# Introduction
SEEING HOPE\
***A Visual Communications Guide for Human Rights***
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This guide is a living document with the very particular aim of helping you make your campaigns better.\
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So let's go.
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**Author:** Thomas Coombes, [hope-based comms](https://www.hope-based.com)\
**Editors:** Sara Grossman and [Fine Acts](https://fineacts.co)
# I. What is the picture you want people to see when they see the words human rights?
The human rights movement cannot only expose the things that are wrong with the world—we must also offer a vision of how things could be instead. This project offers the human rights movement a new visual vocabulary, one that shows what it looks like to enjoy and spread human rights, and promotes the core ideas - kindness, empathy and shared humanity - that underpin support for human rights policies.
This guide aims to help human rights groups to also communicate the change they want to see, to show alternatives and solutions to the problems they are working to tackle. It provides hopeful imagery meant to balance and complement, rather than replace, images of human rights violations and the people responsible for them.
## **About the project: What does a hopeful vision of human rights look like?**
We want to use visuals strategically to reinforce narratives that build support for human rights. We are looking for a way of depicting the cause of human rights that appeals to people’s aspirations, that activates passionate support for the values that underpin human rights laws, policies and outcomes.
We started by [thinking about the best words to use to build support for human rights](https://www.openglobalrights.org/why-the-future-of-human-rights-must-be-hopeful/), but finding words that speak to universal values is challenging. We realised that we first need to identify the actual images that we want people to imagine when thinking about human rights.
For two years, [hope-based communications](https://www.hope-based.com) held dozens of narrative workshops with human rights activists around the world to articulate the change we want to see and the sort of action we want governments or society to undertake. We asked activists to visually articulate pro-human rights narratives and they responded by imagining themselves “building” and “growing” better societies, rather than “fighting” opponents. They imagined happy, thriving communities, small acts of humanity and solidarity and diverse people coming together around the dinner table. They also thought about the basic ways of thinking about how society works that human rights actors need to promote: that taking care of each other is human nature, that things work better when we work together.
### In a time when human rights communication heavily relies on dry, edifying, dark, depressing or aggressive tones that fail to connect on a human level, we saw that change is possible. But activists needed help to bring these ideas to life. Could art help imagine new narratives?
Since 2014, [Fine Acts](https://fineacts.co) has been working with artists and activists on hopeful creative campaigns and actions, driven by the belief – backed by behavioural and neuroscience – that art can speak to our hearts and change minds.
In 2020, we joined forces and together issued a [call to artists](https://fineacts.co/reimagining-human-rights-call) to bring to life a joyful, hopeful vision of human rights. We offer the works in this guide as inspiration for others to reimagine what a hopeful picture of human rights looks like—a picture which may look different in distinct contexts.
This guide seeks to identify the underlying themes that the human rights movement must strategically reinforce. However, we encourage readers to bring those themes to life in their own ways, with different styles of art or with the photographs that better speak to a particular issue or target audience.
# II. How to use this guide
All the artworks in this guide are published under an open license and are free to use and adapt non-commercially. Find them all (and hundreds more) at [TheGreats.co](https://thegreats.co). We encourage you to adapt and develop them for different audiences and contexts to find yet more new ways of activating the universal ideals that drive the human rights movement.
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**Hopeful evergreen content**\
Use these artworks in your social media posts, websites, campaigns, reports and posters. You can translate the slogans and in some cases rewrite them altogether.
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**Testing effective human rights messages**\
Use the artworks and accompanying messaging to make the moral case for human rights policies. You can use these images to [run A/B tests to find which visuals and messages resonate most with your target audience](http://icscentre.org/innovationreport/2019/portfolio-item/new-narratives-for-human-rights/).
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**Find real-life images and stories that bring these ideas to life**\
We can all look out for and share photos and videos that tell a hopeful story of human rights: images of togetherness, kindness and hope in daily life. The stories that reinforce these ideas, including stories of people sticking together and of building bridges across their differences are already all around us. We just need to shift our perspective, and turn our smartphone cameras in the right direction.
