Creative Brand Strategy

Semester theme: Mental Health Awareness
Task: narrow down from the broad theme to a specific campaign direction
Example of being too vague: "My campaign is about mental health awareness"
Example of being specific: "My campaign raises awareness about emotional burnout among university students during assessment periods"

Week 2: Brand Strategy Fundamentals

What is Brand Strategy?

The thinking and planning behind how a brand wants to be understood, remembered, and experienced
Brand strategy = the thinking
Brand identity = how that thinking becomes visible
Key rule: strategy comes before design

A logo without strategy is just a graphic
A poster without audience understanding is just decoration

Brand Strategy vs Brand Identity

Brand Strategy	Brand Identity
Purpose, Vision, Mission, Values, Positioning, Personality, Story	Logo, Colours, Typography, Layout, Posters, Social Media

Key Brand Strategy Components

Purpose — why the brand exists beyond profit
Vision — the future change the brand wants to create
Mission — what the brand actively does to achieve that vision
Values — the principles guiding how the brand behaves and communicates
Positioning — what makes the brand different and relevant to its audience
Target Audience — a specific group, never "everyone"
Audience Insight — a deeper emotional/behavioural truth about the audience (not just a fact)
Personality & Voice — how the brand feels as a character and how it speaks
Brand Story — the emotional narrative connecting the brand to its audience
Big Idea — the central creative concept that guides visuals and messaging
Tagline — a short, memorable phrase that captures the brand message
Visual Identity — how all of the above becomes visible

Touchpoints & Customer Journey

A touchpoint is any place the audience encounters the campaign
Examples: social media, posters, events, QR codes, workshops, merchandise
Journey stages: Awareness → Interest → Understanding → Engagement → Action → Sharing

SWOT Analysis

Use to evaluate a campaign strategically, not just visually
Strengths & Weaknesses = internal
Opportunities & Threats = external

Week 3: Situation Analysis & Campaign Proposal Planning

The Big Idea Behind This Week

You are not just analysing an existing campaign — you are using that analysis to build your own

Template Logic Flow

Issue → Problem → Audience Insight → Strategy → Concept → Visual Direction → Touchpoints → SWOT

Follow this order; do not jump to design before the strategy is clear

What Makes a Strong Proposal

Specific topic (not broad)
Research-backed claims
Clear audience (not "everyone")
Meaningful audience insight
Consistent tone throughout
Strategy, message, audience, and design all connect logically

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Topic too broad
Writing "everyone" as the target audience
Making claims without evidence
Designing before understanding the problem
Generic mental health symbols without meaning
Tagline too common or vague
Fear-based or dramatic messaging
SWOT treated as a simple checklist

Week 4: Brand Positioning & Differences

What is Brand Positioning?

Strategically defining a brand's unique value in the minds of target customers, relative to competitors
Formula: For [audience], this brand is a [type] that helps them [benefit] by [unique approach]

Differentiation vs Distinctiveness

Differentiation = your brand exists outside or apart from competitors
Distinctiveness = your brand stands out within the same space as competitors

Brand Positioning Map

A visual tool that plots competing brands along key attributes (e.g. price vs quality)
Helps identify gaps, opportunities, and where your brand sits in the market
Steps: Understand market → Identify differentiators → Map competitors → Position your brand

Types of Positioning (choose what fits your brand)

Leader, Customer Service, Convenience, Popularity, Cost-Based, Quality-Based, Differentiation, Role-Focused, Competitor Comparison

USP vs UVP — Key Difference

USP (Unique Selling Proposition)

The hook — what makes the campaign different right now
Focuses on a specific feature or guarantee
Purpose: to sell and differentiate in the moment
Example: "Pizza delivered in 30 minutes or it's free"

UVP (Unique Value Proposition)

The heart — the broader value the brand offers
Focuses on long-term trust and brand experience
Purpose: to build lasting connection with the audience
Example: "At-home convenience for the modern, busy consumer"

Simple rule: USP is for the campaign, UVP is for the brand.

