UN Women: 16 days of activism

The UN Women 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is a global campaign (Nov 25–Dec 10) that raises awareness and mobilises action to end violence against women and girls.

It unites governments, organisations and individuals worldwide to promote prevention, support survivors and push for stronger laws and gender equality.

Context 

For UN Women’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, we developed a campaign identity focused on a growing but often dismissed issue, digital violence.

The campaign reframes online abuse, not as something trivial or abstract, but as real, lived violence with real consequences.

Approach 

Digital abuse is often minimised because it exists in the familiar and everyday through messages, notifications and emojis.

We identified a critical tension, the same visual language used for play, humour and connection is also used to deliver harassment, threats and abuse.

By leveraging familiar UI elements the campaign makes the invisible visible.

The identity is built as a dynamic, disruptive system that transforms familiar digital elements into a visceral experience of online abuse. 

Emojis are used at scale and are core to the visual language to simulate harassment. Motion mirrors the overwhelming nature of digital violence. The campaign is grounded by bold typographic statements and the orange palette ties the campaign to its global context.

Digital violence is real violence