Looking to shift your communications and wanting to try something new? The comics medium is approachable, accessible and relatable and can communicate serious topics of health, wellbeing and illness. These works, categorised as Graphic Medicine, both create emotive narratives and deliver information in an accessible medium. Here are a couple resources for you to have handy when creating some comics of your own. The following two bookmarks can be printed on A4 sized paper (landscape) separately or as the front and back of each bookmark.

This bookmark is a resource developed in partnership for a bespoke workshop we facilitated in the fall of 2017 around the use of narrative in health communications. The front of the bookmark provides a basic reminder of the elements of comics to think about when starting to create your own (download here). The back of the bookmark visually shows Arthur W. Frank’s (1995) The Wounded Storyteller three illness narratives and story arcs. We used these to examine the types of narratives encountered in health narratives and media. Each of these narratives should be considered when thinking about your message and how you will plan your story (download here).

Artist credit: Alexandra P Alberda T: @ZandraAlberda

Civic Media Hub resource developed in partnership with Public Health Dorset