The official blog of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is called The Optimist. When the COVID 19 pandemic began, I teamed up with Stamen Design to create illustrations that accompany their COVID-related articles on The Optimist. Each set of drawings follows a brief that includes a color palette, a specific idea for each image, and a collection of visual elements. 

The first set of illustrations accompanied an article that highlights what everyone can do from home to fight a public health emergency like COVID. This article was published in the earliest weeks of the virus’ emergence. Consequently, it was useful in passing along proper guidance about hand washing protocols, reliable donation avenues, and social distancing recommendations. 

The second illustration set was for an article on the Foundation’s response to COVID-19. We were asked to illustrate their primary focus areas: supporting countries in Africa and South Asia, developing and delivering treatments and vaccines, accelerating detection and containment of the virus, and protecting vulnerable communities in the United States. 

While working with this client, we also had the opportunity to create a short animation explaining the path vaccines must follow to reach remote areas of the world. Transporting a vaccine is a complex process due to the specific range of temperatures required to keep the vaccine viable. To communicate this idea, I illustrated eight different scenarios on an isometric view. This visual resource follows a vaccine vial from the manufacturer headquarters to its final destination in a remote area. 

Finally, we made an illustration that became an animated gif for an article called Code vs. COVID-19. This article described some of  the unseen innovators fighting the global pandemic, particularly programmers and other technologists that have brought their skills to bear. 

From ultrasounds made by your smartphone to data geolocalization that traces the spread of a disease, this illustration is a compilation of 4 different new technologies the Foundation has been supporting for years, and now have a special relevance due to the pandemic.