Week 6: Brand Positioning & Visual Identity Development

Where you're at:

Moving from Task 1 (proposal/strategy) → Task 2 (visual identity design)

Build identity BEFORE poster

1. Brand/Campaign Name
2. Logo Development
3. Brand Identity Moodboard
4. Colour Direction
5. Typography Direction
6. Icon/Symbol System
7. Visual Style
8. Poster/Campaign Application

Logo must communicate

Campaign purpose, target audience, emotional tone, what makes it different
Avoid generic, medical, or random-looking logos
Minimum 20 sketches required
Must work in B&W and small sizes

Moodboard must include

Logo, colour, typography, illustration/photo style, icons, poster layout, social media, emotional tone references
Must support your strategy, not just look nice

Colour & Typography

Calm = safety/healing | Bold = urgency | Dark = seriousness
Rounded type = friendly | Condensed/bold = urgent | Serif = emotional/mature

Symbol Library

Collect 100 symbols/visuals/words related to your campaign
Each needs a short explanation of relevance
Use patterns found to build a consistent icon system

Week 6 Deliverables (due next week)

Confirmed campaign name & positioning
Logo sketches + selected direction
Brand moodboard
Initial colour palette & typography
Progress on 100 symbolism references
Early icon/visual exploration

Key reminder: Every design decision must tie back to your strategy — purpose, audience, mental health issue, USP, emotional tone.

Instructions

Project

In this module, we were required to create a Mental Health Awareness Campaign in collaboration with Taylor's Centre for Counselling Services (CCS).

Fig. 1. Creative Project Brief - Mental Health Awareness

Task 1: Presentation & Situation Analysis [30%]

Deadline: Week 2 & Week 4

The first assignment is divided into two sections: a Case Study Analysis and a Campaign Proposal.

Part A: Presentation (10%)

In Week 1, I narrowed down two potential topics to explore for my project:

Proposed Topics:

1. How childhood experiences affect adulthood (e.g. childhood PTSD, depression)
2. Perfectionism paralysis (e.g. anxiety, self-esteem issues)

From there, I began searching for existing campaigns related to these topics. It was difficult to find ones that directly matched my focus, so I consulted Mr Max in Week 2. He advised that I could use a broader case study as long as I could relate it back to my chosen direction.

Based on that, I decided on Pinterest's "Don't Don't Yourself" campaign as my case study.

Fig. 2. Case Study Analysis Report (PDF)

Part B: Situation Analysis (20%)

Fig. 3. Campaign Proposal (PDF)

Fig. 4. Task 1 Presentation Slide

In Week 5, we presented online via Microsoft Teams, with a 7-minute time limit per person.

Task 2: Purpose, Positioning & Personality [30%]

Deadline: Week 10

Part A: Ideation

For Task 2, we began by researching and compiling 100 symbols, visuals, and situations that represent our chosen mental health topic.

Fig. 5. 100 Symbols/Visuals (PDF)

For my campaign Little by Little, this meant exploring the visual language of anxiety-induced perfectionism paralysis, by going beyond the obvious to find the small, specific moments creative students actually live through.

Then I selected 10 symbols to develop into brand icons for the campaign.

Chosen Symbols for Brand Icons
1. Blank Canvas
2. Blank Document with Blinking Cursor
3. Crumpled Paper
4. To-do List
5. Magnifying Glass
6. Locked Brain
7. Opened Tabs
8. Alarm Clock with No hands
9. Tangled Thread
10. Sprout

Fig. 6. Brand Icon Moodboard

For my brand icons, I aimed for a solid filled style with slightly rough edges to keep a consistent style with the overall illustration style of the campaign. I began the process by sketching each item out first before moving into the digital stage.

Fig. 7. Brand Icon Sketches

After sketching them out, I traced each icon using the Pen tool in Illustrator. Once digitised, I applied a Roughen effect to each icon to soften the edges and give them a more hand-drawn, organic feel.

