Assignment 4

I had a lot of problems with this assignment. My first mistake was that I didn't read the brief carefully: I thought the criteria was just to use fear appeal. I thought I could continue with my dog theme and do an SPCA poster. However, I realised soon enough that the poster should be about health campaigns. I then thought of depression, since dogs are helpful for depression. (They make people happy? At least it works for me.) This way, I can still continue with my dog theme.

I then started sketching my ideas. I had difficulty adding a dog, so I decided to shelve the idea for the time being and focus on the fear appeal. The first fear appeal that came to mind for depression was suicide, and I think a person cutting his/her wrist is suitable, since it can be scary without too much details. (I can't really draw and I don't have time...) However, I was unsuccessful. The designs don't seem scary, just emo.This is especially so when I ran out of ideas during my conceptualizing process, and I tried to listen to emo songs for inspiration. I have also tried to come up with a tag line with imagery and develop the visuals from there. But they don't seem to work. Here are some of them:

I realised I don't really have time to keep thinking about the initial concept, so I picked the first design and see if I could edit from there and come up with something better. The reason I chose it over the others was because I preferred the tag line: "Don't lose sight of happiness. You may lose your life." I felt that even if the design failed, I can develop something from there. This is my Illustrator version of the first sketch:

I think this is hardly scary. From this, I saw that my second major mistake was adding too much details in the design. The focus should be on the wrist and nothing else. Although tears represent depression, they are distracting the viewer from the fear appeal. My third mistake was using Illustrator. Cartoons are hardly scary, especially when I'm not good at drawing.

Thus I decided to use photographs, and close-up on the wrist. Here's my final design:

And the text:

“Don’t lose sight of happiness. You don’t want to lose your life.”

Life without happiness is not worth living. What do you make of this statement? Are you motivated to find happiness and make your life worth living? Or do you feel miserable and find this a good reason to die? People who agree with the latter may be suffering from depression.

Most people overcome grief. Even when they are weighed down by problems in life, there is always someone who can make them smile: their loved ones who care about them, a baby who looks at them inquisitively… even a dog with a silly grin. No one deserves less. Seek help if you must, by talking to your loved ones, or to a psychiatrist. We all have an inner child who is amused at everything. Don’t lose sight of him or her. Fight depression.

For more information, Call HealthLine 1800 223 1313 (Personal Advice) or visit http://www.hpb.gov.sg/. 

This is a digital collage. The blood is actually red-color food dye. I used the camera's timer function to take the photograph of my hand.. And I managed to put a dog inside! My idea is that the dog (a soft toy) represents the childhood/happiness/innocence that is lost when a person suffers from depression. I thought of replacing the blood with tears, to convey the idea of happiness drowning, but I guess that's not scary. 

The penknife is held at an angle, because it conveys the sense of motion. The dripping blood uses the concept of rhythm, and leads the viewer to the dog and the tag line. The wrist, since it is the focus, is much bigger than the dog. White background is contrasted with red blood, so it captures attention. (I thought of using a black background, but bright-red blood is not as sinister as a darker red?) All text is black on white as it is easier to read. The only exception is the main anti-suicide message. It is white text on the pool of blood, and larger than the other texts, to provide contrast which draws attention.

And finally I'm done. Hope people grimace at the poster :)