Positive Impact of Graphic Design on Mental Health
The mental health of a person can be considered as emotional or social well-being.
Mental health issues can influence a person’s choice of decisions made and their
behaviour in the social world. Some people suffering from these issues think that if
they are open about their issues society will not welcome them well and end up
bottling up their emotions leading them to make bad decisions. Graphic design has
been creating an impact in the health care industry. A graphic designer Ollie Alpin
has come up with a journaling solution directed toward men and a creative agency
called MullenLowe has been conveying the message that people who think they
have no one to talk to or share their problems are not alone through a campaign in
response to these issues. This essay will argue that their work has created a lot of
positive impact on people’s lives and has helped them overcome their issues.
Ollie Alpin responds to mental health issues in his work through one of his journal
design works by which he wanted to convey mental health issues can be dealt with
by journaling. Increasing understanding and reducing stigma can create mental
health awareness in people (World Health Organisation, 2017). Some people
conclude that if they open up about their problems, society will judge them, and this
stigma created discomfort and trouble for people to talk. Alpin has responded to this
issue through his work called the Mind Journal after suffering from mental health
issues himself. Developed in the span of three years that is designed for men to
open up their thoughts and feelings. Generally, men are open about their emotions
and feelings less than women, says Alpin. After consulting many experts like
psychologists and psychiatrists and collecting information from various academics he
designed this thoughtful hard-bound journal (Mind journal,2022). Alpin’s journal has
been helping thousands of men to deal with their life struggles by journaling their
problems and finding solutions to them. The eventual aim of the journal is to make a
person overcome their issues and make them capable enough to look after
themselves and the people around them. The journal is designed with interactive
pages with questions, activities and motivational quotes that encourage people to
consistently journal their thoughts. Identifying the issue helps a person overcome it
easily and the journal plays its role in helping men identify their issues. The clean
and minimal design of the book makes it easier for the users to interact with the
journal.
Mullen Lowe an award-winning agency has responded to mental health issues
through a campaign called We Listen directed at people going through mental health
issues. “Stigma is one such injustice that plagues the twenty-first century” (Corrigan,
2018). Some people believe that by revealing their problems, society will judge them.
This stigma encourages them to bottle up their emotions which when reaching a
point that can’t be handled, they decide to give up on their life. Samaritans a charity
group based in the UK collaborated with Mullen Lowe and UK rail network to address
this issue. The whole point of the campaign was to let people know that they are not
alone when they need someone to talk to or to stay beside them, (Ruby Boddington,
2017). The creative agency has been actively addressing social issues by working
with many other social groups and organisations. The poster campaign led by the
Samaritans launched in February 2015 created a positive impact on a lot of people
and created a decline in the number of suicides on the rail [Samaritans.org]. The
portraits shot by one of the famous photographers Nadav Kander on the posters
were captured in such a way that a common man could relate to the portraits. When
a person feels lonely and unable to cope, the words We Listen could create a great
impact and MullenLowe has carefully designed posters that convey this message.
Graphic designer Ollie Alpin and Creative Agency Mullen Lowe have carefully
addressed mental health issues in their work. Their work has created a positive
impact and helped many people overcome the issues they are dealing with by
journaling and talking about their problems. It has encouraged a lot of people to open
up and cope. In other words, designers like Alpin and Mullen Lowe can create an
impact in the health care industry through graphic design. Mental health issues like
depression, anxiety, hopelessness, and so on can worsen by bottling up the
emotions, leading people to suicidal thoughts. “Much of our suffering is due to
negative emotional energies that have become ‘trapped’ within us” [Nelson, 2019].
Reference list
Boddington, Ruby. (2017) 'GraphicDesign& outline three projects that successfully
support and impact mental wellbeing', It's Nice That. Available at:
https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/graphicdesign-and-graphic-design-world-mentalhealth-day-101017 (Accessed: 11 March 2022).
Corrigan, Patrick W. (2018) The Stigma Effect: Unintended consequences of mental
health campaigns. United States: Columbia University Press.
Gosling, Emily. (2017) 'Can graphic design save your life?', AIGA Eye on Design.
Available at: https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/can-graphic-design-save-your-life/ (Accessed: 11 March 2022).
Mind Journal (2022) About Us. Available at:
https://www.mindjournals.com/pages/about?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2NiZ27-89gIVE7LtCh0eBwdFEAAYASADEgLYlvD_BwE (Accessed: 11 March 2022).
Nelson, Bradley. (2019) The Emotion Code: How to Release your trapped emotions
for abundant love, health and happiness. United States: St. Martin's Publishing
Group.
Samaritans (2022) We Listen. Available at: https://www.samaritans.org/supportus/
campaign/we-listen/ (Accessed: 11 March 2022).
World Health Organisation (2022) Mental Health. Available at:
https://www.who.int/health-topics/mental-health#tab=tab_1 (Accessed: 11 March
2022).
