Graphic Design in Public Health Research

A Multiyear Pictorial Health Warning Label Initiative and Recommendation for Sustained Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Authors

  • Michael Schmidt University of Memphis
  • Taghrid Asfar University of Miami
  • Wasim Maziak Florida International

Keywords:

health warning label, smoking, hookah, prevention, graphic design

Abstract

Graphic design is often deployed in public health research, intervention, and dissemination of information. In some cases, such as the studies shared in this article, graphic design artifacts are the public health intervention, developed and tested within a series of scientific study designs involving research teams with wide-ranging expertise. Relatively little attention has been paid, however, to the role graphic design plays in public health re-search or how graphic designers may contribute to the conduct of research beyond a production services role. Even within the health communication field, the benefits for scientific knowledge and public health emerging from interactions with graphic designers remain understudied. Furthermore, graphic designers have yet to make a substantive case to public health re-searchers that there is more to graphic design than the artifacts it produces. Therefore, the goals of this paper are to 1) provide an overview of methods employed to integrate graphic design into a multiyear series of public health research studies, 2) share key results from these studies relevant to graphic design, and 3) discuss the requirements for sustaining research collaborations between graphic designers and public health researchers in ways that effectively combine their fields of expertise and produce more genuine collaboration for the greater benefit of public health.

Author Biographies

  • Michael Schmidt, University of Memphis

    Dr. Michael Schmidt is a public health social and behavioral research sci-entist and graphic designer. He is a professor in the Department of Art and affiliate faculty member in the School of Public Health at The University of Memphis. His past work includes design-based interventions for pediatric informed consent in clinical trials, child development and health, and chil-dren’s rights impact assessment in local, state, and national policy develop-ment. Currently, he is working with two research teams as a co-investigator on several federally funded research grants. His present areas of research include (1) design-as-intervention for smoking cessation and prevention; (2) social and behavioral determinants of substance use disorders, treatment access, and recovery; and (3) domestic violence prevention and interven-tion. Along with his research colleagues, he is a regular contributor to the scientific literature in public health, psychology, and medicine.

  • Taghrid Asfar, University of Miami

    Dr. Taghrid Asfar has extensive experience in tobacco control research nationally and internationally. Since 2001, her tobacco control work has been funded continuously by the NIH and conducted both in the United States and the Eastern Mediterranean Region, including Syria, Lebanon, and Tunisia. This work involves epidemiological and qualitative studies of to-bacco use, randomized clinical trials of smoking cessation interventions, and tobacco regulatory research in health communication approaches targeting emerging tobacco products such as e-cigarettes and hookahs. Her research aims are to improve smoking cessation treatment among socially disadvan-taged and high-risk populations and to prevent tobacco use among youth and young adults by advancing health communication strategies. She has more than 60 peer-reviewed publications (Asfar T - Search Results - PubMed (nih.gov)) in high impact journals, including Tobacco Control, Nicotine and Tobacco Research, Addiction, and the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group.

  • Wasim Maziak, Florida International

    Dr. Wasim Maziak is a professor of Epidemiology, Director of the Clinical Research Lab for Tobacco Smoking at Florida International University, and Founder of the Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies. Dr. Maziak has exten-sive experience in tobacco control research and has published over 200 peer-reviewed scientific reports, including contributions in Science, Nature, Lancet, and British Medical Journal. His focus has been on emerging tobacco products such as e-cigarettes and hookah (Waterpipe), especially risk com-munication strategies targeting young users. He has been continuously funded by NIH since 2001 for tobacco control research.

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Published

2022-08-19

Issue

Vol. 56 No. 2 (2022): August 2022

Section

Journal Article