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.

Survey 1

To gain some initial idea of what people are aware of I have conducted a survey to gather this information anonymously. I have gone through surveymonkey.com in order to achieve fast results. From my results I can draw information which will hopefully enable be to narrow my approach.
The questions asked are featured below:

1. Are you a...

• Student
• Parent
• Teacher
• Other

2. How would you best describe depression?

3. What ago group do you think depression effects mostly?

• 0 - 10
• 11 - 25
• 26 - 40
• 40 +

4. Depression can appear for no particular reason.

• True
• False

5. Do you think enough is being done to make people aware of depression and the severity of it?

• Yes
• No

6. Depression is...

• An illness
• A weakness
• A phase that everyone goes through

7. According to results, what percentage of people find anti-depressants ineffective?

• 40%
• 50%
• 60%
• 70%

8. Do you think children get depressed?

• Yes
• No

9. Do you think depressed people should just snap out of it and get on with their lives?

• Yes
• No

10. What do you think should be done to make people more aware of this increasing problem?

Tutorial 1

General comments about projects:

• Engage with workload
• Methodologies and experimentations are needed
• Find your way to the heart of the matter in 4 or 5 ways and continue to expand
• Need a solid action plan
• Solid project ideas
• Step by step account for your methodologies
• Be schematic
• Consider Surveymonkey.com to collect primary data
• Remember hierarchies and grids when presenting your work

My feedback regarding EMP:

• Engage with the public
• Draw from focus groups
• Could be tough as it is an ethical situation - find a way around this
• (About existing leaflets) Are these appropriate forms of information?
• User-centered design and responding to it - call of action that requires a response
• Is the design important? Is it working?
• Need to begin experimenting

It seems an ethical issue is going to be the main problem within my project topic. As it is such a massive subject area I need to pin-point a specific area, find a gap in the market and approach. I need to find out what the ethical issues are going to be in order to ensure I can avoid this.

Evaluation, Career Planning and Enterprise

Deadline: Friday 14th May 2010
This project will be running along side the Extended Major Project. It is split into four different sections and I will be documenting it within this blog.

• Critical reflection and developing a profile sympathetic to a chosen destination
• Documenting practice in level 6 with particular emphasis on the Major Project
• Critically reviewing and monitoring suitability of 'portfolio'
• Review of possible destinations

I need to consider what area of design I want to go into, work on my portfolio and self promotion, my blog to document my progression throughout the rest of this year and a written piece of 2500 words of self reflection.

Depression: Brief Definition

Depression: An illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts, that affects the way a person eats and sleeps, the way one feels about oneself, and the way one thinks about things. A depressive disorder is not the same as a passing blue mood. It is not a sign of personal weakness or a condition that can be wished away. People with a depressive disease cannot merely "pull themselves together" and get better. Without treatment, symptoms can last for weeks, months, or years. Appropriate treatment, however, can help most people with depression.


*This illness takes many forms and can develop from a number of causes and is an increasing issue within society today. Although there are different treatments to anti-depressants, it is the fastest way for an individual to receive treatment. It isn't however, the most effective. 

Learning Agreement 1

Synopsis of study

For my Extended Major Project I will be investigating the rising number of cases in depression, particularly in teenagers. I will be researching existing statistics and reviewing what is already being done to help prevent these numbers from rising. From my research I can critique and develop the services and publications, which are already present today, as well as designing my own.

My aims of achievement for this topic is to focus on a positive outlook in order to change the way people think and respond to certain situations. As such a huge number of people suffer from depression, a large number of which are given anti-depressants unnecessarily, therefore I want to design an alternative to the medication. The numbers of children and teenagers who suffer from depression are rising daily, so a way to help raise awareness is also needed.

Based on my interest of human behaviour and emotions, I feel this is a current issue that needs to be addressed and is often ignored. I have had previous encounters with people who suffer from depression and have revealed that medication is not always the only answer, and can therefore be approached from other directions.

Through my research of primary and secondary resources, I will be able to determine a more focused direction to approach this issue. This will also be achieved through a series of smaller projects.

I will be exploring and experimenting with a broad range of techniques and processes in order to increase my range of creativity. I hope to build and improve my current abilities to achieve my maximum potential so that my final outcome is presented in the most successful way. I aim to develop further from my comfort zone, initially focusing away from dependable sources. I hope this will encourage me to think differently, taking my design abilities in alternative directions.

Initial Idea Generation

[Click on image to Enlarge]
To help decide what my Extended Major Project would be based on, I produced a mind-mapping exercise which would highlight the basic areas I find interest in - but would also find scope in order to develop a project from. I ran through a lot of thought processes regarding each topic area as I had lots of ideas I wanted to execute, but ended up at as decision based around people and their health. A focus of most interest to me; and something I believe is dismissed and misunderstood, is mental health.
It is a current, social issue which can affect anyone and anytime for any reason. It is a massive subject as there are hundreds off different types, reasons, elements, triggers etc, so this as a starting point needs to be narrowed down excessively.