Week 5

Further research – Mixed media?

To begin with, I’ve thought about the following brief question – How can graphic designers fall back in love with design through craft? which has led me to thinking about how a designer would want to distract themselves from work stresses. Maybe there would be a tool that could identify alarming patterns (little sleep, no exercise etc.) and prevent burnout (very much like Mindnosis project I have chosen as one of my three briefs).

I think the best way to approach this is to understand what I personally would like to do when I feel low if I’ve had a rubbish week – I love to craft. Something I have been really into recently is distress inks/spray inks for crafting projects. Funnily enough the name ‘distress’ themselves is quite appropriate for this whole mental health/wellbeing idea… Using distress inks to prevent distress?

Tim Holtz

An example of Tim Holtz distress products being used in crafting – it’s very tattered, collage-like and sort of grungy in appearance:

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Although I personally love to craft, this is still a huge audience and doesn’t directly relate to

The thing is about this idea, is it targets a specific market – people who are creative/enjoy crafting. I have managed to source some facts about creatives who are struggling with mental health and wellbeing, especially if their career is in the creative industry:

“After all, their job is based on their own thoughts, ideas and emotions – and based on having them constantly judged, scrutinised and picked apart by others. On top of this, our industry is full of pressure. In fact, it’s a mess, and the poor mental health conditions of the people in this industry just keeps getting worse.

According to a survey by Ben O’Brien, as much as 79 per cent of illustrators have anxiety or confidence issues related to work; in research by Digiday+ 32 per cent of agency professionals reported being worried about their mental health; while a 2018 research from Epson reported that 25 per cent of freelancers have experienced depression, and 21 per cent suicidal thoughts due to loneliness and isolation. And this doesn’t even include all the artists out there. But despite how common an issue this is, little is being done to improve conditions, and mental health stigma leaves the ones who struggle feeling alone and abnormal, which only amplifies the issues.”

It’s Nice That – the above quote highlights a high amount of creatives that are struggling in their careers in the creative industry. Is it because they are vulnerable – getting your passionate work scrutinised has to take its toll?

Mentally healthy

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The above images and quote present statistics that haven’t really altered in the last couple of years – even with a pandemic. I was interested to see how that affected the results, but I think it was too early to tell. I feel like it’s going to be a huge problem as many companies have been made redundant therefore leaving creatives without jobs.

It’s not just creatives that are struggling mentally in the workplace, (even though I’m specifically targeting them for my idea, the following figures are really interesting for this year alone):

“Earlier in 2020, it was found that poor mental wellbeing is costing UK businesses £45 billion each year.

Plus, our research shows that 11 million UK adults took time off due to poor mental wellbeing in 2020, yet only 38% of them felt comfortable being honest about it to their employer, while others cite physical health issues or simply take annual leave to avoid the conversation all together. Most employers said that mental wellbeing is a key priority for them, but many employees don’t feel that it is.”

HR Zone

This is really interesting research and I’m sure I can use this as a basis for my concept over the next eight weeks.

Now I have done research, it’s clear I want to target the creatives as my audience and really design something that will help their mental health/wellbeing. The brief states that I should fit the project into one of the six impact themes – the theme I’m choosing is ‘health, well-being and disability’.