See the city through the eyes of the blind

The impact on the visually impaired employees was the most rewarding as we not only gave them the ability to contribute with art themselves, but we also gave them a large amount of self-confidence, which not only resulted in unique paintings but also in a large social bounding, for they felt they could truly do something good for other blinds.

From the outset, the campaign has generated a great deal of news value and was immediately picked up by many national media outlets (newspapers, Radio 1), as well as by countless (advertising) blogs nationally and internationally.
We do not yet know the exact numbers of visitors because at the time of writing the campaign has only been going on for three weeks.

The starting point was the idea to have visitors look at the city through the eyes of the blind. Therefore we asked the visually impaired employees at CtheCity to design their own art work for the posters. This fits with the social purpose behind CtheCity, which is to stimulate self-employment and self-sufficiency. 

After several sketching sessions and under guidance of the art director we first discussed each subject entirely with the artists, setting the surrounding in which born blind people were able to paint their visions. An intense experience for some of them had never ever painted before and felt vulnerable having to create something they had no control over whatsoever.
The choice for painted dark linen backgrounds refers to the world in which the visually impaired people are constantly exposed and the intense experience visitors are confronted with while taking part of the trajectory in complete darkness.

Typographical we enhance the effect by working with iris blurring which is a well known starting point for blindness diseases.

CtheCity is a new experience at the Amsteldijk. It offers visitors the opportunity to walk a trajectory in complete darkness, so that they will feel what it is like to live with a visual handicap in a hectic city.

The sensations of sound, smell, and taste that you will encounter along the way are taken from the centre of Amsterdam. That makes CtheCity a fascinating experience, especially for foreign tourists who wish to encounter this capital city in a different way. During the entire tour, blind and visually impaired individuals will act as your guides, gaining their first work experience in the process, hopefully helping them to find long-term, gainful employment.

The original assignment for this campaign was to highlight the unique character of CtheCity for tourists and other potential visitors.