HIV/AIDS is an epidemic on a world scale, taking millions of lives and tearing communities apart. Solutions for containing the disease and lessening the severity of its symptoms from the medical world have gained strides over the past few decades. But on the other hand, as a sexually contracted disease, HIV can also be contained through spreading knowledge about the disease, its consequences, and methods for controlling it. But is the message being broadcasted in the right way, and does everyone have equal access to the knowledge?

As any designer knows, crafting messages, graphical and/or textual, for the general public can be the hardest task. How can you design for the many while singling out those who need the knowledge the most? All New Yorkers should get tested, but some need to have the onus of this message more on them: African American homosexuals in certain parts of the Bronx and Brooklyn; African American and hispanic heterosexual women over the age of 40 in certain areas of New York City; intravenous drug users. But the message cannot single them out, as such a strategy would alienate these specific communities either by bringing their private lives into the open (because of the nature of the matter -- STD testing) or by stereotyping the individual who sees himself not just as a homosexual or an African American, but as a New York who belongs to many different kinds of groups.

My project is to create an animation, situated on a website that also offers information on where to get tested. My goal is for the animation to include both global and local data, while keeping the message relevant for all New Yorkers. Rather than calling out the members of communities that have high prevalences of HIV/AIDS through text, I believe using infographics and purely graphical displays of trends is a much more neutral way to call attention to certain communities while keeping the message "broad." And as a private matter, STD testing will not be placed side by side with sexual imagery, as my goal is not to shock and awe my audience. Instead, I hope to create graphics that do the talking and persuading -- the animations will be quick, colorful, hip, neutral and, most of all, compel New Yorkers to get tested and be informed about this worldwide epidemic. Following this visualization of HIV data, I will also be providing an anonymous, public service that allows people to find the nearest HIV testing site closest to them, based on zip code or street address or nearby streets.