In 2017, the German Federal Ministry of Health decided to set up a special online training platform for care facilities and carers in order to communicate the needs of people with a migrant background and develop an awareness of these needs. The result is the online platform Vielfalt Pflegen, a certified course consisting of 14 modules. The topics addressed range from basic, abstract issues – such as different perceptions of the term “illness” – to specific tips for everyday care, e.g. how to classify patients´pain even when there are language barriers. To break things up, the learning units are accompanied by entertaining animations, each lasting four minutes, which are intended to convey a large amount of content at the same time.
We designed the resulting small series as “animated pictograms”. On the one hand, this was intended to be attention-focusing: given the density of information the eye should not be distracted by unnecessary details. On the other hand, an abstract visual language also allows abstract content to be conveyed more precisely. The direct reference to Otl Aicher’s design from the 1970s is a tribute to the “father of pictograms”, who also deserves human rights recognition.
The animations are constructed with corresponding precision. Although the figures move and rotate in space, each individual still image remains a flat construction of circles and straight lines.
From nursing staff to the ministry, the feedback on the animations was extremely positive.