Background Research:
Main takeaways/information from the brief:
- 19 guidelines outlining to professionals how to teach/share them with mental health sufferers.
- Information into psychiatric disorders, what they are etc.
- Information into how physical activity can aid a healthy mind.
Outcomes requested:
- Short animation explaining who they are and what the guidelines are for.
- Booklet/leaflet containing key information.
- visuals for social media/presentations etc.
Mental Health in Sphere
I wanted to do some research into the topic and thought where best to look for the scientific information than what was given to us in a separate informative document. I was looking for more specific information into the psychiatric disorders as well as the reasoning behind the guidelines.
Mental health is a state of well-being, in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stress of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community [1]. Good mental health is a critical part of individual well-being, and the foundation for balanced, fulfilled, productive lives.
This idea of mental health and what it is, what it stands for is something really important to the brief in itself in terms of conveying the right messages to the viewers. Everyone is aware of mental health and its problems, but this idea of it being all about someones well-being and being based around a balanced lifestyle is really interesting and something which many people probably haven’t seen before.
Psychiatric disorders or mental illness, can affect anyone at some point in their lives – whether experiencing mental illness themselves, or as a family member, friend or colleague of someone living with a mental disorder
Something which can affect everyone in one way or another, especially recently when the idea of mental health is really prominent, something like this can really change peoples lives for the better, and its important that whilst the guidelines need to be conveyed to the audience, the ‘campaign’ needs to also have promotional information to get across the fact that doing this can positively aid yours or a loved ones life.
Without effective prevention and treatment, mental illnesses can have profound effects on people’s ability to carry out their daily lives and often result in poorer physical health.
Interesting that physical activity can be used to increase healthy lifestyle, and an unhealthy lifestyle can lead to lack in physical activity. Interesting loop?
It’s clear through looking at their information and background to mental health disorders that there’s no cure or remedy for it, its simply that a variety of things, including increased physical activity can start to improve mental health and make someone start to feel better. So it’s important not to tell the viewer that it will suddenly make everything better, but more to inform them how they can start to improve their mental health and what benefits physical activity can have.
According to the latest IHME estimates, more than one in six people across EU countries (17.3%) had a psychiatric problem in 2016 – that is, nearly 84 million people. The most common mental disorder across EU countries is anxiety disorder, with an estimated 25 million people (5.4% of the population) living with anxiety disorders, followed by depressive disorders, which affect over 21 million people (4.5% of the population). An estimated 11 million people across EU countries (2.4%) have drug and alcohol use disorders. Severe mental illnesses such as bipolar disorders affect almost 5 million people (1% of the population), while schizophrenic disorders affect another estimated 1.5 million people (0.3%) [11].
Lots of lengthy stats and pieces of information which are very important and prevalent within the project, however different people will have a different attention span when it comes to this sort of thing, mental health practitioners may be very interested in it all, but will sports coaches and people who work in sports development? Its important to make sure that with such a wide spread of people viewing and using the information, its given in a way which isn’t overwhelming with information.
As I stated previously I think its important that although I put the guidelines and the science over to the viewers, there’s also a very visual side to the campaign which is less overwhelming and factual to keep a good level of pace throughout the response to the brief.
Physical Activity in Sphere
Psychiatric rehabilitation can be defined as a set of techniques and interventions useful for decreasing the effects of chronic mental illness and for actively promoting patient reintegration in the social and work context
Important to understand what psychiatric rehabilitation is and that it isn’t necessarily all technical and complicated.
sport, exercise and physical activity, due to their positive impact on physical and mental health, are one of the most commonly used rehabilitation practices in addition to other approaches such as music therapy, neurocognitive therapies, and therapeutic horticulture
Physical activity and exercise won’t just make you feel better, its something which will come gradually in unison with other strategies, important to make this clear and use persuasive language to encourage them instead of telling them it will make them instantly better.
Several studies [18] have indicated that sport, exercise, and physical activity can positively influence the prognosis of some mental disorders that represent the most frequent causes of mental disability – including major depression, schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease
Proven facts and figures which have been cited by many people and many organisations.
The guidelines emphasize a person-centred approach [29, 30] where the patient plays a proactive role in their own recovery, becoming an active participant in the process, aided by the trainer and community
Overriding point that its a person-centred approach and no one is being told to do something they don’t want to do. Although it needs to be persuasive and give all the information needed, the patient is the most important person in terms of how they carry out the physical activity and it has to be mostly on their own terms. Again,. this leads me back to thinking about using persuasive language but making sure it isn’t too informative and full on.
Take-aways:
Probably the thing jumping out to me the most at the moment is that there’s a large amount of information and statistics which are involved with he project. From the guidelines themselves which are very overwhelming upon the first look, to the background research.
Whilst I’m aware it’s mainly the professions who will be the viewers and recipients, the patients will also see the information and something which works well to give to both the professionals and the patients is useful, there isn’t much of a need to create different documents for both when they can be placed together.
Ultimately this means the information and tone of voice within the work has to be easy and useful for all. The information, facts, statistics, guidelines etc all need to be there in abundance, however the challenge is to ensure it isn’t too overwhelming. Creating a sort of campaign which makes use of information design to convey the guidelines and facts (appealing and readable for professionals and patients alike), whilst also still keeping a very bold and visual style which will also be appealing to the target audience as a whole.
I also want to make sure whilst there’s a lot of ephemera which will be very informative, some of it will be less informative and more creative. For example a booklet may head a spread of information design containing the guidelines, with another spread which could be purely visual, just in order to not overwhelm the reader.
- Campaign outlining the science and guidelines whilst also creating a creative visual style which stands out
- Informative video talking about sphere and the guidelines
- booklet/leaflet and other printed ephemera
- website/app
Client Meeting
We e-met with the client to discuss all of our interpretations of the brief and the information and to ask any questions we had regarding our initial thoughts.
- Clients agreed that it could be aimed at both the professionals and patients as long as all the information is conveyed.
- Open to it being very creative and visual, again as long as all the information is accounted for.
- Wanted to steer clear of too much black, but other than that there was no objections to other colours/fonts/styles etc.
Ben Jackson 