Curo
A journey of self discovery and liberation
Topic: Mental Health
Field: Social Design, Social Marketing
Skills in Action: Research, Design Thinking, Creative Direction, Branding, Creative Writing, Illustration, Lettering, UX, UI.
How might we use design to influence social consciousness? As designers for social change, we aimed to move beyond uninspiring institutional awareness campaigns. Our team of four women, driven by a shared interest for mental health, targeted gaslighting—an overlooked form of abuse. We sought to reveal its subtlety and prevalence, reaching both those unaware of its effects and those inadvertently perpetuating it.
Project
With a focus on mental health and sexism, we created a video game to reach tech-savvy young adults and raise awareness about gaslighting. Through a compelling storyline, characters, symbols, and quests, we subtly portrayed gaslighting. Curo encourages reflection and conversation, aiming to break mental health taboos.
"Social marketing is the adaptation of commercial marketing technologies to programs designed to influence the voluntary behavior of target audiences to improve their personal welfare and that of the society of which they are a part".
Alan Andreasen
Why a video game?
To reach beyond traditional institutional campaigns, we decided to try to infiltrate the gamer world. By embedding our message in a fun and engaging format, we aimed to educate tech-savvy young adults through play and storytelling, using the game as a metaphor for learning about and recognizing gaslighting.
Design Decisions
The color scheme of our game is an evolving reflection of the journey the main character undergoes. Starting in a dark cabin with feelings of fear, confusion, and sadness, light gradually illuminates the mystical and dark environment as quests are completed. The further the game progresses and the more memories return, the brighter the surroundings become, transitioning from the oppressive, pinching, dark forest to the valley, and finally to the mountains
Campaign
Our social marketing campaign positioned the video game as the main product, utilizing various gaming platform channels and a social media campaign. The Curo website is also packed with information about gaslighting and resources to help those who identify with unsafe gaslighting situations.
Process
Click through this slideshow for an overview of our design process:
Conclusion
During this course, we were challenged to develop a creative solution for a social problem we felt strongly about: women’s mental health. After narrowing down our topics, my team and I decided to focus on gaslighting and carried out a fruitful design process.
The scope of our project culminated in a pitch presentation that was positively received by our university community and design academics. Even though the game has not yet been produced and much work is required to develop it fully, we are pleased to have embarked on a journey that taught us so much about the creative process from start to finish and empowered us to use our design skills for a purpose close to our hearts.
Learnings
Trust the process: In design, we need to proceed without any preconceived outcomes, trusting that the process itself will guide us to the best solutions.
Document everything: Keeping complete and structured documentation of our process was key to clarifying ideas, ensuring direction, and reflecting back on the path taken to later explain our process to others.
Be flexible: Know when to accept others’ leads and ideas by trusting the team, and recognize the moments when it is important to stand your ground on decision-making.
Task management: Be smart about balancing the amount of time and work in order to delegate tasks effectively and meet deadlines.
Credits
This project was conducted as part of the Master of Arts in Integrated Design Elective Module —Design and Communication for Social Projects—, during the Winter Semester 2021/2022 at Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, under the guidance of Professor Mauricio Sosa Noreña.
Team
Maria Abdo, Lina Holz, Adriana Rodriguez-Conto, and Vanessa Rüprich.
