Bin Your Binary
CAMPAIGN DESIGN & STRATEGY
This project lived in my head for a year. I began with a very different vision of a social campaign that would raise awareness for they/them pronouns.
I spent six months interviewing a pool of nonbinary students, creating video content, and devising a public art piece to challenge a binary interpretation of gender.
But after a semester of listening to people talk about their daily struggles, I grew to understand that wasn't what they needed.
USER EXPERIENCE & RESEARCH
In order to create something useful, I needed to know what remained relevant across different geographic spaces & different stages of life.
I conducted 25+ interviews to get feedback on the range of issues cropping up daily for nonbinary people across the world.
I had observed the need for a go-between for gender-non-conforming people and their loved ones before, but this was the first time I noted the overwhelming and specific demand for a "guide to nonbinary identities."
I decided to create a range of materials to alleviate the difficult conversations nonbinary people struggle to have with the people in their lives.
Based on my research, I designed a multi-topical series of posters, booklets, and postcards–some interactive, some simply informational.
KEY VISUAL CREATION AND COPYWRITING
In reimagining this project, I had to come up with a new visual system to represent the abstract concept of non-binary gender identities and conventional gender expectations.
I primarily used colour symbolism–contrasting the traditional blues and pinks associated with femininity & masculininity–and geometric linear illustrations to create a spectrum within my pieces. I added in a third element to undermine the tension between those two extremes and "break" the spectrum, symbolizing the gender identities outside of societal expectations.
These postcards address a range of issues–the illustrations on them interact with relevant type in meaningful ways. Some are simply informational and provide definitions and answers to common questions.
Others are interactive and allow nonbinary participants to fill out the postcards before giving them to others for use.
USER EXPERIENCE & RESEARCH
These booklets provide a more in-depth look at these issues than the postcards or posters, and are meant to be given to loved ones and the public.
This series specifically addresses how to understand what nonbinary means, where this gender identity comes from, and how to handle someone coming out to you as nonbinary.