Fig. 8. Roughen Effect Settings

First row: Before Roughen effect
Second row: After Roughen effect

Fig. 9. Digitised Brand Icons in Illustrator

Part B: Purpose, Positioning & Personality

For Week 6, I worked on finding references and inspiration for my campaign logo. Other than that, I also created a detailed concept of my campaign original character

Fig. 10. Logo Moodboard

For my logo, I wanted something that felt organic but still structured. Instead of using an existing font, I chose to hand letter the logo myself to ensure it carried a genuine handmade quality that reflected the warmth and imperfection at the heart of the campaign.

Character Concepts

1. The Perfectionist (Owl)

the lead character
overanalyses everything, sets impossibly high standards, and refuses to call anything done
looks wise but is actually just frozen.

2. The Comparer (Deer)

wide-eyed and frozen
always hyper-aware of what everyone else is making
cannot focus on its own work because it is too busy watching others.

3. The Deleter (Mole)

digs up ideas then buries them before anyone can see
acts out of protection but destroys before anything can grow.

4. The Scroller (Snail / Squirrel / Crow)

carries the weight of every saved reference, mood board, and collected inspiration on its back (snail)
moves constantly but never actually makes anything (snail)
hoards inspiration and references (squirrel)
only collects a ton of good, exceptional works (crow)

5. The Fraud (Raccoon)

looks like its wearing an eye mask
scrappier, anxious energy
rummages through other’s idea and piece it together
convinced it only got this far by accident and is about to be found out

These five characters live in the same world, like a Creature Camp which serves as the visual and narrative setting for the entire campaign. The camp metaphor was chosen because a camp is a place where beginners are expected, trying things is encouraged, and imperfection is part of the experience so this camp concept mirrors the emotional environment the campaign wants to create for its audience.

Then I started sketching out the logos on Week 7 in B&W.

Fig. 11. Logo Sketches

Feedbacks from Mr Max:

1. Campaign Name & Tagline

"Little by Little" works as both, but avoid feeling too generic. The strength lies in the visual world built around it.

2. Character Concept

Personalising perfectionism as 5 forest creatures is a strong idea, relatable and not overly clinical
"Creature Camp" framing works well (learning, mistakes, beginner mindset)
Watch out: characters shouldn't just be cute mascots. They need to clearly represent perfectionist behaviours.

3. Character Recommendations

Owl, Deer, Mole, Raccoon: concepts are clear ✓
For the Scroller: Snail is the top pick (slow-moving + carries burden = being stuck), Squirrel feels too energetic, Crow skews too dark/mysterious

4. Logo Directions

#1 Friendly, handmade feel; approachable tone suits the anxiety/paralysis theme
#6 The double "L" symbol + owl-eye concept has potential, but simplify before it gets too abstract; test at small sizes
#7 Badge style ties nicely into the camp concept; great for merch, stickers, posters. Just don't lean too heavily into scout aesthetics.

5. Overall Logo Direction

Should visually suggest progress, small steps, building confidence. Avoid looking too polished (try sketchy textures), but still keep it designed and intentional.

6. Next Steps

Continue developing character sketches
Refine logo from #1, #6, or #7, pick one final direction, then build out full brand identity.

For Week 8, I continued refining Sketch #1 by exploring three simple variations, experimenting with distortion and rearranging the layout.

Fig. 12. Further Explorations of Logo Sketch #1

After sharing the three variations with Mr Max, he selected the second one. He did note that the letter "L" was reading too close to a "D" and advised me to tone it down or reduce the swirl. He also suggested exploring the swirls on other letters instead.

Fig. 13. Final Chosen Logo Sketch

Based on his feedback, I explored two more variations and he approved one (marked with three stars). The next step is to digitise the logo in Illustrator and move on to character design.

Fig. 14. Digitised Logo in Illustrator

I also created a secondary logo that works better in tighter horizontal spaces, keeping the same hand-lettered feel but in a single line format.

Fig. 15. Secondary Logo in Illustrator

After finalising the logos and brand icons, I moved on to creating the Brand Guideline.

