Project 5

For this project I really wanted to focus on  Bipolar Disorder. One of my friends and my peer mentor for this project is someone who was recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder and he has struggled with managing the various waves of emotion that come with the disorder. I wanted to pay homage to people who suffer from the disease by creating a visual that represents it. I intended to fabricate empathy through this project and I hope I did a decent job. 

It’s been difficult for my friend to adapt and it’s been difficult for our friend group to watch him go through his struggles. The poster is based off of the two primary personalities that are often found in and within bipolar disorder: Mania and Depression. To begin the project I wrote down mood words that fit mania and depression. Chaotic, frantic, scattered, colorful, overwhelming, and plentiful were all words I wrote under Mania. For the depression side I wrote, blue, lacking, empty, vast, and sadness. I used these words to help me find photos and drive the tone for each side of the poster in several magazines. The depression side had less images and was covered in blue. The hole through the depression side of the poster contains small bits of paper through the attaching embroidery. The smaller pieces of paper are representative of how personality can change. In a depressive state one can feel small and unmotivated. Sometimes even cloudy.  The manic side was more chaotic and overwhelming. The hole on this side of the piece contains larger pieces that are also representative of how personality can change. When manic, people often have an inflated self esteem and feel large or chaotic. 

The two sides are connected by embroidery and a series of knots. I incorporated a chinese ladder stitch/knot that looks a lot like DNA. The holes in the piece show that there are empty parts of your life when you suffer from bipolar disorder. Moods and personalities change so vastly when you have bipolar disorder. 

I chose collage because it’s actually something he’s been doing to cope with the disease. I wanted to work with a mixed media so I incorporated embroidery to tie the left and right brains together. The two brains are mainly symbolic, mania and depression aren’t necessarily designated to one of the brains.

I think I mainly wanted to focus on illustrating and showing the disorder by way of mixed media. I really enjoyed making this project because I want to bring awareness and forge empathy for those people who don’t have to face the troubles that come with dealing with bipolar disorder. I feel like I’m super overwhelmed by the workload that is expected from the graphic design program right now and I appreciated the opportunity to work analogously rather than digitally.

Overall, I’m happy with the way the project turned out. I would like to push my future work further by implementing more 3d interactive elements.