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**Create images with your activism**\
If you can identify the kinds of images and stories that build support for your cause, then you can organize your supporters to make them happen—and record them for dissemination online as authentic social media “moments” that can gain “word of mouth” salience. Think about what you want the experience of doing or enjoying human rights to look like for your audiences.
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# III. Worth a thousand words: Why the picture matters
To change a narrative, we all need to consistently repeat it through the words and stories we use. The Narrative Initiative says that narratives are [built up gradually like a mosaic](https://medium.com/@the_hope_guy/from-megaphone-to-mosaic-five-principles-for-narrative-communications-c5105c91707): every word, story and image you use is like a tile that contributes to the greater picture people have of the world. This means that not every picture and word you use needs to be perfect or “positive”, but you should be conscious of the overall effect of your communication, and try to be strategic about using content that builds up the values, emotions, attitudes, behaviours and ideas that you wish to promote.
If we want to change narratives, we should put as much thought into the images we use as the words. The images we use can reinforce messages—or inadvertently undermine them by reinforcing harmful narratives.
> ## ***"Images have the power to subconsciously trigger or lock in a narrative in a fraction of a second, long before the more rational parts of our brain have a chance to interpret text."***
>
> #### [***Narrative Initiative***](https://narrativeinitiative.org/blog/thinking-with-our-eyes-understanding-the-power-of-visual-narrative/)
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We want human rights communications to create empathy for other people, and determination to act. But when we only show images of human rights violations, we risk creating despondency (a sense that human rights violations are inevitable and cannot be stopped) and dehumanising the people portrayed as “vulnerable” “victims” without agency. When our social media feeds are dominated by images of angry protest and violence, we feed the narrative of a divided society.
We know what it looks like when human rights are violated, but we have a less consistent visual narrative when it comes to showing what it looks like to enjoy those rights. For example, we offer images of community as an alternative to the scales of justice, which symbolise how rule of law brings balance to society (and its absence brings chaos). As people rarely use weighing scales in daily life, images of a community in harmony are another way to visualise balance. If a news story documents how successfully new arrivals are integrating into a country but [illustrates the story](https://twitter.com/rcbregman/status/1300045114363047936?s=20) with a dehumanizing picture of a “wave” of people crossing borders or in a boat at sea, the message is instantly undermined.
### Human rights imagery also needs to speak to the things we want to have in our lives, not just things we hope to avoid. What if our imagery focused less on the process or problem of human rights, but on the outcomes we are trying to achieve?
Key conclusions of cognitive and behavioral science on [what makes people care](https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_science_of_what_makes_people_care) include:
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Opinions change not through more information but through compelling, emotional experiences.
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Visual language works much better than dry facts and abstract concepts.
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Art can trigger empathy, as can comedy, and feelings of hope and control over one’s own life.
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Provoking an emotional response should be done carefully. People will become despondent, shut down or not respond if one simply evokes sadness, guilt or fear.
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In the context of general desensitisation to social issues, campaigns that evoke awe and inspire hope are most effective.
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Humans are social animals who mimic the actions and behaviour of other people in their community.
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We need to identify images and symbols that we can repeat constantly to reinforce support for the values and ways of thinking that underpin support for human rights. Our goal is to establish the images that most speak to a shared human rights worldview: once we have that we can experiment with ways of making our message more original and exciting.
> ## ***"In order then that the distant situation shall not be a gray flicker on the edge of attention, it should be capable of translation into pictures in which the opportunity for identification is recognizable."***
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> #### ***Walter Lippman***
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The work of identifying the most powerful images to associate with human rights will support the work of finding the right words: As Walter Lippmann wrote in 1922, “Pictures have always been the surest way of conveying an idea, and next in order, words that call up pictures in memory.” If we can agree what pictures we want our words to evoke, the behaviour and outcomes we want human rights work to lead to, it can contribute to a new vocabulary for human rights activism.
