Alternative Depression
Raising awareness of underrepresented symptoms
This project was created out of frustration with the narrative surrounding depression. Although mental health, particularly depression, is much more openly talked about now than it has been in the past, there are still prominent stereotypes about depressive symptoms. This can lead to a lack of diagnoses, particularly in young adults and graduates; lacking mental health support after leaving education, they may not be aware that symptoms they are experiencing can point towards depression. I set out to change that.
Stereotypical portrayals of depression stigmatise it as ‘feeling sad’. I wanted to try something different, that better targeted young adults and worked to challenge the repetitive visuals surrounding mental illness.
My solution: bright, bold animations. Instead of using blues, greys, and lone figures, I decided to visualise different feelings through everyday objects, each of which moves in a unique and unusual way. The atypical movement in each clip aims to make the viewer conscious that such symptoms should not be part of everyday life and may have a more serious cause.
I discovered The Mental Health Coalition during my research and decided to align my project with their work - with bright, bold colours and a direct approach to mental health, they were an apt fit.
The project focused on four particular groups of symptoms, represented by four different objects. Theoretically launched through social media, the campaign ties in nicely with trends of 'unsatisfying videos', piquing people's interest and then beginning to build a crucial awareness of less common symptoms of depression.
Behind the scenes
Developing this project took extensive research, not only to represent mental health issues in a new way but also to represent them accurately and take into account the wide range of different experiences that people can have with depression. Choosing the objects to use and ensuring they worked well as metaphors was the most challenging aspect - it took me several pages of ideation, many test runs of animation, and a lot of trial and error with 3D software before I achieved the movement and look that I was aiming for!
