Some Facts
- One in three Australians will need blood at some point in their lifetime, but only one in 30 is currently giving it.
- Australia needs 26,000 blood donations per week to ensure there are adequate supplies for those people who need it.
- The reason the need for blood is so constant is because it has a limited shelf life.
- Giving blood takes only one hour of your time and can save the lives of three people.
- Provided you are fit and healthy
A NATIONAL ORGANISATION
Before the Blood Service came into formal existence in 1996, the collection, processing and distribution of blood products throughout the country's health system was managed by individual State and Territory Red Cross Transfusion Services. The establishment of a national blood service has facilitated new levels of national and international co-operation, resulting in improved consistency, quality and safety across Australia.
OUR DONORS
Now a large professional organisation with more than 3,000 employees working in scientific, medical and support services, the Blood Service is remarkable in that its very existence depends on the continued support of more than 520,000 generous Australians who give their time and their blood as a gift or donation. This balance between a volunteer base of blood donors and medical and scientific professionals who manufacture and distribute blood products is one of the characteristic features of the organisation, one that has to be constantly monitored and managed. The unique features of the Australian system are the principle of voluntary non-remunerated donors to support delivery of fresh blood components and the striving for self sufficiency in plasma derivatives.
OUR HERITAGE
The Blood Service is a division of Australian Red Cross, and subscribes fully to the humanitarian principles that are fundamental to that organisation. Australian Red Cross provides the vital social and professional umbrella under which the Blood Service can carry out its important work with a clear mandate and consistent identity.
OUR ROLE
At the same time, the Blood Service also plays a central role in the health system of Australia, and is funded almost entirely by the governments of Australia who manage the health system.
The fact that the Blood Service is so highly recognised and regarded, and that it is so strongly supported by Australians and governments, is a tribute to the co-operation between State, Territory and Federal governments over recent years. The Blood Service could only evolve as an iconic Australian organisation with this active support of the people and governments of Australia.
Information on blood donation in Australia
• One in three Australians will need blood at some stage during their lifetime – but only
one in 30 currently give it
• Australia needs 26,000 blood donations per week to ensure there are adequate
supplies for those people who need it
• The reason the need for blood is constant is because it has a limited shelf life
• Giving blood takes only one hour of your time and it can help save the lives of three
people
• Provided you are fit and healthy, and aged between 16 and 70 years, you may be
eligible to give blood
Who does blood help?
• More than 30% of blood donated helps cancer patients and those with blood
diseases
• 18% helps surgical patients including those undergoing open heart surgery and
burns
• 14% helps people with medical problems relating to heart stomach and kidney
disease
• 10% helps orthopaedic patients with fractures and joint replacements
• Pregnant women, new mothers and young children benefit from 4% of blood
• Just 2% of blood is needed for trauma incidents, including road accidents
• Many people with common blood types wrongly assume that their blood is not needed.
In actual fact, a majority of patients in hospital are likely to have a common blood type,
making this high in demand
• A donation of 470 ml of blood is less than 10% of your total blood volume
• Your body keeps discarding and replenishing blood all the time whether you give
blood or not – so you may as well put that ‘spare’ blood to good use and help save up
to three lives as you do it
Previous Posters:
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Initial Ideas:
- Drinking is fun, but saving lives is funner!
- Have persons acting in a drunken manner in the background of an image asif they are in a brawl, but have someone at the front in focus donating blood and happy about doing so.
- A super hero donating blood
- Super hero’s mean a lot in both reality and fictional stories. They are someone that children and adults alike look up to, and aspire to be. University students are too interested in their heroic ways. A super hero donating blood might be the catalyst for one person to think “Hey, if he/she does it, I can too!”
- Life drops
- There are many things that are associated with life. One of these could be rain drops, in the colour of blood. It can be used to give a descriptive and visual key to the poster, but in a way that doesn’t seem grotesque or inappropriate.
- Birds carrying Red Cross logos
- Something ascending in to the skies is often depicted as hope or as a saviour. A bird carrying the Red Cross logo would be able to give such an impression in a delicate way.
- Church of the Red Cross
- This idea involved people worshipping a person or vial of blood in a church. Why can’t something so common be something that is appreciated so much in society that it is worshipped?
- Halloween Party
- A party is taken place in a typical home. The twist is that a person arrived dressed as a blood drop. This person draws so much attention that all the men want to be like him, and all the women want to be with him. He is idolised and a hero in their society, not for who he is, but for what he is representing.
- Stop the obsession with vampires by giving blood. Keep the blood away from them and get rid of all the crazy Twilight fans.
- Free food, save your spare change and get your chocolate from the blood bank instead of the supermarket.
- a poster saying SEX really bold and then saying now that i have your attention give blood save three lives
- having a comical drawing of Jesus and the tag line being 'be holy give blood'
- give a little for a big cause. picture of a tiny baby being held by big hands
- a picture of a needle saying 'i help not harm' then relating it to saving three lives
Roughs:
With this poster, the aim was to create something that would make the responder
question themselves and their own thoughts on donating blood. Challenging them
to ask themselves “what’s your excuse?” almost asks them to allow for a change
in their own though process and hopefully allow for the message to be repeated
to others they know do not donate blood.
With this poster, we aimed to create an image that was significant and memorable
through its use of imagery and text. The caption needed to be one that was
slightly strange in order to draw and keep the viewers attention.
Relating the value of 470ml of various liquids back to 470ml of blood, which can be used to save three lives.
Final Ideas:
I took Steve's slogan about "they aren't rain drops, they're life drops" and approached the design in a different way. As with our second poster, simplicity was the key. We wanted to attract the viewer and get them to read the information, but not overwhelm them so they just glaze over when they see it.
With the task at hand, the aim was to create a simple poster that was direct,
informative and visually pleasing. It shouldn’t be a poster that is cluttered
with information or distracting in a way that draws attention away from the
main message and focus of the campaign – too get more people to visit their
clinic to donate. The simple yet visually interesting text has been created
to draw in passer bys, and allow them to focus more on the fundamental image
then something that is less important.
