Become a Story Co-Design Partner
Why does WE4H use stories for health/science outreach?
WE4H creates and uses graphic style stories to use for health outreach for all ages.
- Humans are wired for stories.
Stories speak to the part of the brain where decisions are made. - Stories make it easier for people to remember.
- Reading out loud can help people to feel ownership of the information.
- Graphic-style stories makes it easy for people of all ages and with a wide range of literacy levels to read stories out loud together because the text is less dense and pictures support the words in conveying information.
Who are WE4H “Co-Design Partners”?
WE4H co-design partners are people who want to use graphic stories for health/science outreach, usually in programming or events associated with their workplace or organizations they belong to. Their mission intersects with the health and science outreach mission of WE4H in some way.
For example,
- An environmental group might want to educate community members about the impact of green spaces on human health.
- A health researcher might want to help prospective research subjects understand the goals and value of the research.
- A community organization might want to support local residents’ efforts to limit chronic diseases.
What does co-design mean in the WE4H project?
By “co-design” of stories, we mean actively collaborating with co-design partners and target audiences in the story development process.
Co-designing includes meeting to understand needs and views of the target community, creation and critique of scripts, and review of the final product.
Co-designing requires planning for a longer timeline to properly involve everyone, but the benefit is worth the time.
What are the steps in the co-design process?
Who is involved in the co-design process?
YOU: Person/organization who wants to use graphic stories for health/science outreach in programming or events
Supported by:
- WE4H team: WE4H staff, WE4H interns, community representatives, and health/science faculty members associated with the WE4H project
- Target audience members:
Provide perspective of the topic or represent the target audience in some way. - Content experts:
Science, education, or medical professionals who particularly provide input on content accuracy.
How does the co-design process work?
Co-design group members will
- Participate in a Co-Design Orientation session
- Be part of brainstorming sessions to set the parameters of the story
- Participate in drafting the story script (if desired) OR have WE4H do the initial drafting.
- Provide feedback on the story script.
- Participate in creating the comic layout of the story OR have WE4H do the initial layout.
- Provide feedback on the comic layout.
- Help organize a story testing session with additional members of the target audience.
Send WE4H a contact form, and we’ll get in touch to discuss your co-designed story ideas!
Resources for WE4H co-designers
Are you interested in the co-design process?
Complete the form at the link below and a WE4H team member will get in touch soon!