# IV. Human Rights: A brilliant way of living our lives
We want to make a case for human rights that draws on intrinsic values - our sense of shared humanity, decency and dignity - rather than extrinsic values - the guilt or fear we trigger when defending human rights as an insurance policy that we might need one day if injustice befalls us.
This approach is inspired by narrative research conducted by Anat Shenker-Osorio, and the resulting messaging guide [A Brilliant Way of Living our Lives](https://socialcarefuture.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/87e39-a-brilliant-way-of-living-our-lives-how-to-talk-about-human-rights.pdf). This research challenges us to invite wider audiences into the human rights story by talking about human rights not just as violations that happen to people, or entitlements that are taken away from them, but a practice that we all carry out. Whether human rights are inherent or a legal construct, the reason why we need them is to guide how we as humans live in a group together.
> ### ***Messaging needs to paint a picture of the beautiful tomorrow that can and will be ours if we all fight”.***
>
> #### ***Anat Schenker-Osorio***
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This guide also tries to visualise what it looks like for human beings to do, practice and enjoy human rights—and to belong to a “larger us” - the human race. Othering & Belonging Institute director john a. powell describes belonging as not simply about joining something or being "included", but about [co-creating the thing you're joining](https://nonprofitquarterly.org/bridging-or-breaking-the-stories-we-tell-will-create-the-future-we-inhabit/). If people are going to feel belonging to the human rights movement, they must have a greater role in its creation.
# V. VISUALS THAT REINFORCE HUMAN RIGHTS VALUES
Our shared humanity - a common human rights story
To visualise a common human rights story, this guide draws on what George Lakoff calls the progressive worldview: “empathy, responsibility \[to care for each other], and hope”, and adds one more: shared humanity. [In highlighting “uniting” narratives](https://publicinterest.org.uk/narratives-we-need/), the Public Interest Research Centre has written that a positive understanding of human nature has the potential to encourage higher levels of trust in others and greater motivation to help and cooperate with one another.
A shared humanity worldview is built on some core ideas:
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Human nature is to work together – we are social animals who thrive when we cooperate. Humans can find common cause in working together for humanity, in standing up for other people, anywhere in the world, simply because they are human.
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We need to reinforce people’s sense that we are all human beings, with an innate capacity for kindness and compassion, that our natural setting is to treat each other with dignity, no matter who we are or where we come from. We need the simple fact of being human to be a bigger part of people’s identity, from which they can draw a sense of belonging and find a basis for empathy with people who are different.
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People make change happen. Human rights violations are not inevitable but the result of decisions people make, and we can do things differently.
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These are three narratives human rights actors can use to frame their communications on different issues.
# TOGETHERNESS
Human rights brings us together in our shared humanity.
To create a “better together” narrative, we need visual framing that creates a sense of abundance and can help foster cooperation as a priority in our thinking about politics and society. Human beings are meant to work together, and society functions better when we cooperate rather than looking out for ourselves as individuals or as countries.
These are images that seek to show that human rights is about acting in solidarity with our fellow human beings, no matter who they are or where they come from. In this narrative, human rights is the metaphorical glue that binds us together in our shared humanity. We use it to *build* fair and free communities. This narrative should lay the groundwork for advocacy: we want governments and their policies to embrace cooperation, to accept our interdependence.
## **1. The human family: Instead of us vs them, a larger us**
Can we build empathy without an “other” to differentiate against? To build support for human rights, we should activate people’s sense of interconnectedness by reminding them of that thing that connects us all - the simple fact that we are all human.
*Artwork: David Espinosa for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/we-are-all-on-the-same-team)*)*
Use imagery and stories that build up a shared human identity that can overlap with national, religious and other identities. Using these kinds of images we can show that human rights actors are a unifying force that helps people see beyond and respect each other’s differences. It can also be a call to action on global challenges like climate change. After all, we are all on the same team, even if some of us are at more risk than others.
