Research for Mental Health - 05.01.23
Listed below are the charities already doing their part to help people with mental health issues.
The research also ranges from suicide to ADHD which means that I can try and combine this into just mental health in general. We will see what I have decided after trying to research both.
I think that researching what is already out there is a good starting point to be able to be original and seeing what others have created can inspire me into what can be good and what I can do for an original idea.
Mind - Mental Health Charity
Mind is a mental health charity that has a broad spectrum of help for mental health issues. These can range from suicide to generalised anxiety to stress. They cover a lot of mental health issues and this can be seen in their work as a charity and through getting support from local helpers called "local minds". These people can be seen in person to help you out.
The screenshots show what their website looks like, their logo and some of their previous posters.
Home (no date) Mind
Talking about the layout and design choices for the charity, I really do like the way the logo shows a disorganised mind which leads to the name of the charity. I also like the coherent colourway of the website, the poster and the logo colour. It really does stand out. The colour blue was probably chosen compared to red or yellow as blue is a calming colour and is not seen as hostile or needing to catch your attention quickly. It is there when you need it or when you feel like you need to talk to someone but do not know what to do. It has a quiet way of showing that they are there for you when you need it most.
Their website has heaps of information with regards to mental health and how to even cope with it as well. The typography used is of a sans serif type, which is easy to read.
Throughout the website though, it uses two fonts for the heading and the written information. I think this is used so that the information shown is more clearer and using two fonts can differentiate bewteen the information and the heading easily as well.
Samaritans - Suicide Prevention Charity
Samaritans mostly focus on suicide prevention as I have found myself finding points of contact at train stations to make sure that no one does commit suicide by jumping in front of a train. These points of contact can also be found in common places where people might be in the wrong mindset and have a high chance that the person might die due to this.
The logo, website and point of contact is shown below;
Homepage (no date) Samaritans
The choice of colour fits with the way that the charity is supportive. You can also easily recognise the colour with the charity. Making it easily recogniseable shows that colour association plays a part in desiging a cohesive look with the company. I also like the updated look to the logo, as the older logo definetly looks outdated to today's standards. They have gone for minimalistic look to it, which suggests that design times are changing and have decided to lean more onto making it look more modern.
The typography for the charity is very clean. A san serif font is used so that it can be easily read online and on the poster.
I also like the unique contact point that this charity has as it provides a free phone line for the person in need can use to talk to someone about what they are going through.
I have also come up with a similiar concept with my unique point of contact, but requires the person in need to write out their feelings instead, as sometimes it is difficult to talk about my feelings to someone else. Maybe by writing them down instead will help.
It is nice to see what others have already done, but at the same time, I need to focus on the typography side of it as a designer and to see what could be done.
Don't Take This Risk - Visual Novel
Talking about Samaritians has reminded me of a visual novel called Don't Take This Risk, which is about a phone call from a random person that is currently commiting suicide. They have not done it yet, but are in the process of it.
I want to put this as inspiration as the contact point is very unique and I can take inspiration with the typography from the video game. It is a visual novel, which means that some bits of the game are fully text based and will need to be liegible.
Don't take this risk by poison Apple Tales (no date) itch.io
The dark and mysterious colouring of the whole game makes the topic very dark, as it is very difficult to talk to someone that is currently undergoing suicide. The colour pallette is dark for a reason and potraying it like this shows the darkness that one might experience with something like suicide.
By playing through it a couple of times, different choices can be made and different endings can be unlocked.
I personally do not think that choosing that coloour scheme will be fine with the type of message I want to send out as I feel like dark colours show a dark story, that there is no end and is more of a shck factor, instead of the ligther colour schemes such as the Mind charity or the Samaritians colour scheme.
The font choice is also an interesting one, as it clearly shows the devious intent that the person portrayed in the video game as the antagonist has when talking to the portagonist (which you control).
Overall, the way that the design is played out and the topic go hand in hand due to it being a video game, rather than a helpline for people that are struggling.
This brings me into a very good point when designing a cohesive design as I would need to think about what it is that I am trying to show across.
It is nice to see what others have already done, but at the same time, I need to focus on the typography side of it as a designer and to see what could be done.