When you can’t say it, play it
Client: Ad Council
Role: Lead Designer
Contribution: Concepting, UX & UI Design, