N.C.D.V. is about immediate action. A fast, free emergency service that gets the victim away from the root of the problem – the abuser. Specifically, the hands of the abuser. By hiding the headline within the typographic hands, we wanted to convey a feeling that abuse isn’t something victims need to keep secret. They don’t need to suffer in silence. Our aim was to draw people in, question what they are seeing and then learn that help is out there.

With 1 in 4 women suffering domestic violence during their lifetime the client wanted a piece of creative that conveyed a sense of this being a problem that is always suffered in silence, hidden behind closed doors – and that needn't be the case, offering sufferers an escape, a helping hand. Without resorting to shock tactics, they also wanted us to find a way of conveying a real feel for the physical side of domestic violence, the intolerable pain of it.

Domestic abuse lurks beneath the veneer of society – behind closed doors – we wanted to reflect this hidden nature of the problem in the final design. With the abuser's hands physically being the root of the problem, we concluded they were the perfect vehicle to typographically portray the solution offered by the charity.

Driving awareness that help is out there was the key objective, giving them somewhere to turn, letting them know they are not alone. If we helped one victim of domestic violence we would have deemed the communication successful. The helpline received a marked increase in calls.