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Responses by Martta Kallio, senior creative director and copywriter, and Jyrki Poutanen, chief creative officer, United Imaginations.

Background: Given the current geopolitical climate with the escalating global conflicts, the ongoing war in Europe and Finland’s recent NATO membership—all while being neighbors with Russia—hybrid threats and digital warfare against democratic systems are at an all-time high. This is particularly evident on social media and digital platforms used primarily by children and teenagers, where it’s becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish truth from disinformation and reliable journalism from polarizing propaganda. Media literacy is crucial in this struggle. Teenagers aged fourteen and fifteen, who are transitioning from childhood to becoming accountable and responsible members of society, are one of the most vulnerable and easily influenced groups in the face of these digital threats.

Design thinking: We needed to develop an educational tool that would reach and credibly teach media literacy to our target audience without being influenced by outside forces, which ruled out a purely digital asset. Finland has always been at the forefront of free, high-quality education, and it quickly dawned on us that distributing this tool through the school system would meet all our requirements. And what better way to teach a reading skill than a primer book?

Challenges: Securing a budget for such a large-scale distribution. This was entirely handled by newspaper trade association News Media Finland. In terms of content, making the information engaging for the target audience was crucial—this included distilling complex topics into a format and length that would be easily understood, quickly absorbed and well remembered.

Favorite details: We’re incredibly proud of the craft, attention to detail, and thought that went into creating the alphabets for this textbook. This was especially important given that the book addresses “the media” and does it for an age group that can be challenging to engage. We were thrilled to collaborate with designer Ville Salervo, whose career has centered on experimenting with letters in both physical and digital forms from wood carvings to large-scale painted murals. We held several design workshops with the client to carefully consider what details and stories each letter should convey, always keeping in mind the book’s intended audience and the overwhelming amount of information they encounter daily.

Specific project demands: One rather tricky aspect was designing a book that would interest and be endorsed by a very critical teenage audience. If it were too naive, pretentious or overly scientific, it would quickly be discarded with yawns or laughter. The text needed to be precise, concise and approachable—but not in a “hey fellow kids” way. The designs of the alphabet letters had to be world class, featuring intricate details and captivating visual elements that would allow readers to interpret the images without losing context. Everything needed to be as attractive as possible while still delivering hard facts about truthful journalism and media literacy.

Alternate paths: If we could start the project over, we’d consider creating a full digital interactive experience to complement the physical book. During the process, we were fortunate to develop two animations for the letters J (Journalism) and V (Vigilant Watchdog of Power) as part of the promotional material. This sparked the idea of a digital experience as learning material that could deepen the viewers’ relationship with each letter and topic, enabling kids to truly immerse themselves in the meanings of these themes. We still have all the assets to make this happen, but it ultimately comes down to time and resources.

unitedimaginations.fi
villesalervo.com

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