The Aktion Mensch wanted to present information about its development, philosophy and scope of services. facts and fiction placed the ‘Mensch’ (human being) at the centre of its concept. Human uniqueness, facial expressions and gestures and their strengths and weaknesses were brought to life with more than 30 different human silhouettes.
Aktion Mensch is enormously popular and it's seeks to be perceived correctly – as an open-minded, lively, but also reputable non-profit association accepting human beings in their entirety. This was a fascinating task that we were pleased to undertake.
The Evangelical Church Congress with its heterogeneous group of visitors provided a suitable setting. Firstly, we aimed at binding those already familiar with Aktion Mensch more closely to the organisation. But we also wanted to inform other visitors about the development, philosophy and scope of services and – next to whole organisation itself - introduce its five different subject areas: the discoverer network for children and the youth community, the procurement of counseling services, individual support in certain life situations, and a network for reflecting on the current social state.
The great popularity of the Church Congress and of the accompanying hustle and bustle made it a tricky task to attract the visitors‘ attention and clearly communicate the message ‘We work for and with the people‘. Our approach was to enable the guests not only see and read about the services provided by Aktion Mensch, but also to experience them with all their senses. In this way complex topics were presented without using a lot of words.
The central element of our concept was of course the human being. Each of the 30 either freestanding or cut out silhouettes symbolised a subject area, conveying content and providing intuitive orientation. Likewise, each area presented activities in an associative way: young visitors became junior detectives in the ‘X & Co’ discoverer network; whereas the ‘Gesellschafter‘ (members of society) motivated the guests to express their own utopian ideas photographically.
Barrier-free access to the stand was of special importance. Texts, pictures and videos were placed horizontally on the info-tables. The exit of the stand was a whisper path where all of the silhouettes in the five areas told their personal stories to emotionally emphasize the objectives of Aktion Mensch. A happy ending of a different kind.
