some of the work we’re commissioned to do is about selling an image - that’s often quite easy if it’s a positive image that people want to believe in or buy into. but challenging an accepted image is more of a challenge. a series of leaflets, banner stands and development plan for Hull Lighthouse Project was one such challenge.

lighthouse work with prostitutes, providing a listening ear, a warm cuppa and contraceptives on a night, building friendship and offering to help the women deal with the issues that force them into prostitution. lighthouse consciously use the word prostitute when talking about their work - ’street worker’ and other titles just soften the issue.

one of the phrases that came up in conversation was about the labeling of women and how lighthouse aim to see beyond that to the person - the mother, the school-age girl, the abused ‘girlfriend’ who is trapped in a never ending spiral of being used for sex, using drugs to numb the pain and having to go back on the streets to pay for the drugs.

we developed the label theme across a range of leaflets aimed at potential volunteers and funders plus small contact cards that could be handed out to the women. for the images we took grainy photographs of discarded clothing and replaced the manufacturers labels with hard-hitting statistics from lighthouse’s work. these contrast with positive quotes from women who have been helped by the project. all the material is printed on uncoated card which gives flat non-glossy colours and an honest texture. a development plan was in an A5 card wallet format constructed from a thicker weight of the same card enabling inserts to be included and replaced as needed with the images, and thus the message, featured throughout.

client cards were produced to hand out to women on the streets - in contrast to the leaflets aimed at the public these carry only positive quotes and the message ‘we won’t label you’. there were several considerations to the design - it had to be small (ie. easily hidden) and durable but also be aware that card is likely to get torn up as roaches for joints. the budget didn’t stretch to an alternative material so we tried to compensate by having the phone number printed large and repeated so it stands more chance of survival. there’s a flipside to the alternate use for these cards - if something is useful it will be kept and so stands more chance of being around at a crucial moment.