Visualising Vulnerability

What was the challenge?

Right now, one in four people in the UK is living with a mental health condition. Research shows that students are particularly vulnerable to experiencing issues with their mental health. Kings College London wanted to explore innovative ways to destigmatise experiences of emotional vulnerability within the student and academic communities, whilst encouraging a culture of greater understanding and support.

What did we do?

In collaboration with Dr. Patricia Zuszain, a lecturer in Psychology at Kings’ Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, we created a programme of interactive workshops that used a range of art and design-led techniques to encourage students to visualise different emotional states. Participants experimented with imagery, language and physical materials to create wearable objects that expressed hidden stresses and difficulties in a tangible form.

We worked with illustrator Rachel Hill to transform these workshop outputs into a series of illustrations that visually describe how different emotional states may feel for the sufferer. The illustrations are currently displayed in high footfall locations across the King's campuses.