With over 200 ethnic groups identified and around 160 languages spoken, the population of New Zealand is a beautiful amalgamation of nationalities and cultures, providing us with a wonderful complexity in how we communicate. What happens to that complexity when we remove verbal or written communication? In this workshop, we will think abstractly about how our hands can create a visual language, through utilising design thinking, colour explorations and mark making experiments. The aim is to elicit an emotional response from the viewer and to communicate a particular message or feeling. By taking into consideration the different communication abilities of those visiting a place of health and wellbeing, and understanding the essentiality of aesthetics in this context, the ideas of communication can reach much deeper to uplift, reduce anxiety, empower and support visiting patients. (Disclaimer: no previous visual arts experience is required to be part of this workshop)

Workshop Facilitator

Workshop FacilitatorS

Hannah Sames

AUT

Hannah Sames is a lecturer at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in Communication Design and is currently completing her Master of Design. She has a love for all things branding, painting, illustrating and typography, and also for helping others, ideally, using her visual practice. Upon attending Whitecliffe College of Art and Design and AUT, completing studies in both Fine Art and Graphic Design respectively, she has found her place using colour, mark-making, branding and graphic design to communicate messages that need to be heard.

Jarrard O'Brien

Institute for Innovation and Improvement (i3), Waitematā DHB

Jarrard is an anthropologist with a passion for putting people’s experience at the heart of health design. His role in the Institute for Innovation + Improvement is to encourage human-centred design thinking so that all of their work is centred on the needs of staff, patients and the community. Jarrard is also completing his PhD looking at Māori experiences of hospital care.

Gareth Terry

AUT

Gareth Terry is a Senior Lecturer in Rehabilitation Studies in the School of Clinical Studies at AUT, working out of the Centre for Person Centred Research. His work is informed by a background in critical health psychology and his current research explores rehabilitation, bodies, disability, and access. Gareth is also interested in qualitative methods, in particular thematic analysis, and is currently co-authoring a book on the approach for the APA.