This is why everyone’s wearing these cute yellow badges this week
Look out for a badge this week.
A cheerful new citywide project is inviting Cork people to be a little more social in an effort to beat loneliness.
The Say Hi project has been created by Humanosity, a design partnership between Keith Kent and Jason O’ Gorman, whose work is dedicated to making a positive impact on the world through storytelling, visuals and above all else, human connection.
Say Hi has placed boxes of yellow badges in locations around the city. To take part you simply wear one. If the badge spark conversation or leads to a nice interaction, you can add your story to the collection publically or anonymously over here.
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“We’ve noticed that simple everyday human interactions are disappearing, everyone tends to be too distracted by their phones to acknowledge each other in public.” Kent told Yay Cork.
“So we wondered: What would happen if people said hi a little more often? Our hope is that the project will remind people to be a little bit more aware in shared spaces.”
The designers feel the simple norm of acknowledging each other is being lost and this is a contributing factor in why so many people feel disconnected and isolated.
“In-person social interactions help us live longer lives. Sounds incredible but there’s data to prove this! So if a little badge can act as a visual cue for a little human interaction here and there we think that would be amazing. We’re also hoping the badges will inspire some serendipitous stories that we can share to show that small gestures are a communal good.”
“We made some free badges as an invitation and a friendly reminder for people to say hi to each other. We’re placing the badges in some popular places around Cork City. If you spot one – take one, wear it, look up, say hi… and see what happens.”
If you have a shop or premises in the city centre and you’d like take part, drop the lads a line (hello@humanosity.ie) the they will drop in a box of badges so you can support the project.
