Footcare awareness campaign & artwork

“Your feet take you everywhere, so we should take care of them,” this is what Dr. Juan Agustin Coruña said as we worked on preliminary ideas for his clinic’s campaign on foot care awareness. Who knew how important it was to take care of your feet? 

Dr. Coruña is one of only 25 foot and ankle experts in the entire country. Based in Bacolod his practice helps people get on their feet after accidents and other foot injuries. Many of his patients are also diabetic, and it turns out diabetic foot infections are much too rampant than they should be. 1 in 25 Filipinos suffer from diabetic foot problems.

The Coruña Foot and Ankle Institute (CFAI) approached my fiancée Rocel and I for a campaign to help spread awareness on how to take care of our feet. Rocel worked on CFAI’s communication plan, as well as the social media campaign strategy that I would eventually illustrate and create visuals for.

The campaign strategy focused on three areas: Diabetic feet, ingrown toenails, and general foot care. Once Rocel completed the campaign strategy and the copy for each of the social media posts, it was up to me to set up the artwork and design.

In the preliminary discussions Dr. Coruña expressed interest in having cute characters to communicate the information, ideas, and trivia in the awareness campaign. From there we went back and forth with a couple of studies, and finally ended with Dr. Tiil and his companion in foot care, Toto Tudlo. Tiil means foot, and Toto Tudlo means “little boy toe or finger” in Hiligaynon, the lingua franca of Bacolod, as well as significant parts of Negros and Panay islands in general.

Like most of the campaigns I work on, I learned a lot from the content I was to visualize. I learned how to properly cut my toenails to prevent ingrown toenail issues lol. I also learned how and why different foot massage methods help our feet.

Reminiscing on caring for my mom… and her feet!

While working on the campaign, I was reminded of my mom. My mom was also diabetic, so after her stroke paralyzed her left arm and leg, the doctors emphasized that we keep her feet clean and to check for bruises and cuts daily. Every time we got her new shoes, we had to make sure her feet weren’t hurt in the process, and was always a good fit.

Finished project

By the end of the project, Rocel and I completed a 2-year communication plan, a short-term campaign strategy including 24 social media posts spanning 74 card designs, which incorporated over 250 different illustrations and icons. The entire project took about 3 months of work, and by the time we were finished, we were able to post some of them on CFAI’s Facebook page in time for Diabetes Awareness Week.

Your feet are your freedom

Since the campaign Rocel and I have been more attentive to our feet. Together we hope that this campaign reaches as many people as possible, especially those with diabetes who are even more prone to foot injury. Due to various reasons such as financial issues, many diabetic foot patients end up amputating limbs, changing how they function, and live, forever.

More links

• The first leg of the campaign has already been launched, do check out the posts at the Coruña Foot and Ankle Institute Facebook page here!
• Become a Patron and watch videos of my art updates, including one where I mention this project. Visit my Patreon page here.