PROJECT

FUSEGU BOOK

Infection prevention guidebook created with Japanese medical associations. Illustrated encyclopedia format made learning engaging, achieving wide COVID-19 distribution.

WHY

Infectious diseases spread
through our ignorance
and lack of awareness.

While infectious diseases such as flu and mumps may cause only mild symptoms, these diseases can also result in permanent disability and even death in some cases. We have greatly reduced the risk of viral infections through advances in modern medicine, including the development of new therapeutic drugs and vaccines. However, with the establishment of new modes of transportation and a dramatic increase in cross-border travel in our modern society, infectious diseases are spreading at a much faster rate than ever before. In particular, there remains a risk posed by emerging infectious diseases whose transmission and symptoms are difficult to predict, and our ignorance and lack of awareness of the threat of these diseases have been an issue for us.

HOW

Designing
an enjoyable way
to learn about
infectious diseases.

How should we communicate with others so that as many people as possible can be equipped with the correct knowledge about the danger of infectious diseases and how they can protect themselves?
Mass gatherings such as sporting events that draw huge crowds from all over the world pose a risk of transmitting infectious diseases such as hepatitis A and rubella. In view of this, the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases and the Japanese Society for Infection Prevention and Control launched the collaborative project “FUSEGU 2020” aimed at preventing infectious diseases at the beginning of 2019, a year before the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. We were responsible for producing the PR materials for this project.

We wanted to provide information on major infectious diseases, their modes of transmission, and how people can protect themselves from these diseases through frequent hand washing, sanitization, proper cough etiquette, and the use of masks. To achieve this, we created the “FUSEGU BOOK,” a booklet that depicts eight major infectious diseases in the form of characters and contains information on their respective symptoms, incubation periods, and other distinctive features. This booklet sought to provide accurate information about infectious diseases and their prevention methods while allowing readers to enjoy learning it. We also developed a game called “SHINDAN” (SHINDAN = “diagnosis”) using the PDF data of the individual pages of “FUSEGU BOOK” and released it as open-source software. This game was designed with the goal of raising greater awareness and equipping more people with knowledge about how the spread of infectious diseases can be prevented.

WILL

Overcoming the challenge
of infectious diseases
by transforming our mindset
about public health.

Oddly enough, our preparations for this project coincided with the outbreak of COVID-19 around the world after the virus was first detected in China. The prevention of infectious diseases suddenly emerged before us as a common challenge confronting the entire human race. These circumstances prompted us to create A4-sized posters of the methods for preventing infectious diseases that we had featured in FUSEGU BOOK and put them up in various locations.
We also launched the collaborative website “PANDAID” to protect the lives of people during the pandemic as part of our attempt to advance a movement that combats infectious diseases by drawing on our collective design capabilities.
In order to tackle the invisible threat of infectious diseases and minimize their spread, it is imperative to raise awareness and encourage as many people as possible to change their behavior. The power of graphic design, which can convey the correct information in an appealing format through infographics and other means, can make a sizable impact in this regard.
Otto Neurath, who had invented the ISOTYPE method of pictorial statistics which later gave rise to pictograms, had also designed a manual for preventing tuberculosis in the early 20th century to educate people about infectious diseases. The goal of preventing infectious diseases has always been inextricable from the history of graphic design. Likewise, as designers who are living in the present age where infectious diseases are wreaking havoc, we hope to continue helping people overcome the challenge of infectious diseases by maximizing the potential of visual communication, which can transcend language and environmental barriers to forge a common understanding shared by everyone.

Click here to download the PDF