*Artwork: Bombay Duck Designs for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/we-got-our-back-series-22)*)*
## **2. Hands: What connects us**
Hands are a basic symbol human rights activists use to symbolise commonality and empowerment. Hands are naturally a common feature to human beings, but they are also the part of our body we use most to engage with others in friendship and respect: they can symbolise connection and interconnectedness.
*Artworks: Daniela Mesquita Nunes (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/united-in-resistance-series-12)*) and Milena Filipova (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/high-five-for-human-rights)*)*
When using hand imagery try to show universally recognisable gestures of greeting, welcome and togetherness (for example, handshakes and high fives) rather than anger, fear and division. With real life images, show people having moments of positive social contact, whether joining hands during a demonstration or shaking hands in friendship.
*Artworks: Jacques Kleynhans for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/peace)*) and Alexandra Koleva (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/hand-in-hand)*)*
Images of hands and smiling faces might feel cliched or naive. But remember, repetition and familiarity are important tools for making a message stick. Try testing how different gestures work on different audiences to identify the most powerful symbol.
## **3. Hugs: Justice delivered**
A symbol of the action we want to see, and a metaphor for the policies we want implemented.
*Artworks: Alex Tait for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/we-is-me-spelled-differently-series-22)*) and Osheen Siva for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/hold-each-other)*)*
In society, there are times when we need help. Rather than keeping people in need at bay, at arm's length, we want policies that embrace and support them. This is the behaviour we want to see - the problem with migration today is not the people who move, but the people who (fail to) welcome them.
*Artworks: Pietro Soldi for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/unity)*) and Vanessa Mundle - minttu (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/the-togetherness)*)*
Hugs also remind people what we are working towards, and that success is possible. Hugs are the thing we work for, the moment people go free, are reunited or achieve justice. Hugs symbolise not only the outcome, but the process of human rights: people sticking together when times are tough, whether physically or metaphorically, by campaigning for each other’s rights.
## 4. Planet Earth: The overview effect
What better way to remind people of shared humanity than reminding them of the thing we all share: our planet.
*Artworks: Jacques Kleynhans for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/alternative-fact)*) and Pietro Soldi for Fine Acts (*[*download)*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/the-sound-of-strength-in-numbers)
The Overview Effect theory suggests that seeing images of planet earth triggers empathy by reminding people that we all share this planet: that our fates are intertwined. If this is true, the symbol of the planet can drive support not just for environmentalism but other causes that depend on responsibility to care for our fellow humans. This suggests that the human rights movement should embrace earth in symbols and logos.
Meanwhile, this imagery shows how shared humanity may also be a powerful frame for driving action on climate change, since only by setting aside the competition between different nation’s short-term interests can we act in the long-term interests of the larger human race.
## **5. Community: We are all connected**
When human rights activists imagine the world they want to see, they often draw or describe a community using scenes of streets and parks where people are at play, often surrounded by nature. What does it look like when we achieve human rights policies and laws are put in place? (not just for people most affected, but for everyone). These images allow audiences to see themselves in the future we want to build - not only as participants but as active creators and contributors to that future.
*Artworks: Michela Esposito (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/common-playground)*) and Monique Jackson for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/communities-change-the-world)*)*
While much human rights research exposes societies’ failure to take care of everyone, our photography also needs to capture those moments of community to show what our work aims to achieve, so that even people not directly affected by violations can see that society as a whole will be better off if human rights policies are implemented.
# CARE
Human rights helps us see the humanity in everyone.
Human rights is about extending the same rights to all humans. If we do not do the work of reinforcing empathy and respect for people on the basis of shared humanity, we lose the foundation of universal human rights and open the door to narratives that create excuses for human suffering.
