Reach out for a Lifeline
A Lifeline/Suicide Prevention Poster
I was inspired to create this poster based on my own journey with mental health. I personally have not used this service, though I learned about it later after I went through my own suicide attempts and depression.
I do believe in talking about your issues with someone, which is why I go to therapy, but sometimes you don't have the time or money for that. This is a free resource where you call and someone lends you a willing ear.
I first started with the background image. I already had a photograph in mind for this poster. It was a photo I had previously taken for another project that I did not end up using. Then I wrote down several sentences I could use for the poster. I sketched a couple of layout options and wrote down other design notes for myself.
Original Image
Edited Image
Using Photoshop, I edited my original photo to fit the design I had in mind. However, my idea for the edited photo changed as I was applying filters and effects. Instead of going for black and white like I originally thought, I chose to use shades of purple and turquoise because the Suicide Prevention and Awareness ribbon is purple and turquoise. I thought the colors would also help make the poster stand out more since many suicide prevention posters are black and white.
I cropped the parts of the image that wouldn't fit on the poster. I used Photoshop effects on the blurred person to create a ghostly effect. I applied Inner Glow, Color Overlay, and Outer Glow. Over the entire image, I used the Selective Color and Hue/Saturation filter.
Using Illustrator, I combined the text and images together. For the text, I opted for a sans-serif font, as that would give a softer feel to the poster than the more serious, traditional-looking serif fonts. I used HWT Artz for the first sentence and Impact for the other two sentences. I took the Lifeline logo, both the English and Spanish versions, from their site and the Suicide Prevention and Awareness Ribbon from their site. I used both logos for inclusivity and placed the ribbon in the corner. I felt having the ribbon would help tie my color choices together.
This project is a study in advertising. Because of my own continuing mental health journey, I wanted to create a poster that could help others. Mental health should be discussed more openly and understood by all. Hopefully, this can help at least one person.