Fig. 16. Little by Little Brand Guidelines (PDF)

Task 3: Cause / Campaign / Event Branding [30%]

Deadline: Week 13

For Task 3, we need to produce four things:

Three campaign application designs presented as mockups
An impression artwork or journey map showing the full audience experience
One impactful project in a workable format
A final presentation pitch deck designed using the brand guideline

[Process] Campaign Character Design

Since I ran out of time to finalise my character designs in Task 2, I carried them over and introduced them properly in Task 3 instead.

Fig. 17. Character Design Sketch #1

This was my first rough sketch, done during tutorial to show sir how the five characters would look. I included a reference image on the top left of a sketchy, hand drawn fox logo that felt friendly but slightly mysterious, which I thought matched the tone of my campaign well.

Out of the five, I was most satisfied with the Mole and Raccoon designs, and my lecturer agreed that both were already working. The remaining three still needed refinement to feel consistent with the overall character style.

Fig. 18. Finalised Character Designs

I assigned each character their own accent colour from the five accent colours in the brand guideline. After getting all the character designs approved, I moved on to drawing out the front, 3/4, side, and back views of each character. I also gave each one a proper name that reflects their personality.

Quill — The Perfectionist (Owl)

Fig. 19. Finalised Character Design - Owl

Quill is an owl who sets the bar impossibly high and refuses to callanything done. Every draft gets one more revision, every idea gets one more round of refinement, and somehow nothing ever feels quite ready enough to share. It is not laziness. It is the fear that imperfect work means an imperfect you.

Wisp — The Comparer (Deer)

Fig. 20. Finalised Character Design - Deer

Wisp is a deer who is always watching. Not out of envy exactly, but out of a deep need to know where she stands. Her own canvas sits blank while she studies everyone else's progress, convinced that the gap between her work and theirs means something permanent about her ability. It does not. She just forgot to look at her own page.

Smudge — The Deleter (Mole)

Fig. 21. Finalised Character Design - Mole

Smudge is a mole who makes things and buries them before anyone can see. Not because he

does not care, but because he cares too much. Every idea feels too fragile to survive

someone else's eyes, so he covers it up and tells himself he was protecting it. What he

does not realise is that the best things he has ever made are still down there, quietly

glowing.

Drift — The Scroller (Snail)

Fig. 22. Finalised Character Design - Snail

Drift is a snail who is always moving but never quite arriving. The shell gets heavier with every saved reference, every bookmarked tutorial, every pinned post, and somehow the actual work never quite gets started. Drift is not lazy. Drift is comfortable in the space between inspiration and making, because that space feels safe. The making part is where things can go wrong.

Patch — The Fraud (Raccoon)

Fig. 23. Finalised Character Design - Raccoon

Patch is a raccoon who is convinced that everyone else got the talent memo and they somehow missed it. Every good thing they make feels like an accident, every compliment feels like a countdown to being found out. But here is the thing about Patch: the work they make when they stop overthinking it is genuinely theirs. Borrowed pieces assembled in a way only they could have done. That is not fraud. That is just creativity.

[Process] Campus Booth

After finalising the characters I moved on to designing the campus pop-up booth. I first quick sketched it out in Procreate then re-traced the sketch in Illustrator.

Fig. 24. Little by Little Campus Booth Sketch (Procreate)

Fig. 25. Finalised Little by Little Campus Booth (Illustrator)

The booth is designed to be simple and approachable. The Little by Little logo sits prominently at the top, with brand icons scattered across the booth as decorative elements. A Creature Camp signpost sits beside it with the line "Meet Your Inner Saboteur," which acts as the main CTA for students passing by. The bottom of the booth carries the line "It's not laziness. It's Perfectionism Paralysis," grounding the booth in the campaign's core message. Two white panels in the centre serve as display areas for the quiz and zine kit.

[Process] Zine Kit

For the zine kit, I designed a short illustrated zine titled "Creature Camp Zine: Issue 01"

The contents are as follows:

Introduction to perfectionism paralysis
Creature Camp introduction
Meet the five characters
Letters from Camp, practical advice written as a letter from each character
A Letter to Myself, a journaling page for the reader

Fig. 26. Zine Page and Layout Design

The zine is accompanied by a loose sticker pack featuring the five characters and brand icons, and two button badge pin designs.

