4 posts for tag

Design

Shit We Like

Mental Health Through a Designer’s Eye

By Liyana No Comments
Mental Health Through a Designer’s Eye

It’s 9pm — I’m sitting in front of the laptop, staring at the screen. Blank. “What do I write?” I scroll through Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Nothing. I write a sentence. “Doesn’t make sense.” My chest sinks and I auto-roll myself into my blanket.

Also me: “Shit my room’s a mess. I have uneaten leftovers on my table.”

Also me: “Ughh, this idea is terrible. Stop it”.

Before I continue drifting off with my inner monologue, I’ll just say that I struggled pretty hard with writing this article (as you can tell). Sharing a bit of what’s going through my head is quite nerve-wracking.

So hi, my name is Liyana and I have anxiety and depression. ?‍♀️

The Journey

(Source: Geoffroy De Crecy)

Mental health is a loaded topic. I see it as a roller coaster ride that you are forced to get on against your will. A bit melodramatic, I know. ? But you see, roller coasters aren’t all that scary – it might look it but when you’re on it, you accept the ride and just go with it. You learn along the way and it gets a tad bit easier. Little wins. ✨

I started realising that I wasn’t alone in this and met new friends that felt the same way. They had their own experiences, lived their lives with it, and are still able to adult. Probably most of us have noticed a huge wave of people sharing their mental disorders publicly and created an amazing community with the help of the Internet. 

Mental health is a broad spectrum; one person could have social anxiety and the other could be schizophrenic. I just found out that 1 in 3 Malaysians struggle with mental health. I’m not surprised but that’s still crazy! Yet we don’t have proper channels to help these people in need. Heck, most people don’t even realise they have it.

Creative but Crazy

(Source: Michael Driver)

Creativity and mental health have gone hand-in-hand for a long, long time. Sometimes I think to myself, “Maybe that’s why I’m a designer? ?“ Famous artists or musicians have expressed their art through their suffering and even sometimes taking their own lives.

Aristotle once said, “No great genius has ever existed without a strain of madness.”

In a way, areas like the creative industries, for instance being a musician or artist, were fields where being a little crazy wasn’t as much a problem as it was a necessity for the job. The problem with that, is that we end up romanticizing the idea of the “tortured genius” in a way that could undermine the seriousness of such conditions. In reality, we don’t have to be crazy to be creative. We’re all a little crazy inside but it needs a bit of TLC too.

Discovery

Fundamentally, design is communication. How it interacts and connects with the audience is all part of the design experience. I think it’s pretty exciting to imagine the possibilities of design for mental health specifically. During my mental health journey, I found a couple of things that resonated with me.

Social Media

(Source from left: Gemma Correll, Melanie Johnsson and Adam J Kurtz)

There’s a whole new wave of creatives sharing their work and perspectives on mental health. It’s vulnerable. It’s transparent. It’s encouraging. It’s relatable. I started with browsing through Instagram and found a few artists that made me say, “YEAH!” every time I scrolled through.

I began following more artists, creatives, and even agencies. This was the start of a new discovery and it felt comforting. It opened up my eyes to what designers could do to spread awareness or inform the community. 

Social media can be tricky – you start spiraling down into this deep void of nothingness and feel empty after 30 minutes or even 2 hours of scrolling. It was hard to stop social media cold turkey and instead I unfollowed and unsubscribed unnecessary content and started following substantial content that could help my mental health.

This was when I started watching School of Life! I don’t remember how I encountered it but every time I watch their videos, I feel like I’ve learned so much. The animation is great; I got so into it because of how it was done. Every episode was illustrated differently and the motion graphics behind each video convey the message so well. The topics are somewhat heavy, but the way they communicate the topic makes it nicer to watch.

Apps

(Source from left: Fabulous & Headspace)

Lets face it, we’re all on our phones day and night. We work long hours and sometimes have no time or money to go for therapy or even drink 8 glasses of water.

I was targeted with these two apps on my feed once and got hooked! They have personalised activities and you can set how frequent you want to be reminded everyday. These apps focus us in on our thought process, emotions, breathing, and stress levels — all of which have an enormous impact on our overall functioning.

I gave it a go and saw how super user-friendly it was. We’re all visually stimulated with our phones and somehow these apps manage to grab my attention. I think they tick all the boxes for good UI/UX design.

There are tonnes of self-care apps in the market now and a lot of them are well designed and well thought out. We have that choice to use what suits us best and at the end of the day help us with our mental health.

