MORE THAN A LABEL
Brand Identity
More than a Label is Mind Hong Kong’s (a locally registered mental health charity) latest anti-stigma campaign that stems from its goal of changing and influencing the public’s perception towards persons with diagnosable mental health conditions, and encourages the local community to look beyond the stigmatising labels associated with such diagnoses. Through storytelling with personal journeys from campaign ambassadors, More than a Label strives to showcase realistic portrayals of individuals who have faced mental health problems, recovered, and that depict their holistic identity. With this campaign, the hope is to not only raise awareness about the stigmatisation of mental health across the city, but also celebrate the resilience and strength of people in recovery, along with educate and equip the public with effective mental health knowledge.
Born and raised in Hong Kong, I grew up with little to no knowledge regarding what mental health was, therefore it was a topic that rarely ever crossed my mind. However, after moving to New York—where I was exposed to an array of open discussions about the importance of mental health and wellbeing—I began to notice the severity of Hong Kong’s growing mental health crisis in recent years, and that comparable to Western countries, there is a widespread tendency to stigmatise and discriminate individuals suffering from mental health conditions across Asia. While reasons for mental health illnesses can vary dramatically, it is notable that the challenges that Hong Kong people increasingly face include: the city’s growing political turmoil, academic pressure, excessive living costs, and a pessimistic outlook of the future. Consequently, individuals are less likely to seek treatment due to deep-rooted values of collectivism in Chinese culture (where according to Confucius philosophy, open displays of emotions should be discouraged in order to maintain social and familial harmony, avoid exposure of personal weakness, or prevent negative reflection on family lineage), as well as generational indifferences (like the idea that previous generations suffered worse circumstances or trauma, so it is shameful for children or young adults to share their struggles knowing that our elders have “survived much more/worse,” or that the youth should be grateful for the sacrifices made for them regardless of their personal experiences and mental traumas, or that mental health simply does not exist among older adults). Most recently, the impact of COVID-19 has brought the city’s—along with the rest of the globe—mental health emergency to an all time low. In result, my deeply personal ties to mental wellbeing and willingness to seek help manifested dramatically over the last year. To be commissioned for a branding project like this, I was able to relate to the campaign’s target audience and mission statement in a special way.
Diving into the project—in which my role was to design the campaign’s official logo, colour palette, and typography—my primary goal was to ensure that the brand look creates a safe and inclusive space for the local community to share stories and engage openly with one another. The main design challenge that required problem-solving was working with the campaign’s bilingual name and making sure neither the Chinese or English name largely overpowered the other. Not only this, but both names consisted of four words or characters, therefore creating a balanced lockup for both the primary and tagline logo (in which there are roughly double the amount of words and characters) presented the need for interesting workarounds. Exclusive of the client’s requested deliverables, I also took it upon myself to create an interactive guidelines deck that showcases my suggestions for how the brand assets should be used, as well as an additional marketing section in which I offer concepts for social media, print, and merchandise products (see end.)
