NAMI
Advertisement Campaign
NAMI is the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Their Colorado Springs organization wanted to create an advertisement campaign that would span through the month of May, which is National Mental Health Awareness Month. This campaign aims to shed light on those struggling with mental illness and show them places where they can seek help.
My big idea for this campaign was “You’re More Than Your Mind. You’re Also Your __.” Meaning you are more than your thoughts and emotions, and your mental health does not define you; as well as you are physically more than your brain. For this campaign, it aims to shed light on the fact that mental health can and does affect your physical health. For many struggling with mental health, they may choose to hide or ignore it, however physical symptoms are oftentimes harder or impossible to hide or ignore, which may leave a person feeling helpless.
Ending the stigma surrounding mental health is one of NAMI’s main organization goals, this campaign itself aims to end the stigma surrounding mental health, especially when it starts affecting someone physically.
The postcard for this campaign features a die-cut on the “You’re also your skin” character. This means anyone holding the postcard will see their own skin through it, calling back to the idea of someone who may be struggling without realizing it.
On the brochure, the outside features the campaigns character motifs with varying physical symptoms, all of whom are very downcast. In contrast, the inside of the brochure features characters who are happy and lacking symptoms; they are located on the pages that spread awareness on who may be struggling and where they can go for support. The illustrations themselves are meant to represent what the person reading it has to look forward to by either educating themselves and/or finding someone to talk to.
The poster and social media posts for this campaign had to condense the information seen previously, but without removing importance or urgency. I kept the campaign’s big idea, with a short snippet of information of how mental health affects you physically, and how you can reach out to NAMI for support.
The poster features the heart illustration, however any of the body parts seen previously could quickly and easily be created as well. The simple arrow illustration doesn’t take away from any of the other campaign pieces, and makes the poster feel similar to an infographic.
The social media posts are the simplest pieces of the campaign, but also the ones that would most likely see the most attention. As such, I made sure to keep them all cohesive to the campaign but distinct from each other. The striking illustration and title immediately catch a viewers eye, and the information below that is short and immediately highlights that NAMI is the place to go for help.
For the illustrations themselves in this campaign, as opposed to making actual people characters, I wanted to create something akin to a blank slate. I have seen many other mental health campaigns that showcase a diverse range of people, so to make this campaign unique I wanted to create a character that anybody could put themselves or someone they know in its shoes
Created in Adobe Illustrator and InDesign
