Create heart health infographics on blood pressure and cholesterol

Heart Foundation New Zealand

Project: Blood pressure & cholesterol infographics

Background:
Blood pressure (BP) and cholesterol have been identified by health professionals as topics they struggle to communicate to patients in a practice setting. Similarly, many patients find this information difficult and complex to understand.

Challenge:
The challenge is to create simple, compelling, visual and punchy infographics to convey key information showing what blood pressure and what cholesterol are; how patients can reduce high measures of these and in turn, reduce their overall risk of a CV event.

Objective:
Engage patients in their understanding of CVD risk factors. Support health practitioners in facilitating 1). the transfer of information (what is BP/what is cholesterol?) and 2). to start a discussion with the patient around why these risk factors are important and what the options available to them are to manage their risk.

Key communication messages:
1. An infographic explaining what blood pressure is; what high blood pressure does to the body and a basic graphic representation of the options available to patients to manage this (medication, diet, physical activity, stopping smoking etc). Intended to be a snapshot/graphic overview for the front page of a new paper resource and also for use on-line
2. An infographic explaining what cholesterol is; what high cholesterol does to the body and a brief graphic representation of the options available to patients to manage this. Also an overview and for use both on and offline.

Content to inform infographic elements:
There is a lot of information provided here to give as much background as possible for designers. We're aiming for graphic representations of the words provided below – we definitely don’t want lots of words in the infographic – aiming for minimal text and mainly images if possible.

Blood pressure key points to graphically represent
• What is blood pressure
Guiding copy: Blood pressure is the force generated by blood moving through your arteries. Arteries are the blood vessels that carry blood from your heart to the rest of your body. Normal blood pressure delivers the blood supply to all parts of your body.
• What is high blood pressure
Guiding copy: High blood pressure (hypertension) causes unnecessary force on your artery walls. This can lead to damaged arteries and increase your risk of heart disease or stroke and can also cause permanent damage to delicate organs such as your eyes, kidneys and brain.
• Most people don’t know that they have high blood pressure. The only way to find out is to get it checked by your doctor or nurse
Guiding copy: High blood pressure is often called the ‘silent killer’, because for most people, there are no symptoms. This means that many people are unaware they have high blood pressure, which can put them at risk of heart disease. The only way to find out if your blood pressure is high is to have it checked.
• 62% of people admitted to hospital with a heart event have high blood pressure
• Lifestyle changes you can choose to make to lower your blood pressure and lower your risk of heart attack and stroke; becoming smoke-free; changing what you eat and drink, including reducing salt intake; cutting down on alcohol; becoming more physically active (use walking as the image for this please); reaching a healthy weight; taking medications.

Cholesterol key points to graphically represent
• What is cholesterol
Guiding copy: Cholesterol is a type of fat that circulates in your blood. Your body (specifically your liver), produces around 75% of your cholesterol and the other 25% comes from what you eat. We need some cholesterol in our bodies as it performs a number of important functions, such as making Vitamin D and building cells.
• What is high cholesterol
Guiding copy: Having some cholesterol is important for your body to function normally. Problems develop when too much cholesterol builds up in your bloodstream. Your liver makes all the cholesterol you need, but extra cholesterol can build up in your body from the food you eat. Some foods contain lots of cholesterol. When your body digests these foods, the extra cholesterol enters your bloodstream. Having too much cholesterol in your bloodstream can allow some cholesterol to settle in the walls of your arteries and cause heart disease. Having too much cholesterol in your bloodstream increases your chance of heart disease. Excess cholesterol can also cause a clot to form in one of your arteries, which can cause a heart attack or stroke.
• There are no symptoms for high cholesterol. This means that many people are unaware they have high cholesterol, which puts them at risk of heart disease. The only way to find out if you have high cholesterol is to have a blood test.
• 54% of people admitted to hospital with a heart event have high cholesterol
• Lifestyle changes you can choose to make to lower your cholesterol and lower your risk of heart attack and stroke; Becoming smoke-free; Changing what you eat and drink; cutting down on alcohol; becoming more physically active (use walking as the image for this please); reaching a healthy weight; taking medications.

See attached draft of the brochure each of the infographics will be
inserted into. They will go on the front page and then each individual
graphic will go in the middle.

Deliverables:
Four separate and stand-alone infographics;

1. Infographic on BP for the front page of an A5 resource
2. Infographic on BP for website (same creative and content as A5 version but may possibly need different treatment for on-line - designer to advise)
3. Infographic on cholesterol for front of cholesterol A5 resource
4. Infographic on cholesterol for website (same creative and content as A5 version but may need different treatment for on-line - designer to advise?)

Desired Response:
For the patient/recipient to feel compelled to look at and read the infographic because it’s visually appealing. For the patient/recipient to use the infographic to understand at a glance what the big picture around individual risk factors (bp and cholesterol) are, how they impact on CVD risk level and how risk of each can be reduced.

Mandatory
• Each image/stat or graphic within each of the four individual infographics must be able to be pulled out as a separate stand-alone image as these will be used in a variety of ways across on-line and print (i.e. the 'be more physically active' graphic able to be used as a stand-alone).
• Hi-res required for multiple executions

Considerations
• Framed in positive language
• Reduce medical terms and only use where absolutely necessary

Language and Tone:
Tone to be fun, engaging, informative and eye catching – to make the reader want to find out more and take notice. To feel empowered to make simple steps for change and not feel overwhelmed by medical terms and scare tactics. To be able to digest the information in a simple and logical manner.
Considerations:
• Ethnicity inclusive and relevant – appealing to Maori, Pacific and NZ European populations (happy to discuss this further as aware you are off-shore)
• Accessible to low literacy levels/able to be understood easily by those with low level literacy i.e. 10 year old (simple language/graphically descriptive)
• Suitable for both on-line (including mobile) and print;
Each infographic (BP and chol) will be put on the front page of an A5 resource (one A5 for BP and one A5 for chol) so they need to be easily readable at this relatively small size.
Each infographic will also be used on-line on respective BP and cholesterol web pages; this may mean the on-line version is more complex than print version.