On the other end of the spectrum, designers themselves have done so much to help raise some awareness on mental health. It’s not just about brochures and pharmaceutical packaging; designers can venture into interior, publication, commercials, and whatever you can think of. In the new age of creation, we can use design as a tool for educating society – like some of these notable campaigns:

The Calmingstone: A Panic Attack Prevention Device

Originally designed by Ramon Telfer

Mindscape: the AI voice tool talking to people to ease their anxiety

Developed by creative studio Cult Ldn alongside MassiveMusic

Burger King: Real Meal campaign

by MullenLowe US

Overall, the creative world is a turbulent place and mental health can be a fragile thing. This is where design can be used as a tool to raise awareness, mindfulness and open conversations.

Phewhh this was a lot, kepada para pembaca. Kalau silap cakap atau banyak sangat cakap, saya minta maaf dari kepala ke hujung jari kaki. Sekian terima kasih.

The views expressed by the authors on this blog do not necessarily reflect the views of C27, our CEO, the management, the fish in our fish tank, and/or all the awesome people within the agency. The content and opinions shared are the personal views of the author so please don’t sue us.

…or the author.

View post
By Liyana
Shit We Like

The beauty of blur photography

By Yvonne Loh No Comments
The beauty of blur photography

Discovering blurness in photography was a beautiful accident, and I’m deeply in love with it. Growing up with no interest in photography at all, my knowledge was shallow as I was only aware that a photo had to be clear and sharp.

I only picked up a legit camera when my college assignment required me to. It was about 7 months ago when I found my passion for photography. I had my first impromptu shoot with a bunch of great photographers and models.

The theme of that day was “KTM Train” and I can still remember clearly the first thought that came into my mind: “Hah? KTM station wor, got feel meh? Inside a train? Walao eh so shaky how to take sharp sharp photo?”

after hours-02

Well, I was so wrong. Thanks to that shakiness, I managed to discover the style of photography that I personally preferred.

Yes, through this journey, people asked me, “Yvonne what are you capturing? What is your focus?” But I believe blurry photos communicate something. As I ventured into capturing blurry photos, I started to understand what made it so beautiful.

after hours-03

It felt right to capture the movement of people in that way. Hand gestures, avoidance of eye contact, flinches – all these movements indicate an unspoken inner world of the subject. These movements capture and communicate an expression with deeper emotion from the subject to the audience.

As a photographer, it is important to capture the subject or individual’s truth which is often from the various emotions that they may be feeling at any given moment. This would bring us back to the importance of using blurry images – to immortalise emotion and showcase it in its realest form.

Pictures like these will make us feel something. Or at least, it does for me.

after hours-04

These imperfect photos reject focus and in a way, give us a sense of nostalgia. They symbolise memories. For instance, the blurriness of inexpressible moments in life or the beautiful memories of first love.

A blurry photo is perfect to communicate a feeling that perfection never will.
after hours-05
View post
By Yvonne Loh
Honest Shit

Usability, not uselessbility

By Kenneth Liew No Comments
Usability, not uselessbility

First things first, this is a subject related to UI/UX design and development. As such, UI/UX is applied to daily actions or life – not circle of life, just life.

Let’s start off with Bandersnatch as an example. If you’ve been living under a rock, Bandersnatch is an episode from Black Mirror where you, the user, decide what happens in the movie and have about 3 – 5 seconds to make that decision. That decision also applies to a user’s first impression (the experience) when they are using an app or viewing a website. It only takes a few seconds for users to drop off, and this usually happens because they do not know where to start (the interface).

 

Before we go off topic, the reason Bandersnatch was pretty much a success is because the movie gave users the power to decide. Which is the golden rule of UX. Users love to be in power. They love to decide what comes next (hence why movie critics always say, “Its so predictable ugh what a shit show” yet pay so much attention to it) and that is what makes them… I mean us… Human.

Okay now, I hope all of that wasn’t too heavy. Let’s take a short break and enjoy some UI/UX fails. Here are a few examples of how UI/UX applies to everything.

  • c27-uiux
  • c27-uiux
  • c27-uiux

Now, let’s cut to the chase (shit, need another scissors). Guys, design thinking is bullshit. ?

Hold on, hear me out for a bit.

We, as creatives, are thinkers and makers. We want to grow, learn, and push boundaries BUT it has also brought upon the democratization of design where our creative process falls into the realm of:

The client wants this…

The client said that…

But this is the brief…

We are creating an environment that downgrades our creative skills when we should focus on fixing or enhancing the practice of critical problem solving with creative execution, implementation and testing. We always tell ourselves, “This is good enough” but shouldn’t we be wanting more? Are you satisfied with discovering the tip of the iceberg or should you go as deep as the Titanic? What is the big picture or idea? Where does this roadmap lead you? The client can want whatever they want, but it is our jobs to let them know what they need.

