportunity to meet and learn from the work of promotoras; PPHD originated this on-the-ground program to help improve Covid vaccination rates in Pasadena. As lay health workers, promotoras are individuals who promote public health initiatives in underserved neighborhoods where mistrust and misinformation often occurs. Promotoras are familiar with the culture and local history of the area as well as speak the language of the community.

Teams observed promotoras in action, watching how face-to-face, interpersonal connections highlighted the importance of listening, asking permission, speaking a shared language and offering help when appropriate. Through the promotoras, residents felt more relaxed and talked freely about their fears, hopes and dreams. As the face of PPHD in the community, promotoras present to residents a compassionate side to an institution that was often thought of as a faceless government entity that didn’t really care about them.

Teams observed how local flyers were displayed at popular super markets and libraries. Students also visited playgrounds, farmers’ markets, community centers, sports fields, and more. At PPHD outreach events, students watched and listened how residents responded to health issues. Students witnessed how health topics became emotional moments reflecting the deep love parents/caregivers had for their children and community. 

With each field visit, teams came to witness the barriers to vaccination, and knew that accessibility and building trust was vital to a successful campaign. Additionally, students kept their eyes open to possible partners in their projects who could further validate the messaging.

Teams knew their campaigns should not be heavy-handed or use fearful language. While the parents/caregivers were the final target, the campaigns needed to attract the attention of the children who would see the value of vaccinations. The campaign needed to be fun and colorful, engaging and unique enough for this community, but broad enough to possibly be incorporated elsewhere in Pasadena.

In the classroom, students engaged in exercises and design discussions as they uncovered more insights and research facts. They examined what made past campaigns successful for PPHD, noting how awareness fed into engagement. They reviewed best methods for communicating digitally as well as using traditional media.

Documentary filmmaker John Hoffman presented the students with storytelling foundations which could be incorporated into their final projects. By using personal stories, the campaign could speak directly to the recipients, meeting them on safe ground.

After a few weeks, students presented their Research Findings to PPHD. Teams shared their goals, initial insights and messaging along with a few rough conceptual directions. PPHD suggested how teams could alter their design-thinking approach to move their concepts forward. Social media exposure was discussed at length; how can this communication tool be included to reach the appropriate demographic? What are the benefits of a tangible, non-digital solution?

Overall, the session reinforced key points of accessibility and trust-building along with the power of human interactions.

As they moved closer to mid-terms students expanded their concepts, continued research and community engagement.

Eager to have informative feedback, student teams presented retooled concepts at the midterm to PPHD where they recapped the challenge, synthesized their research into insights and offered design strategies for engagement. Sharing prototype mock-ups, teams also offered possible communication methods, campaign timeline and partnerships. Students also considered how promotoras would use and incorporate the various materials in their day-to-day interactions with residents.

PPHD examined the strengths and weaknesses of the concepts along with emphasizing aspects where teams could continue to explore. Students were reminded to keep the goal of increased childhood vaccination as their guide and to design the message in ways that are simple and direct while being child and community-friendly.

Fueled with the critique, teams returned to their projects with a renewed sense; some realized a need to refocus their design-thinking, others went deeper into their concepts. All were energized to incorporate this latest feedback into their projects as well as create and test updated prototypes in the field. Many teams organized next steps for refinement, budget and roll-out operations.