Fig. 27. Sticker and Button Badge Designs

After completing the designs, I placed them into PSD mockups I found online.

[Process] Social Media

I chose Instagram as my digital touchpoint to reach audiences beyond the physical campus pop-up booth. The aim was for the Instagram page to function as an ongoing digital campaign, where perfectionism paralysis is introduced and the Creature Camp concept is gradually revealed to build interest and curiosity.

Fig. 28. Little by Little Instagram Grid

The nine post grid introduces the five characters, shares relatable content that creative students will recognise in themselves, and drives traffic to the Inner Saboteur Quiz and digital zine through the link in bio. The character driven posts are also designed to encourage organic peer sharing, where students tag friends who match a specific character. This will naturally extend the campaign's reach.

[Process] Impactful Project

For my impactful project, I created an Inner Saboteur personality quiz built around the five Creature Camp characters. Since each character represents a distinct perfectionism behaviour, the quiz gives the audience a way to identify which specific tendencies they relate to most. This helps them recognise their inner saboteur and take a small step toward working through it.

Fig. 29. Quiz Structure (PDF)

The quiz consists of 12 questions drawn from real creative student experiences, written in a casual and relatable tone with no clinical language and no wrong answers. At the end, the audience receives their character result along with a short description, practical advice, and a call to action to continue engaging with the campaign.

Application Design Mockups & Audience Journey Map

Fig. 30. Application Design Mockups & Audience Journey Map (PDF)

Digital Zine

Impactful Project

Note: The quiz is currently closed as it has reached its response limit. A quiz demo video is provided below for reference.

Link:

https://form.typeform.com/to/DN80Okjs

Quiz Demo Video

Final Presentation

Fig. 31. Final Presentation Slides (PDF)

Feedback

Week 1 (21/4/26)

General Feedback:

Introduction to the module and project briefing by Mr Max.
The main theme for this project is mental health, in collaboration with Taylor’s CCS.
Our task is to design a mental health campaign that is visually engaging while also addressing the issue meaningfully.

Specific Feedback:

We were required to present our initial topic ideas to Mr Max in class.
We were also asked to begin researching relevant case studies based on our chosen topics.
Since I proposed 2 topics, Mr Max advised me to look into both topics.

Week 2 (/5/26)

General Feedback:

Mr Max gave a lecture on how to conduct an effective case study on existing campaigns.

Specific Feedback:

Mr Max advised that the selected campaigns do not have to exactly match my topic, as long as I can relate them back to my research later.
I managed to find a suitable campaign by Pinterest.
The submission deadline for the case study report was extended to Friday of the same week.

Week 3 (5/5/26)

General Feedback:

Mr Max outlined what is needed in the campaign proposal for class this week.

Specific Feedback:

I decided to chose creative students (particularly in design and media fields) who struggle with perfectionism and experience difficulty starting tasks due to fear of failure and high self-expectations as my target audience

Week 4 (12/5/26)

General Feedback:

Mr Max focused on Brand Positioning. We were also required to show him our campaign's USP and UVP

Specific Feedback:

Worked on the presentation slide.

Week 5 (19/5/26)

General Feedback:

[Submission Week] This week is the submission for Task 1, followed by online individual presentation via Teams.

Specific Feedback:

Finalised the slides and campaign proposal document.

Lecturer Feedbacks:
What worked well:

Strong research effort and meaningful understanding of perfectionism among creative students
Pinterest "Don't Don't Yourself" case study was a suitable and relevant choice
"Why This Issue Matters" section was clear and well explained
Campaign name Little by Little communicates the message effectively
Personalising the inner saboteur into five characters is a strong and memorable concept
Overall direction feels warm, human, and relevant to the target audience

What needed improvement:

Audience insight needed to go deeper, explain why students feel the pressure, not just that they do
Daily behaviours caused by perfectionism paralysis needed to be shown more clearly as a bridge between the problem and the campaign
Character design was missing, needed visual development including sketches, colour coding, poses, and expressions
Campaign touchpoints needed clearer explanation of how each one actually works in practice
Campaign needed to feel more interactive and actionable, not just awareness based

