Design in Public Health Crises: The Power of Empathy in Visual Storytelling
Kehinde Bademosi
Design in Public Health Crises: The Power of Empathy in Visual Storytelling
A forthcoming book by Kehinde Bademosi, published by Bloomsbury Visual Arts in 2026.
The book examines how six countries used visual storytelling, posters, and public health campaigns to elicit empathy during recent pandemics, from HIV/AIDS in California to COVID-19 across Baltimore, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Nigeria, and the United States. Built around the S4E framework, it offers a way of seeing public health communication that places empathy at its center.
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Roberta Volpin was a lead ER doctor at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. In this short video, she describes the dilemma of messaging and why public health crises and pandemic preparedness are not just about science. They are often about messaging, power dynamics, and systems.