Lisa Gumprich: Corona has changed you? You’re changing corona!
*Lisa (33) ★ lives in Berlin -> works as freelance art director -> after a year living in the pandemic she came up with the creative campaign “ES IST OKAY.” to tell people it’s ok to show their weaknesses and feel whatever they feel ✗ the campaign was visible from February to April 2021 on Out of Home Digital displays all over Germany in cities like Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and Düsseldorf -> she loves nature, and art and the exchanging of ideas with friends, family and strangers, alike.
The campaign „ES IST OKAY.” tries to connect with people’s feelings instead of telling them to stay home or follow the rules like most campaigns run by state governments. How did you come up with just such an idea and what did you want to achieve with the campaign?
Like most people, I was sitting at home for a long time and my daily highlight was going out for a walk. Here in Berlin you can see a lot of posters hanging around. But none of them said something that gave me a smile or hope for getting through this tough time. So, I wanted to do something instead of just sitting around.
This way, I tried to give something back to society and hopefully provide a little happy moment.
“None of the posters here in Berlin said something that gave me a smile or hope for getting through this tough time.”
Your visuals are very artsy and full of humor. What inspired you and do people understand the message you tried to convey?
I think all of my visual experience inspires me and this campaign shows my character a lot, too. It was important to be colorful here and the message shouldn’t be too heavy. I said the sentence „ES IST OKAY.“ many times to my friends when we talked about how we were feeling right now. So, the look became clear in my mind pretty quickly.
The campaign doesn’t scream at you, you have to look twice sometimes. This was my intention, this play with words and photography. You have the room for your own interpretation.
“The campaign doesn’t scream at you, you have to look twice sometimes.”
Can you tell us a little more about the campaign’s journey — from one women’s idea to a successful campaign seen across various German cities? How did the process unfold?
I wrote down the concept and idea with mood boards and sketches. This paper I sent out to my creative friends asking them if they wanted to be a part of it. Everybody said „Yes“ right away. After this we shot the pictures in one day, that was a tough ride. And then, I laid out the twelve posters. I pitched the final version of the campaign to a lot of people to find somebody who would support the idea. Ms. Frauke Bank, from the company Wall, was impressed from the first moment and played their Digital City Lights with our motifs the whole spring.
During the past year the coronavirus pandemic has changed everything and we’ve all had to adapt in our own ways. What challenges did you personally have to face and what helped you to overcome them?
I am a really social person, so my biggest challenge is not being close to people and my family. I need hugs and deeper conversations to feel alive, but all of that is not possible. And I miss dancing to music, feeling the rhythm at concerts and going out for a really nice dinner with friends. I miss a lot of things.
Right now, I am hoping and making my own little plans. I need perspective in some way. I still hope we will get through this and I try to see the tiny things in my little world right now.
But my physical situation is a roller coaster and it’s important to say that this pandemic does a lot to us. We need physical healing, too.
Are people more open to speaking about their feelings and struggles now? Or are we still striving for that efficient, Instagram perfect lifestyle?
To think that one campaign can change this, would be to really overrate it. But by just giving someone a little nudge in this direction, I think is a lot. This pandemic puts you automatically to the point where you have to talk — to talk about your feelings and what’s going on in your life.
"I think this pandemic gets you automatically to the point where you have to talk — to talk about your feelings and what’s going on in your life.”
What does good design mean to you?
Good design is the aesthetic translation of a need.
What does success mean to you?
Satisfaction.
