collective (2023) is a two-part project that seeks to create
conversation around acts of kindness, care, and compassion through
storytelling and gathering different voices and perspectives.

Purpose

Rather than solving a problem space, this project serves as a database/collection of different stories around kindness. This work is also a personal reflection of my thesis question: How can design and the process of design be kind? How can design be used to promote kindness in a diverse community?

It is important and valuable to acknowledge my own presence and practice in this project, situating myself in the context as a designer. My hope is that this work will help encourage myself and others to discover and extend kindness in their own daily lives, practices, and spaces.

From moeum to maeum, kindness can reach out from the world to ourselves.
Being kind to yourself is just as important as extending kindness to others.

BRANDING

Brand Identity

collective focuses on our human need for purpose and shared experiences through the space of kindness. Our hope is to invite others to connect, engage, and encourage each other to be a part of a collective change for our world through acts of care and kindness.

I took a vibrant, soft, and humanist approach to the branding of this project. I created a custom font using the shape of a heart as the base for my font, then deconstructed it to create other shapes to form letters. The colours were specifically chosen to give the branding an approachable and overall warm-looking feel to the general public.

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MOEUM (GATHER)

How can we extend kindness to the world?

Moeum (모음) is the first part of the project which translates to “gather” in Korean. I reached out to my local community and across the world as well to gather different people’s interpretations of kindness. I interviewed and collected responses from seven participants who have different occupations and backgrounds. Through these interviews, I got to listen to their stories and let them visualize kindness in a tangible form. Taking their stories and responses, I made small motion graphics to represent their interpretations which can be used for a social media campaign. I also integrated the short motion graphics into a 2-minute-long motion graphic piece. This portion of the project honours and amplifies diverse voices through storytelling while inviting others to find kindness in their own lives. I hope kindness can become a normal practice for all of us and that we can be encouraged to extend kindness to others by being a part of a collective change.

‘bits of kindness’ Motion Graphics

View Project on Behance

‘collective’ Motion Graphic Storyboard

‘collective’ Final Motion Graphic

MAEUM (HEART)

How can we gather and receive kindness from our world?

Maeum (마음) is the second half of ‘collective’ which translates to “heart” in Korean. From moeum to maeum, we see how kindness can reach out from the world to our own selves. Many of the participants in the first half of the project mentioned that being kind to yourself is just as important as extending kindness to others. This portion of the project will be a personal takeaway for viewers, consisting of a self-reflection book and postcards that will help guide people to be more mindful of their own well-being and those around them.

Reflection Postcards

I designed the front of the postcards with my own interpretations and visualizations of what kindness looks like. I focused a lot on soft shapes and made use of the risograph’s vibrant colours, translating my visualizations into tangible forms. On the back of the postcards, there are prompts around kindness which allow participants to reflect and to write down their own thoughts:
1. Write about a time someone has helped you and how you felt about it…
2. What does kindness look like to you? What does it mean?
3. Draw a shape, pattern, or object that you associate kindness with. Describe what colour kindness would be.
4. For a stranger, write an encouragement or an affirmation that you wish you heard from someone else.

Reflection Book

As for the last deliverable of my project, I risoprinted a 90-page reflection book that includes prompts, giving guidance to readers in their personal journeys. These prompts and questions will help us be mindful of ourselves and those around us. There are 5 sections in this book to guide readers in a cycle of healing and self-care: Remind, Rest, Reflect, Realize, and Realign.

It is a good practice to keep in check with ourselves as often as we can and to take care of ourselves.