Student Em works with Waverley Care to support the LGBTQIA+ community in Scotland
An Edinburgh Napier student has used their graphic design skills to help educate the LGBTQIA+ community in Scotland about the support and services available from a leading HIV charity.
As part of their third year of study, student Em Runciman recently completed a three-month placement with Waverley Care.
Waverley Care is Scotland’s leading HIV and hepatitis C charity and is committed to a Scotland where no one faces HIV alone. It fights stigma and empowers people living with HIV to live full and healthy lives.
As part of their placement, Em was involved in creating a wider range of creative assets for the charity, helping roll out its recent rebranding across its digital channels. They also created a collection of character animations to help promote and educate people on safe sex and sexual health.
Throughout the placement, Em also volunteered at a number of events for the charity to help spread the word on the support and help available to those who may need it. They also helped to run the charity’s information stall at this month’s Edinburgh Pride event.
As a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, it’s a placement that’s been close to Em’s heart.
They said: “My placement with Waverley Care lasted three months and I worked with them two days a week during that time.
“This placement came about as I was offered a placement module in my third year of studying. I didn't have a type of design that I wanted to work in yet but I knew I wanted to work for somewhere that had relations to the LGBTQIA+ community. I am part of this community myself and I like incorporating this into my graphic design work.
“I was involved in creating a wider range of assets for the charity as it had gone through a rebrand and didn't have this across all the assets that they have. I created a collection of sexual health characters to show that sex is to be something that is enjoyable alongside helping to educate people on safe sex and sexual health. Waverley Care is at most of the LGBTQIA+ events in Scotland and therefore needed leaflets, merchandise and other informative assets at these events in order to educate people on HIV and the work that Waverley Care does for people with HIV.
“Some of the work I did during my placement will be at Waverley Care's stall at Edinburgh Pride this year. I also helped work and run an evening event that they were part of during my placement time. This was a book event for Jill Nalder, the author of Love at the Pink Palace (this book inspired a lot of the story for the Channel 4 series "It's a Sin").
“Working with Waverley Care has also really helped me in my journey of becoming a drag king/artist. They have a lot of communications with drag artists in the industry and that has helped me into getting my first drag gig and also potential ones in the future. It is also good to have queens and kings who have already been in drag for a while to look up to and also get some advice from.
“Since the placement, I have been working as a freelance graphic designer for the charity. I created some more assets for them which include informative postcards, but I have also had to tweak some of my designs from my placement time so that they work better for printing properly. I plan to volunteer for the charity whenever I can too!”
More information on Waverley Care can be found here.
You can see more of Em’s design work here.