Raise Your Voice for Mental Health
Creating an Instagram Carousel for the Mullets for Mental Health campaign to raise awareness
Role
Sole Researcher & Designer
Tools Used
Adobe Illustrator
Skills & Responsibilities
Visual Storytelling
Typography & Layout
Graphic Design
Caption Writing
Clarity & Accessibility
Timeline
2024 (April - May)
A Station Encounter That Sparked an Idea
This project began as part of my visual communication course, where I explore how design can shape public awareness. While walking through Central Station, I saw a mental health awareness campaign. Although the message was clear, I felt it could be more engaging. This inspired me to think about how the campaign could be reworked for Instagram, a more interactive and accessible format for today’s audience.
Annotated Critique of Existing Visual Communication Design
In my research, I looked closely at the visual elements in the existing campaign. This critique led me to refine my approach for the Instagram carousel design, focusing on enhancing the emotional resonance and visual appeal of the message.
Secondary Research: Shaping the Strategy
👫 Why Adults?
💬 Crafting an Effective Call to Action
📊 Instagram Trends & Engagement
🔑 Designing for Accessibility
Research showed that direct, action-driven CTAs boost engagement. This led to the phrase “Take Responsibility for your mental health and rock your mullet”, a strong motivator for participation.
Adults influence younger generations and shape societal attitudes toward mental health. Their financial stability also makes them more likely to support fundraising efforts, increasing the campaign’s reach and impact.
I explored best practices in social media accessibility, ensuring clear text hierarchy, alt text and zoomable content to make the campaign inclusive and easy to engage with.
Analyzing successful mental health campaigns revealed that a mix of visuals and concise text performs best. This shaped the carousel format, balancing emotional appeal with clear messaging.
Finding the Right Feel: Crafting the Moodboard
To bring the campaign to life in a digital space, I gathered visual inspiration and created a moodboard that set the tone for the design. The goal was to design a soothing and informative experience that would foster emotional engagement. I focused on using elements that evoke tranquility and awareness, which are key themes for mental health campaigns, ensuring the design resonated with the audience.
After presenting my ideas, peers noted that the soft colors and nature-inspired visuals created a sense of calm, while the cartoon-style illustrations made the design more engaging and approachable.
Designing for the Audience: User Personas
The campaign was designed to resonate with a diverse audience, represented by three individual user personas. Each persona reflected different experiences and perspectives on mental health, allowing the design to connect with a broad range of individuals. The visuals were crafted to feel authentic and relatable to each persona by addressing their values, interests and challenges.
Bringing it All Together: The Instagram Carousel
When I created the Instagram carousel, I made sure the canvas size was set to Instagram’s optimal dimensions for mobile and desktop viewing. I carefully adjusted the sizing of the images and text to ensure they were legible and balanced. I also prioritized accessibility with clear calls to action and alt text descriptions. The carousel format helped break down the content into digestible pieces, and I included diverse visuals, like a brain with gears and nature-inspired background to keep it engaging. By zooming in on each post, I made sure the content was easy to view and interact with.
Leanings and Takeaways
This project challenged me to think beyond traditional posters and consider how mental health messaging could be more engaging in digital spaces. Through design research and peer reviews, I realized how small choices such as color schemes, typography, and image style can influence how people connect with a campaign. Making sure the design was accessible also made me more mindful of how different audiences experience content.
One key takeaway from my tutor’s feedback was that my call to action could have been more specific. Rather than a general CTA, I could have proposed a dedicated event, like a specific day to get a mullet or partnership with a local hairdresser. This insight made me reflect on how clear and actionable messaging can make a campaign more effective.
Most importantly, this project reinforced the idea that good design is not just about aesthetics. It is about communication and impact. Seeing how the final carousel came together gave me more confidence in my ability to create meaningful and thoughtful visual communication.