Key suggestions:

Develop the emotional root behind why creative students feel pressured to be perfect
Show how perfectionism affects daily creative decisions specifically
Develop the five characters visually and interactively, similar to the Dumb Ways to Die approach
Clarify what happens at each touchpoint, what is inside the zine kit, how the quiz works, what the student does after meeting their character

Week 6 (26/5/26)

General Feedback:
Task 2 briefing

Mr Max created a template
No presentation for this task
Finalise logo by Week 7
Verbally explain brand identity choices in final presentation

Specific Feedback:

N/A

Week 7 (2/6/26)

General Feedback:

[Public Holiday] Since it was a public holiday, Mr Max held an online consultation session this week. I sent in my campaign logo sketches and also a more detailed concept of my character personifications via Teams.

Specific Feedback:

Feedbacks from Mr Max:

1. Campaign Name & Tagline

"Little by Little" works as both, but avoid feeling too generic. The strength lies in the visual world built around it.

2. Character Concept

Personalising perfectionism as 5 forest creatures is a strong idea, relatable and not overly clinical
"Creature Camp" framing works well (learning, mistakes, beginner mindset)
Watch out: characters shouldn't just be cute mascots. They need to clearly represent perfectionist behaviours.

3. Character Recommendations

Owl, Deer, Mole, Raccoon: concepts are clear ✓
For the Scroller: Snail is the top pick (slow-moving + carries burden = being stuck), Squirrel feels too energetic, Crow skews too dark/mysterious

4. Logo Directions

#1 Friendly, handmade feel; approachable tone suits the anxiety/paralysis theme
#6 The double "L" symbol + owl-eye concept has potential, but simplify before it gets too abstract; test at small sizes
#7 Badge style ties nicely into the camp concept; great for merch, stickers, posters. Just don't lean too heavily into scout aesthetics.

5. Overall Logo Direction

Should visually suggest progress, small steps, building confidence. Avoid looking too polished (try sketchy textures), but still keep it designed and intentional.

6. Next Steps

Continue developing character sketches
Refine logo from #1, #6, or #7, pick one final direction, then build out full brand identity.

Week 8 (9/6/26)

General Feedback:

[Prof Cleavers Workshop] There was no class this week since it was replaced by Prof Cleavers Graphic Design Workshop.

Specific Feedback:

I consulted Mr Max on my logo sketches, did some refinements and finally got it approved on the same day.

Week 10 (23/6/26)

General Feedback:

[Hybrid Consultation]

Specific Feedback:

Feedbacks from Mr Max:

Logo feedback:

Secondary logo LL is okay but feels like it is missing the "by" connection
The "by" is important for brand identity and recognition
Needs to be included in the secondary lockup

Visual direction:

Strongest visual direction should focus on three stages:
Fear of starting
Perfectionist loop
Small progress and Little by Little recovery
This three stage structure connects more directly to the campaign name

Strongest icons suggested for development:

Blank canvas — represents fear of starting and pressure of the empty beginning
Blank document and blinking cursor — clearly shows creative paralysis and hesitation
Empty sketchbook — represents ideas not yet acted on, suitable for students
Unfinished artworks — shows inability to complete or submit work
Starting over again — shows perfectionism appearing as restarting instead of progressing
Crumpled paper — shows self rejection, frustration, and repeated attempts
Smudged ink and dried up paint — metaphor for imperfection and creative blockage
Overcrowded moodboard — shows idea overload and inspiration becoming a trap
Messy floor covered in drafts — shows physical evidence of overthinking and unfinished work
Full to-do list and pinboard — represents pressure, avoidance, and mental overload
Magnifying glass making flaws larger — directly shows perfectionism focusing on small mistakes
Zooming in to fix tiny details — very relevant to design students
Tangled thread — metaphor for overthinking and not knowing where to start
Brain with locked padlock — represents creative block and feeling mentally stuck
Thought bubble full of question marks — shows uncertainty and overthinking
Browser with many tabs open — contemporary symbol for mental clutter and research overload
Alarm snoozed and phone showing 3am — represents procrastination and late night anxiety
Clock with no hands and full calendar — shows time distortion and feeling stuck
Small storm cloud that follows only you — emotional symbol for private anxiety and self pressure
Tiny sprout — important positive recovery symbol connecting directly to Little by Little

