In communities across Latin America, children are being denied their right to education because they lack their basic right to clean drinking water. Dehydration affects memory, concentration, and cognitive development, making it difficult to focus at school. Many children miss school entirely, forced to collect water or recover from illness. This crisis is urgent, but invisible.
Water For People needed to re-engage donors during a pivotal moment: funding was being cut, attention was fading, and traditional appeals were losing impact. The creative challenge was clear: make an unseen issue felt. The solution had to cut through donor fatigue, transcend conventional formats, and turn empathy into renewed support.
The result reconnected donors to the cause in a way no static appeal could: through a story that physically disappears without water.
This book needs water. Just like millions of children of Latin America.
‘The Dehydrating Book’ is the first piece of literature that can only be read when hydrated. As the pages dry, the story disappears – a tactile experience designed to reveal a devastating truth: without water, children can’t learn.
Created for Water For People’s donor base, the book turned a traditional appeal into a moment of personal participation. Donors couldn’t access the story without interacting with the issue. Water became the interface. Absence became the message.
By reimagining a universal symbol of learning – a book – the idea did more than just highlight the crisis. It made it felt. It embodied the stakes. It became an active call to action. And in doing so, it turned design into a tool for advocacy and change.
Every design decision reinforced the idea: when water disappears, education disappears. We spent eight months in R&D to engineer something never done before: a fully water-activated book that shifts from readable to unreadable.
Printed on SuperYupo synthetic paper using a Heidelberg XL 102 UV litho press, the pages were flood-coated with hydrochromic ink via silkscreen. The book was wrapped with waterproof 3M adhesive and heat-sealed into a water-filled pouch.
The story was co-created with students from Palmira, a village in Peru’s Cascas Valley. Characters and landmarks were drawn from their lived experience. The custom typography was based on the Andean Cross, with every letterform built from a perfect square – reflecting Indigenous beliefs of balance and harmony. Patterns referenced Incan textiles, and the color palette was inspired by local artworks.
We set out to re-engage donors, reframe the water crisis, and unlock long-term support. What began as a design expression became a catalyst for impact.
The response was immediate. A 294% spike in high-intent traffic to donate – a rare action sparked by print. Within the first two weeks, donations rose 68%, the fastest fundraising lift Water For People had seen from any creative effort. It reactivated lapsed supporters and opened new avenues for fundraising.
This campaign drove over 40% of the organization’s new subscribers for the year, building momentum for future conversion. New donor revenue increased by 118%, more than doubling the monthly average and expanding the base for long-term giving.
Donor response helped close critical funding gaps – enabling Water For People to continue expanding access to water and sanitation across Latin America, reaching 29 schools and over 40,609 people.
This was awareness turned into action – by design.
