Problem:

Create four cohesive posters that depict mental health using imagery and statistics.

Solution:

I started by looking at various mental health illnesses and statistically how many people are affected by each one.

The four mental health illnesses I decided to cover in this campaign were addiction, eating disorders, multi-personality disorder, and depression. I wanted to create an atmosphere that would grab a viewer’s attention and visually worry the viewer while educating them on how common these illnesses are in the United States.

To achieve this goal I tried to create dynamic pieces. For example, in the addiction poster, I have the subject by himself in a dark alley smoking and drinking. And for the eating disorder poster I used symbolism with the measuring tape blocking the mouth of the subject while also creating suspense by keeping the subject rather dark. In the multi-personality disorder poster, I had the subject looking worn and exhausted while his various personalities are coming out of him. Finally, with the depression poster I used a light background to contrast a dark subject that is slowly fading away and looks unhappy and tired.

Some challenges I faced during this project were that I had to use grids throughout all the posters to make them cohesive. In addition, when taking the photos I had to know how much space was necessary for the text I would be adding in post-production. I also had to direct my models into their dramatic poses.

In the end, I learned how to communicate effectively with my models, plan ahead when adding text to my photography, and I gained new editing skills in Photoshop.

Programs:

Adobe Photoshop, InDesign (for statistics), and Illustrator (for the slogan logo)