Next steps flagged by lecturer:

Choose 10 to 15 final visual elements from the suggestions
Redesign them into one consistent icon family

Week 13 (14/7/26)

General Feedback:

[Hybrid Consultation]

Specific Feedback:

Feedbacks from Mr Max:

What worked well:

Campaign direction is much clearer with the five inner saboteur characters
Mole and Raccoon designs already work well
Owl, Deer, and Snail are starting to feel like they belong in the same universe
Quiz structure is good and relatable to final year creative students
Questions are based on real creative student situations which makes them feel authentic
A to E scoring system makes sense and connects clearly to each character type
Tiebreaker idea is acceptable

What needed improvement:

Line weight, eye style, body proportion, and outfit details need to be consistent across all five characters
Characters need proper names while keeping the animal and personality label together, for example Name the Owl, The Perfectionist
Tiebreaker questions can be reduced to one or two, or rely on Typeform's highest score instead
Quiz result page needs to be clear and visually engaging

Specific requirements for the quiz result page:

Character image
Character name and personality type
Short explanation of the behaviour
Gentle advice or small action step
CTA to Instagram, zine kit, or booth activity
Small disclaimer that the quiz is for self-reflection and awareness only, not a diagnosis

Next steps flagged by lecturer:

Finalise quiz results
Complete three application designs
Complete the illustrated journey map
Show how everything connects together as one full campaign system

Reflection

Experience

Overall this branding project was genuinely one of the more exciting and meaningful projects I have worked on. I think a big part of that was having the freedom to choose a topic that actually mattered to me personally rather than being assigned one. For me that topic was perfectionism, and more specifically perfectionism paralysis. This is not just something I find academically interesting. It is something I have been aware of in myself for a long time, probably since the very beginning of my design student journey. I am still working through it, but now that I am almost in my final year I can genuinely say my mindset has shifted. I approach projects differently than I used to, with a little more willingness to just start even when things do not feel ready. I still catch myself focusing too much on the details sometimes, but I am more aware of it now, which I think is the first step.

Observation

The part of this project I am most proud of is the impactful project, which is the Inner Saboteur Quiz. Building it was one thing, but actually taking it myself was a whole other experience. I got Drift the Snail, the character who is always collecting inspiration and saving references but never quite making anything unless they have to, and honestly it's very accurate. I do tend to save a lot on Pinterest and gather things I love, but rarely make something entirely of my own. My friend told me she could see me in all five characters, and thinking about it I completely understand why she said that. What really reassured me was seeing my friends try the quiz and genuinely enjoy it. They were recognising themselves in the characters, posting their results on their Instagram, story, mentioning how accurate it felt. That reaction told me the campaign was landing the way I hoped, and that the characters were relatable enough to make someone stop and see themselves reflected back.

Findings

Working on this project taught me that to create a mental health campaign that is both visually engaging and genuinely helpful, you have to go much deeper than the surface of the topic. You cannot just research what the issue is. You have to understand what it feels like, the small specific daily moments that someone living with it would immediately recognise. That is what separates a campaign that informs from one that actually resonates. I also found that putting yourself in your audience's shoes is not just a design exercise, it is the whole job. The more honestly I could reflect on my own experience with perfectionism paralysis, the more specific and useful the campaign content became. The advice, the quiz questions, the character behaviours, all of it came from a place of genuine understanding rather than observation from the outside. The other thing I found is that mental health is still a sensitive and sometimes taboo subject for a lot of people, especially in creative communities where there is often an unspoken pressure to appear confident and capable. Approaching it through the gentler, more playful context of characters and storytelling felt like the right way to lower that barrier and make the conversation feel safe enough to enter. People engage with things that do not feel like a confrontation, and I think that is what Little by Little manages to do.

Thank You

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Kimberly Miaw Jya Nee (0366836)