DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE?
One in five Australians are affected by mental illness, yet many don’t seek help because of the stigma that still exists. This solution features an optical illusion that makes the viewers see what is present but not immediately visible.
Client: Mental Health Australia // TAFE SA
AGDA Merit - Student Print (Posters)
AADC Student Finalist - E.01 Idea
Overview
The brief for ”Do You See What I See?” was all about changing perceptions about mental illness in Australia, and asked students to create a poster with the aim of raising awareness of mental health, and reducing the stigma around it.
Audience
As mental health issues can affect anyone from all walks of life, the audience was identified as those who may be on the periphery of those suffering from poor mental health. The brief asked students to avoid any imagery that talked down or painted those suffering as ”weak” or ”incompetent”, as to not contribute to the stigma.
Software
In the beginning, I struggled with the broad nature of the project. I personally felt that due to a target market not been specifically defined in this student brief, that it would be hard to create imagery that would hit an audience, whoever that audience was.
However, after in depth conversations with my lecturer and other students, my solution featued a scintillating grid illusion that was discovered in the 90’s, and is a variation of the Hermann Grid, from the 1940’s.
This solution created divide amongst the class and also amongst industry, as to whether something that was somewhat an assault on the eyes was the right approach, however this was exactly the point.
This use of this particular optical illusion was used to illustrate the fact that even though something is not easily visible, that doesn’t make it any less real.
Overview
In the beginning, I struggled with the broad nature of the project. I personally felt that due to a target market not been specifically defined in this student brief, that it would be hard to create imagery that would hit an audience, whoever that audience was.
However, after in depth conversations with my lecturer and other students, my solution featured a scintillating grid illusion that was discovered in the 90’s, and is a variation of the Hermann Grid, from the 1940’s.
This solution created divide amongst the class and also amongst industry, as to whether something that was somewhat an assault on the eyes was the right approach, however this was exactly the point.
This use of this particular optical illusion was used to illustrate the fact that even though something is not easily visible, that doesn’t make it any less real.
As mental health issues can affect anyone from all walks of life, the audience was identified as those who may be on the periphery of those suffering from poor mental health. The brief asked students to avoid any imagery that talked down or painted those suffering as ”weak” or ”incompetent”, as to not contribute to the stigma.
The brief for ”Do You See What I See?” was all about changing perceptions about mental illness in Australia, and asked students to create a poster with the aim of raising awareness of mental health, and reducing the stigma around it.
Audience / Research
Software
Overview
This creative direction shows a driver, (or “dummy”) been bombarded and crowded by unimportant, mundane, and sometimes miss-spelt text messages while driving. These messages were inspired directly from messages that I have sent and received while driving, which further highlighted how much I had let it get in my way of driving safely.
The concept behind this creative direction is based on findings that not all distractions are visual, and even simple notifications can still take the driver’s mind away from the task at hand. This is reflected in the tagline; “Clear Mind, Clear Sight”, which is paired with a strike-through bell symbol, using familiar imagery to provide the audience with a solution to avoid distractions.
The message content features references to roads or places in both Adelaide and Melbourne. This shows that the same campaign can be spread across the country, yet can be tailored to local areas, roads, and suburbs. It also was a personal Easter Egg for others to find, as the Melbourne based references are from where I grew up.
While Re:Act were quite clear that the audience was 17 to 25 year olds, it was up to our own research to define what kind of phone distraction we would be targeting.
While other students chose to look at distractions that related to music or pedestrians being distracted, I selected messaging as my specific theme, with around 54% of respondents admitting that they were distracted by messaging or phone calls.
Students were provided with the bones of how Re:act and other stakeholders required the creative to be delivered. This included lockups of logos, and a pre-defined exclusion area at the bottom of the composition. I used Blender to create the message bubbles, which had vector messages UV wrapped around each bubble, and used add-ons such as Blender-Kit and Mixamo to source assets such as a vehicle and a model.
This was later exported into Adobe Illustrator, with the final billboard shown on as mockups on billboards around Adelaide, taken by me. These mockups give the advertisement a real world feel by placing it in familiar and local environments.
Outcome
While Re:Act were quite clear that the audience was 17 to 25 year olds, it was up to our own research to define what kind of phone distraction we would be targeting.
While other students chose to look at distractions that related to music or pedestrians being distracted, I selected messaging as my specific theme, with around 54% of respondents admitting that they were distracted by messaging or phone calls.
While Re:Act were quite clear that the audience was 17 to 25 year olds, it was up to our own research to define what kind of phone distraction we would be targeting.
While other students chose to look at distractions that related to music or pedestrians being distracted, I selected messaging as my specific theme, with around 54% of respondents admitting that they were distracted by messaging or phone calls.
Audience / Research
Software
Overview
This creative direction shows a driver, (or “dummy”) been bombarded and crowded by unimportant, mundane, and sometimes miss-spelt text messages while driving. These messages were inspired directly from messages that I have sent and received while driving, which further highlighted how much I had let it get in my way of driving safely.
The concept behind this creative direction is based on findings that not all distractions are visual, and even simple notifications can still take the driver’s mind away from the task at hand. This is reflected in the tagline; “Clear Mind, Clear Sight”, which is paired with a strike-through bell symbol, using familiar imagery to provide the audience with a solution to avoid distractions.
The message content features references to roads or places in both Adelaide and Melbourne. This shows that the same campaign can be spread across the country, yet can be tailored to local areas, roads, and suburbs. It also was a personal Easter Egg for others to find, as the Melbourne based references are from where I grew up.
While Re:Act were quite clear that the audience was 17 to 25 year olds, it was up to our own research to define what kind of phone distraction we would be targeting.
While other students chose to look at distractions that related to music or pedestrians being distracted, I selected messaging as my specific theme, with around 54% of respondents admitting that they were distracted by messaging or phone calls.
Students were provided with the bones of how Re:act and other stakeholders required the creative to be delivered. This included lockups of logos, and a pre-defined exclusion area at the bottom of the composition. I used Blender to create the message bubbles, which had vector messages UV wrapped around each bubble, and used add-ons such as Blender-Kit and Mixamo to source assets such as a vehicle and a model.
This was later exported into Adobe Illustrator, with the final billboard shown on as mockups on billboards around Adelaide, taken by me. These mockups give the advertisement a real world feel by placing it in familiar and local environments.
Outcome
While Re:Act were quite clear that the audience was 17 to 25 year olds, it was up to our own research to define what kind of phone distraction we would be targeting.
While other students chose to look at distractions that related to music or pedestrians being distracted, I selected messaging as my specific theme, with around 54% of respondents admitting that they were distracted by messaging or phone calls.
While Re:Act were quite clear that the audience was 17 to 25 year olds, it was up to our own research to define what kind of phone distraction we would be targeting.
While other students chose to look at distractions that related to music or pedestrians being distracted, I selected messaging as my specific theme, with around 54% of respondents admitting that they were distracted by messaging or phone calls.