Poster Design Campaign for Road Safety Awareness in Kano Metropolis

Road traffic accidents in Kano metropolis represent a major public health crisis, with the Federal Road Safety Corps recording consistently high fatality and injury rates along key urban corridors including Zoo Road, Murtala Mohammed Way, and Badawa Bypass. This project applies visual communication and persuasion design principles to the development of a targeted poster campaign aimed at improving road safety behaviour among commercial drivers and pedestrians in Kano State, North West Nigeria. A formative research phase comprising structured interviews with forty commercial drivers, twenty pedestrians, and ten Federal Road Safety Corps officers identified the most hazardous behaviours including speeding, phone use while driving, and pedestrian jay-walking. Using findings from the formative phase, twelve poster designs were developed in Hausa and English, employing direct visual metaphors, high-contrast palettes, and concise behavioural messages. Poster prototypes were evaluated by a panel of graphic communication experts and target users for clarity, cultural appropriateness, and emotional impact. A controlled pre- and post-campaign exposure study with one hundred and twenty participants measured changes in stated attitudes and knowledge related to road safety rules. Results indicate a thirty-seven percent improvement in road safety knowledge and a significant increase in stated intention to comply with seat belt and pedestrian crossing regulations. The project recommends adoption of the campaign by the Kano State Road Safety Advisory Council. Keywords: poster design, road safety, behaviour change communication, Kano, visual persuasion.