Kind regards makes care work visible for Basel-Stadt
Unpaid care work is the invisible foundation of our society, yet it is mostly performed by women and often leads to financial disadvantages. Commissioned by the Department of Equality and Diversity of the Canton of Basel-Stadt, the agency Freundliche Grüsse has developed a design that makes care work visible. At its heart is the new Care Tracker: a tool that, for the first time, quantifies household and family work in francs and rappen.
Whether it's childcare, caring for relatives or traditional housework - unpaid care work is often taken for granted. Under the motto "How much do you work unpaid?", Freundliche Grüsse is now putting these services in the spotlight. The agency is responsible for the entire visualization and was also closely involved in developing the content of the accompanying online tool.
Putting care work into figures
Many things in our lives can be measured, but care work has hardly been measurable so far. This is where the Care tracker on. The tool was designed and technically implemented by Milk Interactive, while Freundliche Grüsse took the creative lead to ensure seamless integration into the design.
Users can record their daily tasks on the platform. The tool calculates the time invested and assigns it a concrete monetary value. The comparison function for partners also makes the often abstract topic of "mental load" tangible and provides an objective basis for a dialog about workload distribution in the private sphere.
Activities as products
In order to visually emphasize the value of these tasks, the communication pursues a special design approach. Everyday care activities are staged as products that can be purchased and given a price tag. However, the price reflects the work that is done for it. The design thus picks up on the aesthetics of the consumer world. By deliberately objectifying care work, the supposed self-evident nature of these tasks is communicated once again. Care work thus becomes a striking commodity with a clear price tag.
After just under a week, 1,500 users have already used the care tracker, thereby advancing the discourse on mental load.
Responsible at Canton Basel-Stadt: Saskia Jaeggi (Project Manager Equality Office Canton Basel-Stadt), Responsible at Friendly regards: Pascal Deville, Samuel Textor, Fabian Biedermann (overall responsibility), Laura Leuenberger (art direction), Andrea Aegerter (consulting), Pascal Pfohl (motion design), Timotheus Überall, Jacqueline Rufener (text/concept), Sandro Matter (media), Daniela Benedix (motion design), Milk Interactive (web app development).
