Maine Youth Stimulant Prevention Campaign
For this project, I was the Art Director from concept through production. The Maine Center for Disease Control was in need of a creative Campaign to help Parents understand the pressures teens are under to perform, and how they may be sharing or relying on stimulants (think Adderall, Ritalin, etc.) to meet all of the expectations placed upon them.
After going through a couple of concepts, one stood out among the rest. It was an illustrative style. I chose this avenue because it felt like it could speak for teens and show the metaphorical/real pressure they're under and what might cause them to turn to stimulants. I wanted to help parents see what kids are up against and to show visually what they're feeling.
Being able to actually draw and show this, versus shooting it and doing a lot of post-production, while risking losing the "feeling" of it, felt like the appropriate route to take. Being able to use bright colors with simple and friendly line drawings felt like an eye-catching way to get parents' attention. Also keeping the illustrations somewhat sketched and imperfect felt like its own metaphor for how kids are feeling. I chose to go with orange as the main color since that is the standard pill bottle color and white, as that is usually the label. Dark charcoal gray was used to ground the design but also add that level of seriousness/ caution.
The first adaptation of visuals is below. As you can see, it doesn't have the same charge to it. It felt disconnected.
Below is the first drawing I had done to communicate what it feels like for teens based on various research, relying on stimulants to help meet all of the expectations placed on them. Some intentional things are done for each drawing, like the shadow they cast, and the darkness following them.
Below is the line drawing with concept copy. This copy eventually changed. They changed the primary audience from parents to teens. You will see that shift below.
After our first review with the ME CDC it was decided that we needed to add a positive spin to the messaging and actionable thing teens could do instead of sharing prescription medications.
From there, we brainstormed positive things we wanted kids to do other than share their meds. Things like - "Share your headphones, not your meds." Or "Share your shake, not your meds." It felt more positive, more actionable. While still getting the message across that sharing meds isn't okay.
The other initial intention for doing simple line drawings was also to do simple animations we could use on social platforms like Instagram and Snapchat.
We then began to develop social posts and OTT videos. We contracted an animation team who would take my initial drawings and turn them into smooth animations for a more fluid, long-form story.
