First week of uni update - meeting with Dave and change in direction

After a week of lots of reading and thinking (and more thinking) about where on earth I was going to take my project, I have finally found a bit of direction.  On Thursday last week I met with Dave, and explained to him my situation of feeling a bit lost and not too sure of how I could take my project further.  He suggested taking a step back and looking at the things I was interested in, leading to the decision to focus on the relationship between image/illustrations and typography.  At first I was very sceptical of focusing on this, as at face value the topic seemed a bit simple compared to all these big, lofty ideas I had been exploring last semester.  However, after thinking about it for a few days and weighing it up against my other idea of exploring humour in design (see previous post), my gut feeling won out and I chose to explore image-type relations.  At the moment I am reading up on anything I can find to do with this, including books such as "Reading Images:  The Grammar of Visual Design" by Gunther Kress and Leo van Leeuwen and some great articles on typography which I will write about in another post.

Of course, then I had to think about what my honours project would actually be.  For a while now I have been drawn towards doing a graphic design project on mindfulness, but I had always been hesitant to go for it because I was worried people would think the topic was not interesting or a bit weird.  Mindfulness is a great practice to get into to manage stress and anxiety and has been proven time and time again to be an effective tool for the long-term management of depression.  However, as it stems from Buddhism and is generally linked to other "new age" practices, people are often put off by it and for the very same reason, I didn't really feel like it was "cool" enough or "out there" enough to be considered a good topic.

Then it hit me - since I had been so interested in design as a persuasive tool, mindfulness was a perfect topic for an hours project.  If people were already put off by the practice due to preconceived ideas, then surely this would be a great opportunity to try and use everything I was looking at to turn that around and present mindfulness in a way that would spark an interest in people and "show it off".  There is a lot of scope, both in the visuals and text and how I can go in a different direction from the typical outdoorsy, body-mind-spirit look that tends to accompany information on the subject.

Having a look at what is currently out there on mindfulness as a starter helped me to see that there was potential in my proposed idea.  The ones on the website for Mindfulness Scotland confirmed that what was already out there could be improved to look more appealing, dynamic, and personable, which I feel is one of the most important factors.  Looking at the way all the information is presented here, it looks quite lacklustre and some of the information which could be a "selling point" if you like is presented among a wall of text which many people might skim over or not want to read at all.   Overall, the mix of type and image is not the most effective - Myriad Pro is fine for a body type as it is legible, but for the header ("Mindfulness Scotland: Enhancing the well-being…") it ends up conveying the practice as very solemn and serious.

Fig 1 Screengrab from Mindfulness Scotland page

Figures 1 and 2:  There are some good quotes on these pages which could be a strong point of encouragement for newcomers, but they get lost in the layout because their font kind and size is consistent with the rest of the page.

Fig 2 - Screengrab from Mindfulness Scotland

Below:  The list of benefits from practising mindfulness are listed below, but there is nothing on the page to highlight these except some ordinary bullet points.

Fig 3 - Screengrab from Mindfulness Scotland website

The Mindful website is a little more dynamic in layout and use of text and imagery, consequently making the page a little more exciting to the eye.  For starters there is a nice calming mix of colours in there with the blue and hints of orange, which contrasts nicely.  The site uses a mix of stock photography and illustrations to go with articles, which works well as .  However as you can see at the bottom of this screengrab, there are still the usual landscape/meditation pictures associated with mindfulness there.  I realise that I may not be able to shake these off completely as the practice of meditation is intrinsic to mindfulness, however I am keen to get away from these "typical" images as I feel that sometimes this is what puts people off.

Fig 4 - Screengrab from Mindful.org

I noticed that the NHS Moodzone page is rather similar - blue has been found in colour theory to produce a calming effect and so is being used here to do so, with the added benefit of being a good colour choice for screen design.  The site is a place, primarily for younger people, to go for advice and resources to deal with stress and anxiety.

Fig 5 - Screengrab from NHS Moodzone

The Be Mindful page takes a different approach, with brighter, warmer colours and chunky typography which gives it a more vibrant look.  The site is run in association with the Mental Health Foundation in the UK, who present the information related to mental health in a way that is visually interesting.  The type in particular appears to be what I feel is "personable", as the edges are rounder giving it a softer look than if it were a regular sans-serif.  This kind of font would also be the kind that would catch the attention of a younger crowd, who are a target audience for the Foundation as one of their aims is to educate young people on the effects of mental ill health.   

Fig 6 - Screengrab from Be Mindful page

Fig 7 - Screengrab from Be Mindful page

This combination of image and the aforementioned "friendlier" type speaks to people of all ages.  The use of photography means that the situation described in the poster appears as a realistic, serious issue, and as people are drawn to what they recognise as their own, the girl's face acts as an "anchor" for both the viewer's gaze and emotions.  The thumbnail illustrations at the side are simple but almost feel playful.  Overall I feel that, through the combined use of imagery and typography, this page says that the Foundation are open-minded, welcoming and to the point about the facts surrounding mental health.

Fig 8 - Screengrab from Mental Health Foundation homepage

My next area of study will be reading up more on image-text relationships as well as looking at more existing materials on mindfulness and mental health.  I had a good meeting with my supervisor Simone who gave me some advice on what to look at next, so I will write more on that in an upcoming post.  

References:

Fig 1 - Mindfulness Scotland, 2014. Mindfulness Scotland Homepage [online] Available at:
http://www.mindfulnessscotland.org.uk/?doing_wp_cron=1421324398.0654509067535400390625
[Accessed 14th January 2015]

Fig 2 - Mindfulness Scotland, 2014. Mindfulness Scotland Homepage [online] Available at:
http://www.mindfulnessscotland.org.uk/?doing_wp_cron=1421324398.0654509067535400390625
[Accessed 14th January 2015]

Fig 3 - Mindfulness Scotland, 2014.  The Benefits of Mindfulness [online] Available at:
http://www.mindfulnessscotland.org.uk/benefits/
[Accessed 14th January 2015]

Fig 4 - Mindful, 2015.  Mindful Homepage [online] Available at:
http://www.mindful.org
[Accessed 14th January, 2015]

Fig 5 - National Health Service, 2014.  NHS Moodzone [online] Available at:
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/pages/low-mood-stress-anxiety.aspx
[Accessed 14th January, 2015]

Fig 6 - Mental Health Foundation, 2014. Be Mindful Homepage [online] Available at:
http://bemindful.co.uk
[Accessed 14th January, 2015]

Fig 7 - Mental Health Foundation, 2014. About MBSR [online] Available at:
http://bemindful.co.uk/mbct/experience-mbct/
[Accessed 14th January, 2015]

Fig 8 - Mental Health Foundation, 2015. Mental Health Foundation [online] Available at:
http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk
[Accessed 14th January, 2015]