Written evidence submitted to the UK Parliament committee inquiry on government visual health communication, microbiological evidence and psychological impact during COVID-19. Emerging diseases and learnings from Covid19

The communication analysis documents released from government1,2,3 cover general communication only. We
understand that the purpose of this call is to evaluate the success of the governments application of lessons within
these documents. However, we feel that there has not been enough focus on the lessons surrounding government
graphic communication visual messaging specifically (incorporating images, typography, graphic devices, etc.).
This paper describes findings and recommendations from research we undertook, triangulating government
graphic communication visual messaging, with microbiological evidence and psychological impact on the public
during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our key recommendation from this research is that government scientific advice
should incorporate a multidisciplinary response, rather than from a singular perspective. For example, the way in
which microbiological scientific advice given to government is translated into guidance and graphic communication
visual messaging may cause unintended and/or undesirable psychological impacts on the public.
In the event of another pandemic, we believe that many will see psychological wellbeing as a public health priority
alongside physical health. Government graphic communication visual messaging about microbiological scientific
evidence and decisions about social restrictions will therefore be under scrutiny with regards to intended and
unintended psychological impacts. As such, we therefore see the following as important aspects for government to
learn from and adopt when planning for future pandemics