CovidIQ
Early Warning
In the early days of Covid-19, before vaccines and Covid at-home tests were available, one of the most important and difficult things to do was to figure out how to detect Covid hotspots before they could spread further. Unlike most other diseases, Covid sufferers are asymptomatic for up to two weeks after they're already become contagious and spreading the virus to others. Most of the data was based on self reporting by the CDC and state and city health officials after the fact.
A team of engineers from Google and doctors from Florida decided to something about it. The goal was to develop a system to gather information on Covid spread much earlier than was possible at the time. I helped design the website, branding, and text messaging flow that would help users volunteer information about their Covid status and build an anonymized database of where Covid hotspots were, so health officials and experts could be dispatched to the right location to help curb the spread of the virus.
Brand
Logo
For the logo, I wanted something that would represent the team's attempt to shed light on what was at the time a fast moving and obscure virus.
- I used the 3D model of the covid virus for inspiration, but simplified it to make it easier to scale down to the smallest size that a logo might be used for (e.g. 16x16 pixel favicon in a browser).
- I placed the virus inside a lightbulb to indicate the team's attempt to illuminate or shed light on the situation surrounding the spread of the virus.
- For the font, I chose a transitional serif font called Merriweather. Serif fonts inspire trust and confidence and I wanted viewers of the brand to build a sense of trust in the team.
Colors
For the colors, I wanted a combination that would be grounded and yet suggest forward movement and hope. I chose a palette consisting of an earthy brown (grounded), a slightly muted coral orange (trust), a sky blue with hints of green (hope), and a sand yellow (exploration and uncertainty).
For the logo I chose the brown (grounded) and orange (trust), to suggest that the team was grounded in the real world and could be trusted because of their experience.
Social Media Imagery
To build a database on how fast Covid was spreading, the team created a phone number where people could text to report cases of Covid. In the days before Canva and Adobe Spark, the only way to figure out the correct sizes for the various social media image sizes was to search online for various social media marketing resources and / or the official social media websites. Once I had the correct sizes, I had to painstakingly generate the images for Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, so the team could share on their timelines pages and encourage others to re-share.
For the social media share images, I used a gradient of sky blue emerging from the left to suggest hope moving forward. I used brown and orange for the text and text background to give users a sense of hope and trust in the project.
Website
The team asked me to build the website in Squarespace since the team lacked web development skills and they wanted to be able to update it quickly and easily. While Squarespace is indeed easy to edit for non-technical users, it is incredibly painful to work with for seasoned web designers and developers like me. It took far longer to customize the site to match the comparatively simple brand guidelines. I had to start over several times before I figured out the unique rules that underpin how Squarespace sites works. (For instance, keep customizations to a minimum! Use the default, out-of-the-box templates if you want to avoid having to throw away your work and start from scratch.)
One advantage with Squarespace was it was relatively easy designing the mobile site as I was forced to keep the design simple.
Conclusion
We treated the CovidIQ project just like a startup. I met with the CovidIQ team of scientists and other volunteers 2-3 a week. We discussed action items such as the status of the website, branding, social media marketing, and database of anonymous reports from users. I continued working on the CovidIQ project for several months until the pressure of work and the anxiety around Covid itself forced me to take a mental break from the project. But I feel proud of the work I did to help a team of brilliant scientists make a small dent in a huge problem that was affecting the world.
So, How can I help you?