The visual storyteller is best known for his "Abstract Sunday" column in The New York Times and his covers for The New Yorker.
He tells Mashable about his latest work, a series of animated GIFs that explain the process of vaccine cold chains, a means of keeping vaccinations cool and transporting them to countries in need.
If he were to tell someone how cold chains worked, he figured the person would fall asleep within a minute and a half. That's why he chose the topic — his art could actually contribute something to the important conversation.
Niemann's animations are part of The Art of Saving a Life, a new arts initiative that launched Wednesday. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
commissioned more than 30 renowned artists to explore the importance of
life-saving vaccines, each through his or her own medium."What I loved about the cold chains is that whole idea of getting the vaccines from production to the people who need them is very dry, very complicated. It's about logistics and administration and technology — not, like, a super-fast computer, but a series of fridges," he says.
The challenge was boiling down the process in a way that's both informative and fun, showing the great work that's being done as well as remaining challenges. Using a hand-drawn style to show emotion and personality, Niemann chose birds because they're relatable across cultures, ages, genders and ethnicities.
"The one goal I have is that the art speaks for itself," he says. "The art should tell the entire story, but also drive people to learn more and further support the entire thing. The drawings should do the heavy lifting."
Check out Niemann's animations and accompanying story below, and be sure to check back Thursday and Friday. We'll feature more work from The Art of Saving a Life by artist Deborah Kelly and animation artist Katerina Athanasopoulou.
Vaccination can offer great protection.
Ensuring kids can grow up safe...
...from many of the world’s most notorious diseases.
But, it’s a huge challenge to get the vaccines to many of the people who need them, especially in the poorest countries.
Vaccines are sensitive to heat.
This can quickly render them useless.
Proper cooling can protect the vaccines.
But kids don’t always live in places with electricity and refrigerators.
How to get the vaccine safely to them?
There is a linked system of cold storage devices, also called a "cold chain."
Image: (C) 2014 Christoph Niemann
The vaccines can travel from major cities to the smallest, most remote community, and stay cool and safe the entire journey.
To reach children in the hottest, most remote places, we need to make the cold chain even better. People are working hard on new ideas like:
Image: (C) 2014 Christoph Niemann
Improved solar powered refrigerators.
Image: (C) 2014 Christoph Niemann
Creating dried vaccines.
Image: (C) 2014 Christoph Niemann
Better small mobile cooling units.
Image: (C) 2014 Christoph Niemann
Reducing weight and bulk.
Image: (C) 2014 Christoph Niemann
Creating combined vaccines, thus reducing the size and the number of doctor visits.
Image: (C) 2014 Christoph Niemann
A lot of work remains to be done.
Image: (C) 2014 Christoph Niemann
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