Justification 1: Focusing my EMP

During my attempt to further focus my project, I have resulted in an argument for both sides. I think people who don't suffer from depression need to be made to understand the seriousness whereas depression sufferers need to be guided more into where they are able to access to available help from.

For depression sufferers:

INFORMATION ON DEPRESSION IS OUT THERE, HOWEVER PEOPLE ARE NOT ACCESSING THE AVAILABLE INFORMATION.

How can I make this information more user-friendly and appealing through good design?

For non-depression sufferers:

PEOPLE ARE NOT ACCESSING THE INFORMATION BECAUSE OF THE WIDE SPREAD VIEW THAT ‘DEPRESSION IS A PERSONAL WEAKNESS’.

How can I make people more aware of the nature of depression as an illness?

It seems people can simplify the word ‘depression’ into a few words; for example: feeling sad, or miserable, or feeling low. However, there are many different types and causes of depression, which unbeknown to many people, anyone can suffer from at any time in their lives. The level of severity varies dramatically from something easily overcome such as ‘feeling blue’ to excessive feelings where actions such as suicide is considered.

Society today has developed so much ignorance around this topic area as many people fail to realise it is an illness, and instead dismiss it as a phase or someone feeling sorry for themselves.

Feedback from various doctors and counsellors show that they believe enough information is available about this subject area, and believe that people approach them if they feel depressed. Feedback from those who have a depression diagnosis have revealed that it is not communicated in a user-friendly or appealing way resulting in people not being aware or accessing this information. They also believe due to wide-spread view, that depression is a personal weakness and therefore find it difficult to express themselves.

My target audience is people aged between 16-24 who suffer mild depression. It is particularly this time in their lives that they make life changing decisions regarding jobs, living arrangements, relationships etc and it is a common feeling to experience negativity, doubt and fear at this time. Information is needed to encourage and enable this age group to access help quickly in order to prevent a further decline in their mental health.