We need people to feel empathy for each other, but also to feel affirmation that emotions like love have their place at the negotiating table. To counter the idea that the spheres of politics and law are governed purely by utilitarian realpolitik, we need to promote the value of acting with humanity - of kindness, empathy and compassion as important values in politics and society. This includes seeing and respecting the humanity in people who are different from us. These visuals, therefore, speak to the golden rule, that we should treat people the way we want to be treated ourselves.
We therefore need visual framing that reinforces both the policy value of care but also simply makes stories of kindness more salient, reinforcing the worldview that human nature tends towards love and kindness, not hate and cruelty. Recognising our responsibility to each other is good policy - as the covid-19 pandemic shows, our ability to care for everyone in society is paramount.
## **1. Gardening: Nurture is nature**
Human rights work is trying to bring the best out of society, and bring the best out of people. Human rights defenders are like gardeners, keeping the weeds of injustice out of our society, watering the soil so that we all have opportunities to grow.
*Artworks: Luisa Rivera for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/nurture-equality)*) and Laura Mayer (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/growing-welfare)*)*
In general, images of civil society tend to be protests or demonstrations, but much of the work of NGOs is less confrontational. In workshops, human rights activists often drew on the imagery of planting seeds or watering young shoots and saplings. They drew trees that provide shelter, roots and bear fruit. They used a frame of organic growth and abundance, as opposed to scarcity and crisis, to describe the sharing and generosity they want to result from their work. And when asked to draw human rights as a metaphorical tool that people use to make change happen, they drew watering cans, to illustrate how they see their work creating hope and opportunity for others (as a contrast to the metaphorical shield or umbrella that protects from harm).
*Artworks: Marko Jovanovac (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/growth-is-a-community-effort)*) and Yvonne Keesman - Vonnie (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/together-we-grow)*)*
We can also draw on nature and gardening metaphor and imagery to reinforce our worldview that kindness is human nature – care makes us grow, we all thrive when we care for each other, we all thrive in a more caring environment.
## **2. Opening the circle: Acceptance and welcome**
This imagery, for example, can be used to frame migration debates not about the people who move, but about the people who welcome and host others. We need more tolerance and acceptance of others, so let’s show our audiences more of that behaviour we want them to replicate.
*Artwork: Rozalina Burkova for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/open-minds-series-13)*)*
We need to promote the value of kindness in our politics, so much of which seems to be about finding utilitarian excuses not to be kind. We can do this by reinforcing how much of human progress is the result not of selfishness or individual flair, but of kindness, openness to others, and cooperation.
*Artworks: Berta Vallo for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/a-home-for-everyone)*) and Olga Mrozek for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/we-are-one)*)*
Translated to real life, we can capture these kind of images with people making room for each other, for example at a dinner table (with the underlying message of abundance that there is ‘room for more’).
## **3. Everyday diversity**
Behind so many public debates around human rights today is an underlying fear of others and the need to promote the value and desirability of living in diverse, dynamic societies. The identities that are used to divide us and wield power of others are constructed, then we should try to construct new identities, unite and empower all humans; new identities that refuse to be limited or defined by the old.
*Artworks: Sebastian Rubiano for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/humanity-thrives-only-in-full-color)*) and Andreea Iuliana (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/the-future-is-inclusive)*)*
But because of the way these debates are currently framed, it may be more effective to more subtly and indirectly remind people how normal and universal diversity is in the world, whether through artistic creation that simply celebrates the vibrancy of difference or real-life images as simple as a street with different restaurants (to avoid triggering harmful “spice of life” or “good immigrant” frames with these kind of images, make sure the trend to diversity is universal and the exchanges between groups are between equals, not just a marginalised group serving a privileged one).
## **4. Encounters that change us: Exercise the empathy muscle**
Human rights communications ask people to practice using empathy. We want to activate that ability to see things from someone else’s perspective. We should see empathy as a muscle to be strengthened through use, rather than a limited resource.
*Artworks: Shadowschaser for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/love-takes-practice)*) and 2CHOEY for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/not-different-in-love-no-text)*)*
Simulation theory suggests that humans as social animals take cues for their behaviours from their in-group: if they see others around them perform racist actions, those actions become less taboo. So when we “call out” the behaviour we want to stop, we must also “call in” the behaviour we want to see. In other words, show our audience people they can relate to showing empathy to another. The [Common Cause approach](https://valuesandframes.org/downloads) also suggests that even elevating empathy towards animals can boost our overall tendency to show and use empathy towards other humans.
*Artworks: Maria Picassó i Piquer for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/were-in-this-together)*) and Asis Percales for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/love-your-differences)*)*
Rather than the onus on our storytelling being on the rightsholder to “prove their humanity” or reach a certain tipping point of suffering that elicits pity, our focus can be on the encounter between two different people and how it changes them both. With neither saviour nor victim in the story, the action of human rights can be about people connecting in solidarity, joined by their respect for each other as human beings.
## **5. Positive social contact: A nudge effect for tolerance**
Human rights is often undermined by rhetoric that stirs fear, hate and disgust towards groups of people. If we are against these forces, we must promote countervailing forces. We need to build tolerance and mutual respect through a constant stream of imagery and stories that reinforces humanity in our audiences as effectively as racist propaganda pushes inhumanity.
*Artworks: Vicky Hughes (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/we-are-them-they-are-us)*) and Shadowschaser for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/we-complete-each-other-series-12)*)*
We can attempt this through art and design that encourages people to practice the art of seeing the humanity in people who are different from us. In real life, this approach can be translated into stories of encounters between different people—stories of positive social contact tend to increase empathy, and our communications should seek to create indirect social contact —show our audiences people they can relate to positively engaging with people they might consider “other”.
# HOPE
Human rights is not just something that happens to us, it is something we do.
Human rights is the tool for making change happen, rather than the situation we want to leave or the destination we want to reach—it is something we do every day to make things better. Crucially it is not necessarily something we do when we are in need, but something we can do to be good to each other. This is human rights as a way of behaving and thinking \[as humans]. In this narrative, human rights acts as a guide, map or compass we use to find a way forward, for constantly improving how we behave, for treating each other better.
This imagery aims to show that people make change happen. Violations do not just happen, rights do not appear or disappear - human beings make decisions that result in outcomes. Where people make decisions that lead to violations of human rights, there are different decisions they can make that will lead to better outcomes.
The imagery and language of progress highlights how our societies are always in movement, evolving towards more compassion, empathy, putting today’s debates in that context. This gives confidence and momentum to human rights policy calls, framing opposition as anachronistic.
## **1. People who lift us up**
Human rights is a ladder we can use to help each other reach higher: but for someone to climb up another person needs to hold the ladder. Showing people helping each other can also cultivate our trust in each other, encouraging us to put our faith in each other. This also requires accepting a certain vulnerability: we all need to lean on each other for support from time to time. Stories of people helping each other to succeed and thrive are fundamental for narratives that favour policies that realise economic and social rights.
*Artworks: Sebastian Rubiano for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/hope-is-a-team-effort)*) and Ashwin Chacko for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/lift-each-other-up)*)*
## **2. Journeys: Bridges not walls**
When we take action, we use human rights as a vehicle to move society forward, taking everyone with us on the journey. Use imagery of movement and motion to show that human rights work is not static: it is constantly bringing about cultural shifts and social progress. Use imagery of mobility to make people feel empowered that they have agency to contribute to this change.
*Artworks: Anina Takeff (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/human-rights-for-everyone)*) and Steve McCarthy for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/together-we-can-move-mountains)*)*
We can also use imagery of journeys to remind people how far we have come: putting today’s struggles in the context of a longer journey reminds us that, though we may face setbacks, we are making progress, creating ever more tolerance and solidarity between people. This imagery invites potential supporters to be part of a human rights movement that has the momentum of decades of progress with which to overcome today’s challenges.
