Allison Lazard PhD is a communications and digital media researcher whose work focuses on how visual and interactive design influences the perceptions and impact of health communication. She uses communication and health behavior theories to identify and evaluate visual strategies to increase the effectiveness of health communication efforts, particularly health and wellness campaigns and environmental science education. She has partnered with many content experts, including Cancer Outcomes Research Program members, to examine the impact of visual and interactive message design for a variety of applied health topics, including: designing icons to communicate harms of smoking, evaluating website designs for tobacco prevention and control, and the impact of pictorial warnings; evaluating the impact of implicit (visual) and explicit (text-based) claims in food marketing; leveraging visual metaphors to increase engagement with mental illness messages; tailoring interactive prenatal health education for secondary audiences (men); and using design cues to increase the feeling of being with others (social presence) with cancer prevention and survivorship apps.
Allison Lazard
PhD
Assistant Professor, Media and Journalism, UNC-Chapel Hill