Challenge

To design a compelling typographic narrative with a scientific subject matter. The text was to be appropriated from a variety of sources, and reconstructed to tell a unique visual story.

Strategy

Melancholy & Hysteria tells the story of mental illness from both a scientific and an emotional viewpoint. In gathering text for the piece, I referenced both the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the online blogs and journals of persons living with and affected by mental disorders. By combining these texts with expressive typography and minimal abstract line drawings, I hoped to illustrate the complexity and characteristics of a variety of disorders. A subdued color palette, somber tone, and plastic casing reinforce the medicinal concept.

Results

The final book had a stark, minimal appearance and cold, uninviting cover. Each category of mental disorder was carefully designed to mimic the symptoms of the disorder as well as the side effects of pharmaceutical treatments. The DSM classifications were woven in with fist hand accounts of sufferers, resulting in a multi-dimensional experience.