Immunization and child health materials development guide pdf

Figure 18. Guidelines for Designing Messages and Materials
Use the following guidelines to design your materials or evaluate the quality of drafts presented to
you. These principles apply to print, radio, and video, except where specified for a particular
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• Present one idea. Each material should have one main message.
• Use a credible source. Feature a source of information that is suggested by the audience as
credible and appropriate—for example, doctors, other health workers, or community opinion
leaders.
• Capture the viewer’s or listener’s attention. All parts of the presentation should grab the
attention of the audience as soon as they see or hear the material. Make them feel part of the
problem and the solution. Involve them with your images. Try innovative ideas and formats—for
example, by using audience testimonials. For radio and video, you may want to start out with a
“mini-drama” format, or one narrator with appropriate background music or a few musical
notes to separate text and visual sequence. For print materials and video, images should
represent objects, style of dress, building styles, and other elements that are familiar to the
viewer.
• Touch the heart as well as the mind of the audience. Make the audience feel something
after reading, hearing, or watching the material, such as being happy, confident, or enthusiastic
that they can achieve something by adopting the proposed behavior. Make them feel that the
material is addressing them directly.
• Make the message relevant and related to real life. If the message is important to the life of
the viewer, it will probably be remembered. Make sure the presentation of the message reflects
real-life situations.
• Ask the audience to take action. Be explicit about what the audience should do to resolve
their problem. Too often, materials simply raise awareness of problems without offering
concrete solutions.
• Offer the unexpected. The message is considered creative when it is fresh, novel, or original.
Because of the unexpected, the message can break through the clutter and be recognized.
• Provide consistency. If you are producing more than one material, develop a recognizable,
consistent sound or visual identifier to be used in all of your materials. This can be provided by
a unique image, voice, face, song, sound or visual effect, or jingle that is incorporated into all of
the materials. This identifier provides continuity for all of your materials.
• Geographically customize your materials. If appropriate, design materials that are tailored
for each geographic region of the country. Materials produced for national distribution may not
be equally suitable in all parts of the country.
• Use the active voice. “We vaccinated 100 children” sounds better than “One hundred
children were vaccinated.”
• Use support statements and reasons why. To simply say that your product or behavior will
provide a benefit is not enough. You must explain why the audience should believe the promise
of the benefit. The reasons a person should trust the product and key promise may be
rational—epidemiological data, scientific evidence, or case studies, for instance, or emotional—
the experiences of other credible individuals or their own experiences or feelings. For example:
“When I take my child for her immunizations, it will give me a sense of security (benefit)
because I know she will be protected from measles and other childhood illnesses (support
statement).”
• Restate and review repeatedly. State important information twice, and include review sections
whenever possible. Even a short radio spot, print material for low-literates, or video can and
should repeat the main message at least twice. This will help the reader to understand and
remember the messages presented.
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