Award-winning solution to raise awareness of the dangers of flavoured tobacco

The challenge

The California Tobacco Control Program (CTCP) needed to educate parents and others about the growing use of flavoured vape products among kids and the harmful impact nicotine has on the developing brain.

Our approach

We spoke to Californians to discover how we could best arm them with the information, incentives and tools needed to voice their concerns to their local leaders and, most importantly, their kids.

With such a wide range of fact-based information to share, we needed a format that was easy to understand and highly engaging. We crafted eye-catching, bite-sized modular experiences throughout that were easy to digest at a glance, despite the gravity of the issues at hand.

Brevity, clarity and high impact were our aim. We kept the storytelling to a powerful minimum, and designed the gridded page flow to be simple and intuitive. Subtle instances of movement and powerful imagery helped key messaging pop.

What we delivered

With less than two months to conduct user testing, concept, design and build the site, we leveraged both qualitative and quantitative feedback to drive features and prioritisation and inform our content strategy and site architecture. Our primary objective was to inspire action, and we provided a range of effective ways to do that: letter writing, conversation guides and module-by-module social sharing opportunities.

What we learned

"Vaping is a subject of growing concern amongst parents. But there is still work to be done to raise awareness of the dangers. Working with CTCP reminded us that in order to drive people to rally around a cause, our design must appeal to both the heart and the mind - and that we deliver our most effective design work when we consider both."

Marcus Chairez, Associate Program Director, Beyond (San Francisco)

The results 

• +27,000 users engaged with the product quiz
• +7,000 letters sent to local mayors 
• Hermes Creative Award for Social Good