Dementia NHS campaign
– Project nameNHS dementia awareness poster
– RolePoster designer
– DateSpring 2020
– SpecsAbobe InDesign
Adobe Photoshop
I have been asked to produce an outcome in response to the theme of data. I decided to conceptualise data as information which is stored by the human brain and focus on the way mental illnesses can cause this information to be degraded due to Dementia and Alzheimer’s. To begin my project, I will create a mind-map to help me identify research opportunities that will help me kickstart my creative journey. I will look at a variety of primary and secondary research sources which will include a range of different artists that portray mental health, mental health conditions and the target audience. Identifying the target audience is extremely important as they will determine the medium and tone I will take in the creation of my outcome(s).
I will use my research to conduct a range of traditional and digital experiments which include artist responses, illustrations and digital manipulation. I will use all of this to create a range of different concepts which I will present to my peers, tutors and target audience for feedback. For my research I will use my findings to select my final concept(s) and I will make any necessary adjustments. Once this has been finished, I will then create my final artwork using the appropriate materials and software (Adobe CC suite). I will also create some in-situ mock-ups to show how my outcomes would look in the real world.
I identified my target audience using SurveyMonkey. I conducted this survey so that I knew how to appropriately tailor my work towards my target audience so that I could make my work as effective as possible.
I determined from my survey of Milton Keynes students and teachers that my core target audience was aged from 16 to 30. This means that I had quite a broad and youthful age-range to engage with, which allowed me to convey my work in a variety of ways, whether it be extensively or concisely.
I deliberately decided not to target people under 16 as I would expect anyone younger than this would find it harder to understand the relevance of the issue and designing communications for children would be completely different than designing for adults and I would have to simplify my work.
I decided to research the artist William Ultermohlen because his work gives a clear insight into how complex, vulnerable and delicate the human brain is, especially from an artistic perspective. Researching William Ultermohlen assisted the development of my work as I familiarised myself with how dementia affects art. This research met the needs of my target audience as I discovered that illustrative art is an effective way to convey the degradative effect of dementia.
From this research, I realised that the best way to convey dementia through art is to use a minimum number of colours, to symbolise the dark feelings of having memory loss conditions, as Ultermohlen used monochromatic colours towards the end of his portrait series which encapsulates the dark feelings of dementia very well.
This was the process of me experimenting with emotive typography. I used the liquify tool inside of photoshop to create an effect that meets the theme of my project being about data degrading, and the warped and distorted effect that I have created upon the typography piece symbolises that. These pieces will visually influence the development of my work as I will be showing these pieces to my class. My peers will give me feedback and tell me how I could change these pieces to make them better. These pieces will meet the needs of my target audience as they meet the codes and conventions of data degrading and deteriorating through typography.
I created this mind-map to help me think about what messaging to put on my final poster. This mind-map visually influenced the development of my project as it gave me a range of slogans that I to choose from, meeting the needs of my target audience through conveying a wide range of different slogans associated with the degradation of memories in the mind caused by dementia.
This was the process of creating my final poster. I created this piece by initially selecting a bold typeface; I selected Gotham Black as it is bold and easy to read. I chose the colour white because I needed the typography to contrast against the black background so that my poster is a lot more memorable and eye catching. I then used the liquify tool in Photoshop to obscure the type so that it symbolised the deterioration of data in the mind caused by dementia as vividly as possible. I then added the slogan "Memories should last a lifetime' to the bottom of the page so that the viewer knew exactly what this poster was about. I then added the NHS logo and their contact details. This poster effectively met the needs of my target audience as it conveyed the degradation of data in the mind, meeting the codes and conventions of my project.