Great Green Things
Artists, Writers, and Readers Connecting Through Shared Mental Health Experiences
Mental health is a topic many people push to the side because of the shameful stigma associated with it when in reality, it's something that the majority of people face. Because it isn't talked about often, there is a fear if we open up to someone about the mental struggles we are facing, we might be treated differently or dismissed. This leads many to ignore it, making it harder to deal with.
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It's essential to bring these topics to light to bring healing. I worked alongside A Gap In the Forest to put together a book that highlights their member's art and poetry centered around the idea of mental health awareness.
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Many of the beginning steps had to do with familiarizing myself with the work that was going to be included in the book. We combined art and writings that had similar themes and worked well together, so in order to fully visualize it we created rough mock-up spreads to see what art balanced with the writings.
​Ultimately I decided on only keeping two typefaces in the book because it was important to have a variety that fit with the images alongside it. The layout of the text also changes on different pages. Some text has been moved around and separated to make the layout more interesting allowing the eye to flow through the page. There are also very minimal pages with little design as a break since some parts are very text/visually heavy.
This was my first time designing a book so there were a lot of design challenges along the way, but I was able to find solutions and speak with those I worked with in order to figure out solutions. I also learned to be able to adapt to their design goals and style while adding elements that stayed true to me as a designer, creating harmony. Not being in a school setting allowed me to see what a design related job might look like in the real world.
Being able to adapt to a team that I've never worked with before and being able to take in different perspectives was one of the most important takeaways from this project.
About:
Side Project designed using InDesign, Photoshop, & Illustrator.