How will Oi help?

Communicating safety instructions with a combination of pictures and simple English text helps overcome literacy problems. And, it increases message retention for everyone. Everyone benefits from this form of communication.

Example 1: We discovered that our personalised safety signs made for New World Supermarket Wellington City, while they contributed to a small reduction in accidents, were highly valued as flash cards for training new staff (many of whom speak English as a second language).

Example 2: Wellington City Zoo results confirmed parents are the worst offenders at ignoring safety signs. The new Action Direction signs are directed at the children so they can hold their parents accountable for their actions. (The installation of the signs is in progress.)

Example 3: We created Fire Action signs for a new 142 room inner-city hotel. The Bolton Hotel has a fire alarm system that uses three different tones to instruct and inform guests, some of whom are tourists, what to do in different fire situations.

Example 4: Hell Pizza franchisees happily display their customised “Satan’s Safety Signage” within their stores. We transformed our mascot Oi into a Hell Devil for this project.

Example 5: The Wellington Free Ambulance poster, entitled “I need help”, educates four to nine year old Wellington primary school children on six key actions involved in calling an ambulance. Wellington Free Ambulance received glowing feedback from schools.

Example 6: All signs are continually updated through user testing and improvements. The latest improvement came from user testing at the Massey University English Language Centre. Here, the students told us that our phone image looked old-fashioned and that we should update it to a more mobile looking phone.

Example 7: Currently a trial with Housing New Zealand Corporation is underway (signs have been installed in three apartment buildings and one immigrant family home in Wellington).