The process
From researching into stigmas in design, I found that a lot of stigmas linked to Mental health and found that a wide range of investigations were carried out into design being a resolution to help people with mental health.
During research which I found I found that posters which had been designed to either make people aware of mental health, looked depressing & scary, which arguably is the wrong point to make. Campaigns which advertise mental health should be more to help others understand, without being to doom and gloom or really happy, finding then decide between both is difficult.
However through research I carried out into current Artistic art that represents mental health or a disorder, I found a middle ground. Imagery which was used was of shapes rather than photography, text was very limited and simple, the colour choices that were chosen were calming homely tones such as, blues, oranges, and greens. I then furthered my initial research by interviewing someone who suffers with anxiety, and began to work on this project with them. During the interview i asked what she found relaxing and what she does to relax, and this particular person said fresh air, so I asked her to take some photos of what she thinks of to calm down and be in her own place. The photos which were produced was landscape photography such as, beaches,fields etc. This is interesting as from previous research we found that photography had been used in past posters came across negatively, however the colourful peaceful imagery produced by her created a much more relaxing environment which created much more relevant imagery.
Izzy the student who was working with then came up with the idea of creating posters that would help the public understand and help people who were having an attack of some kind, as many people don't know what to do. From research which we found such as: Simple type worked best, pastal colours worked best etc we then started to develop imagery which didn't need much text involved in the design to send a clear image across.
We carried out are first lot of experiments creating images used from the captures which were taken, and using them as the main background with different sayings on such as 'Breath', we used the typeface Young in the first experiments as we wanted something round and friendly, something which was delicate and welcoming. However what we found is that the text faded into the background making it difficult to see and therefore would not be suitable.
We began by looking through are research again trying to find more inspirations , and we found the idea of using shapes such as silhouettes to communicate a message. We began by using a silhouette of a head and inserting the images we captured from are last experimentation. This experimentation worked well as it the image placed in the silhouette immediately triggers you to know the designs are something to do with the mind linking it to health/mental health. We then added Helvetica Bold text different from the last text as we found the last text just faded into the background. The helvetica text stood out well and worked well with the background and the silhouette rounded shape also helped bring are eyes in to focus on the text and image, which is what we wanted.
Because of this positive experimentation we then started to mockup banners, publications, & posters where the designs would be seen, and we were please with the distribution of the designs, due to its professional look. From this we then began to analyse the process we went through and decided that we were please with our out comes and then finalised them.
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