GAMING IN MIND EVALUATION
Jacob Ham
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DATE
24th March 2017
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DEADLINE
24th March 2017
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Brief.
Tackle an issue that is common in today’s world, whether that’s lack of food, raising a matter if health, or focus on the common stigmas and problems with migration.
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Creative Solution.
Throughout life we often are faced with complications with education, work, the end of a relationship or struggles within the family. Most likely they will cause a setback and have a negative impact, particularly in men.
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Currently, it is known for men to push the problems aside rather than open up and make others aware of the issues troubling them. Essentially walking alone, this has played a big part in the rise of suicides, especially within younger men over the past few years. Others deal with this in many ways, such as reverting to playing games constantly.
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The solution is to create a brand that helps make people aware of an issue in this area but also developing that brand through the use of social media and
poster campaigning.
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Introduction.
My main project of professional studio practise one was to link gaming with depression, exploring the concept of people using it as a coping method to push away negative feelings. It was best once finished to break down my opinions on the entire project to discuss ways to future explore the subject.
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Brief.
The concept of this brief, comes from a personal experience a few years ago, when during hard times I would constantly play video games that would help take my mind away from important issues troubling me during this time. Having that in mind I chose to explore the idea and produce an array of branding to help both raise awareness and develop a greater understanding of an issue that is highly stigmatised today.
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Research.
Prior to developing initial concepts for the logo, I decided to look at research around the subject. First I figured to look at depression on a wider scale and came across the NHS Mental Health Fact Sheet from March 2016 and I was shocked with the figures contained within the 12-page booklet. The results showed that in recent years there was a increased significantly in regards to male gender with the of suicides of diagnosed patients increased by 34% and a rise of 15% for undiagnosed males. Those figures can be contrasted with the results that state males are less likely to talk about an issue, with only 19% of the population admitting to that, on the other hand 33% of females confess. Following this I went to research into “Gaming being used to help cope with depression”.
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The most interesting section of my research that highly backs up my hypothesis is a study, conducted by researchers over the course of two years, recording the amount of game time played each week from the start to finish. Throughout the study the researchers followed 3,000 students in various grades and age groups in Singapore. The results of the study highly support my hypothesis, with those who spent more time playing video games a week, 31 hours on average were more likely to be facing depression and social issues. Whereas those who did not, played on average 19 hours a week. Overall this outcome of this study, backs up the concept of people using video games to cope with depression even more when it focuses on a wide audience across a varied
age group.
Logo Design.
The logo was to be used in every aspect of the brand, so it needed to be perfect and reflect the purpose. The design was inspired by using shape to indicate two messages with inside of a face. The face resembling those who face depression in the form of a sad face, the twist being the frown is shaped like a gaming controller. I started exploring ideas based around changing the eyes, however keeping them rounded was the best path to take with the others feeling to negative and giving the incorrect message such as using crosses, felt it was aimed towards death rather than just depression. The colour of the logo is meaningful and strongly relates to the ethos of the brand with being focused around the term “Feeling Blue”.
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Poster Campaign and Photography.
The poster campaign was another major aspect of the project in which followed a series of three posters explaining the process of becoming depressed and then addicted to video games. The campaign and the entire branding is supported by meaningful photography that captures and creates the correct tone intended for the brand, with the images strongly relating to the issue. The campaign features a concise grid system that allows the posters to remain consistent when information or imagery is changed throughout.
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Brand Guidelines.
The guidelines of this brand, needed to be in depth and reflection of that, every single aspect of the brand is protected whether that is logo, colour, type or even photography. The guidelines are the strongest set I have ever produced. In total the guidelines are 60 pages long and includes seven chapters that discuss and breakdown every aspect using diagrams and measurements that indicate the correct way to use the assets. Overall I am extremely happy with the outcome of the guidelines and the printed copies definitely enhance this feeling and gives me a sense of accomplishment.
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Award Submission.
The final outcome was to submit my work to the “Men’s Mental Health” brief on Creative Conscience. I wanted to showcase areas of development along with showing final designs. I decided to rework the posters ever so slightly and use a mock-up to show the process between the three posters. From start to finish the submission shows emotion and highly reflects the outcome I intended to an even better standard than I expected at the start of the project. The biggest issue had was with using a lot of images during the project meaning I had to reduce the quality, allowing me to upload the submission with it having a maximum of 15mb file size.
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Expanding the project?
Although the project is extensive and contains a lot ranging from a logo to poster campaign to brand guidelines, the project could still be expanded in the future in either PSP 2 or in the summer period. The project could be expanded by creating a editorial piece that backs up the poster campaign and follows the similar grid system along with keeping the same key message from start to finish. The campaign could be revisited and expanded by adding more stages either prior or after the current stages.
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Self-reflection.
Throughout this project, I have effectively managed my progress by creating a plan that has allowed me to work on other projects at the same time. Backing this up I requested extra 1-1 tutorials to ensure I could gain further feedback to expand the project. In result, I am overwhelmed by the reception the project has had on social media along with feedback from peers and my tutor. This project is definitely one of my strongest with being proud of every aspect of the finalised designs.
This project was rather special and close to home compared to the first project within this module and I conclude to that impacting me to push myself further to produce an outcome that sets a new standard for my work. This project has allowed me to explore something about my past and with that presented me with gaining a wider knowledge of graphic design mainly logo design and branding at a corporate level.
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Overall summary.
In conclusion, I am happy with the work in which I have produced across the four months I have been working on it for. I strongly believe that I have hit all aspects of the brief and completed any objective and aims set prior to development. Branding emotion definitely was a major learning curve and is something I would like to attempt to expand on in the future, maybe focusing on the opposite of sadness or even a mixture of emotions in the form of
an icon.