The only way of knowing for sure what Einstein meant by this is to actually ask him…But he dead.

However, it somehow relates to my design journey. There are so many designs out there that look so simple, that you start to think, “Wow, that was easy.”

Well if it’s so easy, why couldn’t you do it? #micdrop

That’s when I realised simple is complex. We need to go back to the basics; the one crucial formula that designers should never ever forget:

Designers are not artists. We do not paint pictures of Mona Lisa to have people stare at the painting for hours just to have them feel us. We are problem solvers. We criticise everything and make sure our designs deliver data. It’s sad that CRIT is something we do not do anymore when it comes to design thinking.

Every form of design comes with a function. It’s not just something for us to look at and go…wow. Even graphic design plays a vital role. Without UI, UX is pointless. The same applies “terbalik”. A designer’s approach should come from every aspect. We have to know everything to solve everything and that is why, the simple things are complex.

We need to take a step back and think about how everything affects our daily lives. The things we do, the actions we take – it all applies to the work we do. Everything we do is critical and has to make sense when we implement that thought process into our designs. I guess to sum it up, this quote that my Dad brings up often is pretty apt – “Knowing a little of everything makes you dangerous.”

View post
By Kenneth Liew
Shit We Like

How to Brain Like Coca-Cola

By Michelle Francis No Comments
How to Brain Like Coca-Cola

If I was Oprah Winfrey, I’d buy a copy of Design to Grow: How Coca-Cola Learned to Combine Scale and Agility by David Butler and Linda Tischler and give it to everyone in C27 and their mother. I’d give it to every new hire, to interns, I’d leave it under the tree as a Secret Santa present, and I’d fling it with full force at people I hate.

Design to Grow

Alas, I don’t have handbags filled with cash. And so you’ll just have to read bits and bobs of what I’ve decided are the most interesting parts of this book. It’s a pretty spesh book that spoke to me on so many levels because the ideas and lessons in it have a self-help vibe to them. And we’re all about self-improvement and shiz.

Before we get into it, let me introduce the authors. The late Linda Tischler was a longtime Fast Company editor and David Butler was, at the time, Vice President of Innovation at Coca-Cola. What a badass title. The book is so seamlessly written by the two that you can’t tell which of the authors are writing which bit. It sounds like one amazing mind. Okay now let’s get into it. Imagine me rubbing my hands with glee at this point k.

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the camel. This quote needs to be printed and stuck on the wall of our agency door. A0 size. David and Linda call this idea Systems Thinking; a discipline for seeing wholes. How does one thing connect to the next and form a cohesive thought or story? It’s a framework for seeing interrelationships and patterns rather than static snapshots. I honestly think this is where we fail when it comes to the work we do. Everyone is often so focused on perfecting their little part of the campaign, that when it’s all strung together, in the end, it can sometimes resemble a very hot mess. This is when we frantically try to put toothpaste back into the tube. This is also what causes my angina. So for the love of all things holy, think of the (forgive the cliché) bigger picture. Always.

Fun fact: Most people don’t know that WD-40 means Water Displacement, 40th formula. So my man Norm over here turned all his epic failures into the name of this now famous product we all use. Clever bloke. Lesson A: Mistakes are great. Lesson B: Be open about your failures. As creatives, we’re always worried about letting people see that we’re normal people who sometimes muck things up. But good old Norm decided to fuck it and show people how much work went into creating his product. Another fan of this idea of moving fast and breaking things is Apple.

“If you bought one of the earliest iPhones, you probably remember that it was very buggy and unreliable. However, this allowed the company to start learning what worked and what didn’t very quickly, which made them smarter.”

Copy of C27 Blog Quote Template (4)

Christ Almighty, what a quote. Robert Woodruff was the President of The Coca-Cola Company once upon a time. His words really do ring true – everyone who has ever created or built something was unhappy/annoyed/sad/angry about something. Their reaction was to create something better. Heck, that’s how C27 came to be. I know we’d all rather complain about things and then shrug it off, and let someone else deal with it. But if you hate something enough, fixing it could be the answer.

There are lots of good bits in this book that transcend its original purpose – to inform us about the inner workings of Coca-Cola and how the people who work there think. Some of it isn’t even related to advertising. Or is it though? Since it’s all very much connected at the end of the day. It leaves you questioning your role in the long chain of events from the second the product is assembled in a factory to when it hits the shelves in supermarkets. It makes you shift your perspective. I think all good books are meant to do just that. I leave you with this fellow readers: think of ideas from A to Z and then add your cool, expensive, award-winning ideas in between. Because as much as we try not to admit it, what we do is actually a very small portion in the grand scale of things. 

View post
By Michelle Francis