Meet Graham
Transport Accident Commission (TAC), Victoria2016
Meet Graham is a 2016 interactive sculpture for Transport Accident Commission, Victoria, created by Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne.
The line
The only person designed to survive on our roads.
Why it works
A road-safety message you can walk around. Rather than make another crash ad, Victoria's Transport Accident Commission had a trauma surgeon and a crash investigator brief the Melbourne artist Patricia Piccinini on how a human body might look had it evolved to withstand collisions. The answer was Graham, a lifelike sculpture with no neck, airbag-like sacs between his ribs, a face without a protruding nose or ears, double-jointed knees and spring-like feet. Unveiled at the State Library of Victoria in July 2016 before going on a roadshow, he came with augmented reality that let visitors look beneath his skin and a school curriculum built around him. Within a fortnight the TAC said he had been seen by tens of millions of people worldwide. At Cannes 2017 Graham won 29 Lions, including the Health & Wellness and Cyber Grands Prix, plus a D&AD Black Pencil. It is studied for making an abstract truth — how little force the human body can absorb — physically, uncomfortably visible.
Techniques
- Logos Turns an abstract truth, how little force the human body can absorb, into a physical figure people can walk around and study.
- Shock and provocation Confronts viewers with an uncomfortably lifelike body with no neck, no protruding nose or ears and airbag-like sacs between the ribs.
- Ethos Grounds the design in briefings from a trauma surgeon and a crash investigator, giving the road-safety message expert authority.
Sources · 4
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