*Artworks: Kyle Platts for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/tomorrow-will-be-bright)*) and Ed Dingli for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/we-are-closer-than-we-think)*)*
## **3. En-JOY human rights: Show the destination**
If we want people to support change, let’s show them what their life will look like in the future we want to go to—the destination human rights policies are trying to reach. Show people what it looks like to enjoy human rights by celebrating the greatest, most joyful expressions of humanity: in smiling faces, in music and dancing, in art and creativity. To defend universal rights, we can promote a set of universal experiences: joyful moments that celebrate humanity at its best, showing what can be created when human beings enable each other to flourish.
*Artworks: Pietro Soldi for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/joy-as-an-act-of-resistance)*) and Marek Tartal (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/we-create-together-series-22)*)*
In practice, this is a strategy to show broader audiences that they can also realise greater fulfillment and affirmation in a more just and equal society, rather than just alleviating suffering or granting “entitlements” for a few. Above all, we should note Anat Schenker-Osorio’s advice to communicate the outcome and not just the process - to “make people long for the beautiful tomorrow in order to inspire them to work for its birth”.
*Artworks: Jango Jim for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/super-spread-love)*) and Bombay Duck Designs for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/claps-are-self-hi-fives)*)*
## **4. Celebrate dignity**
Even if we avoid the word “victim” in our messaging, our imagery may still cast people in that disempowering, dehumanising role. Human rights is about living with dignity, so show the people we talk about as protagonists in their own story, whether they are human rights defenders or rights holders. Show them in action, not passive, to express their resilience. Let them articulate their hopes and aspirations too as well as their struggles. In practice this can be people emerging successfully from court, speaking to their community or even just telling their story to someone else.
*Artworks: Linoca Souza for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/dreaming-is-believing)*) and Aleea Rae Campbell for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/woman-with-flowers-hope)*)*
These visual themes can help us tell stories of people facing hard times with courage and persistence, people as part of wider communities pulling together. This approach must always do justice to the experience of people facing human rights violations, but preserving the admiration, compassion and generosity that are the bedrock of human solidarity.
*Artworks: Kokila B (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/pride-series-15)*) and Anina Takeff (*[*download*](https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/1zXpLQUKHC8dr1GKNC0RK5iI73VO8T9nI)*)*
## **5. Righteous anger: How do we make change?**
When using images of protest, try to channel uplift and empowerment rather than confrontation. How we show anger, with dignity and pride, so as to trigger admiration in the audience rather than intimidation. Anger is the spark that ignites the car, hope is the fuel that keeps it moving. Focus on the spark rather than the fire.
*Artworks: Safwat Saleem for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/rise)*) and Safwat Saleem for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/fight)*)*
Our imagery should help to channel justified outrage towards constructive action. If you show chains, can you also show, metaphorically, how people can break the chains? If we portray the state wielding brute force through the police, can you also show it exercising care and nurture through nurses and teachers?
*Artworks: Safwat Saleem for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/persist)*) and Cachetejack for Fine Acts (*[*download*](https://thegreats.co/artworks/keep-going)*)*
# How to use these artworks
All the artworks in this guide can be downloaded from [The Greats](https://thegreats.co/), a free vault with carefully curated socially engaged visual content open to activists and nonprofits to use or adapt non-commercially. The Greats already features thousands of illustrations by hundreds of artists from around the world, on topics ranging from women’s rights, LGBT rights, freedom of expression, hate speech, resilience, to many more. The Greats is a project by [Fine Acts](https://fineacts.co/).
All artworks published on The Greats can be used for free under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International ([CC BY-NC-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/#)) license.
In short, this means that:
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You can only use the artworks for non-commercial purposes.
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You can copy and redistribute the artworks in any medium or format.
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You can remix, transform, and build upon the artworks (е.g. change or translate the copy). However, in these cases, you must indicate that changes were made, and must share your content under the same license as ours (see next).
