Amsterdam Rainproof came to us with a challenge: “how to get people to remove their tiles to rainproof their garden”. Rainproofing is making the city more forgiving to water; the rain can go somewhere. If the ground is only made of stone, the rain doesn’t have anywhere to go, and it will flood.
I made this campaign in collaboration with Katriina Mansikka, we did the research and strategy together and came up with a few concepts. After that, we made our own executions.
Case: Amsterdam Rainproof, Campaign Design
Client: Utrecht University of Applied Sciences (HU)
Year: 2023
Final posters
Chosen concept
Challenge people to help the rain. Show them how to help the rain and also show them that there are alternatives to taking a tile out of the garden. People often have resistance when they have to do something, by showing them what to do in an easy way, it is more accessible to change something.
Challenge people to help the rain. Show them how to help the rain and also show them that there are alternatives to taking a tile out of the garden. People often have resistance when they have to do something, by showing them what to do in an easy way, it is more accessible to change something.
I drew the flowers, plants and trees in a simple style because I wanted it to look like a sketch of what you could do to help rain find a home. It also represents, how easy it is to do something, the drawings look like child's play, and rainproofing your garden is child's play.
I feel like I could've done more with the executions, but I am proud of the concept and the copy writing. I feel like this idea could work well with photography too.
Process
This part is with Katriina Mansikka. We wanted to change people's behaviour and attitude towards rainproofing.
3 concepts
01. You can't fight water with stone
02. Start small
03. Grow Together
You can't fight water with stone.
At first, we were still going for the heroic, fighting approach. But we got stuck on that, and we realised that the rain is a friend, not an enemy. So we came up with a new concept. the poster ideas were too complex. Good design is simple and straight to the point so we wanted to simplify the message so the viewer would get it straight away
At first, we were still going for the heroic, fighting approach. But we got stuck on that, and we realised that the rain is a friend, not an enemy. So we came up with a new concept. the poster ideas were too complex. Good design is simple and straight to the point so we wanted to simplify the message so the viewer would get it straight away
Final executions with Katriina Mansikka
The final concept that we presented as a duo is "help rain find a home".
It is based on our insight that people don't think that rain is a problem, or they don't know what they can do about heavy rainfall. The concept is focused on personification, we want the rain to become something you can touch. Fun for kids to identify, that is why we invented the rain spirit. We want to change people's attitude towards rain, and make them feel sympathy for the poor rain that just wants to find its home. We want to challenge them to make a change.
It is based on our insight that people don't think that rain is a problem, or they don't know what they can do about heavy rainfall. The concept is focused on personification, we want the rain to become something you can touch. Fun for kids to identify, that is why we invented the rain spirit. We want to change people's attitude towards rain, and make them feel sympathy for the poor rain that just wants to find its home. We want to challenge them to make a change.
We presented these three as final sketches, we had to draw them by hand, no computers allowed. Katriina made the outlines, I drew the copy and coloured the first two. We presented our concept 'help rain find a home', with and without a rain spirit. We wanted to personify the rain, so that people would feel empathy for it.
After feedback we decided to quit the rain spirit. Not everyone can understand that it is a spirit made out of rain. The case is about gardens being paved, so the rain barrel wasn't the best option.
I decided to continue with the first image, and based my final concept on help rain find a home.