Behind the Stigma
A self-initiated series of type animations about mental-health conditions. No captions, no lecture, just motion that tries to feel like the experience. It took off on Behance.
Self-initiated and solo: concept, typography and motion. 2020.
Featured on Behance MotionGIF gallery, February 2021
Problem
Mental health was everywhere in the conversation and still under-explored. I wanted to slow down and engage with it on my own terms, and push my After Effects skills at the same time.
This was never meant to be an awareness campaign. The goal was not to teach, but to make something that feels like the experience.
Craft
Form instead of explanation
Each word explores a different condition through speed, rhythm and disorientation. Instead of clinical description, the type itself behaves like the experience.
Anxiety. A loop that never quite escapes itself. Instinct, then rigour
Every piece started as an open experiment. What happens if I distort this, loop that, break the rule here? Some of the best moments were happy accidents, kept and refined.
Addiction. A never-ending tunnel. Tools are not the point
Some loops were built from scratch, others started from templates. What mattered was the intention behind each one, and how far it could be pushed.
Psychosis. An electrostatic buzz over the type.
Outcome
- 13,047Views on Behance
- 1,873Appreciations
- 38Comments
- 7Conditions, seven loops
- 0Captions on the original post
- 2021Featured on Behance Motion, GIF gallery
I posted it on Behance in June 2020 with no captions or explanation. It found its audience anyway: 13,047 views, 1,873 appreciations and 38 comments, and in February 2021 it was featured in the GIF gallery of Behance Motion. Perhaps the silence let people bring their own reading to it.
It also connects to the work I do now. Handling a sensitive topic with restraint is something I still draw on every day.