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You must always give [appropriate credit](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/#) to the author, provide a [link](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/#) to the license, and [indicate if changes were made](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/#).
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If you remix, transform, or build upon the artworks, you must distribute your contributions under the [same license](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/#) as the original.
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See more about [Use of The Greats’ Artworks](https://thegreats.co/use-of-artworks).
# Working with artists
When approaching creatives to commission new work for your cause, be prepared, be professional, and always have the right attitude – treat creatives as equals, not as people who are there to execute your vision. We strongly encourage you to use [The Greats](https://thegreats.co/) website as a resource and a guide to artists you can commission for your next project. Nonprofits need creatives who care, and The Greats’ artists have again and again shown the vastness of their hearts. Alternatively, [Behance](http://behance.net/) or [Dribble](https://dribbble.com/) are also good places to start your search for a creative.
Key recommendations:
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Prepare a written creative brief. A brief is a short description of expected outcomes, related to a communication project, and ways of achieving them (1-2 pages). Things to have in mind when preparing your brief: What do you need done? When do you need it? How will it be used? Provide references/examples and provide specifications. Part of the reward of writing a good brief is receiving good work. A good brief also saves a lot of time spent correcting proposals. While the brief clarifies the expectations, every project rests on collaboration. Don’t tell the artists what to do, give them the necessary creative space to offer you new ideas.
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Sign a contract with the artist. The contract should cover your rights of use for the produced work. It is also a great occasion to clarify the parameters of the work being done - how many proposals to expect, how many rounds of modifications.
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When giving feedback: always start with something positive. It doesn’t mean you have to accept off-brief work. Ask the artist to justify puzzling choices. Point to your brief and contract if necessary. Motivate your decisions.
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# Selecting artworks
So, you are wondering which is the right visual for your campaign? When making such a decision, take into consideration the conclusions of cognitive, behavioral science and neuroscience on what makes people care: Provoking an emotional response should be done carefully. People will not respond if we simply evoke their sadness, guilt or fear. In the context of general desensitization, visuals that cause positive emotions - such as admiration, happiness or hope - are most effective.
### Make sure that the artwork does not rely on a dry, edifying, dark or aggressive tone, but on the contrary – it connects to a human level by provoking empathy, it empowers and inspires hope. Don’t look for works that simply reflect the direness of a situation, or ‘what it is’ – be more interested in what ‘it could be’. Aim at inspiration, excitement, bringing hope, activation, aspiration.
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An effective visual work follows these guiding principles:
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The idea is original and not over-exploited.
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The work is not overly explicit/obvious.
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The artwork follows the key principles of effective visual communication.
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The content is “evergreen” – that is, it can remain relevant for a long period of time.
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The work is multicultural and diverse.
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The work doesn’t show people as victims or casualties.
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The work doesn’t reinforce prejudices and stereotypes.
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The artwork does not try to say too many things.
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The artwork is impactful – provokes empathy; is understandable by the general public; brings a meaningful message; has potential for viral/word-of-mouth effect.
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# About us
This guide is part of [Reimagining Human Rights](https://fineacts.co/reimagining-human-rights), a project by Fine Acts and hope-based comms, supported by Open Society Foundations.
For this project, we commissioned 40 artists from around the world to create new work, reimagining how we envision, speak about and visualise human rights. On top of that, hundreds more global artists decided to open up existing works from their archive that fit the theme, and donate them to the human rights movement – resulting in the largest open-license collection of hopeful human rights visuals. \
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[Fine Acts](https://fineacts.co/) is a creative studio for social impact. We are a global nonprofit that believes in the power of art and play, and thinks about ways to make people care and act, creating novel avenues to empower activism.\
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[Hope-based comms](https://www.hope-based.com/) is a new global initiative for change-makers who want to modernise the way nonprofits talk, based on the idea that people need hope if they are to engage in social change activism or have empathy for others.
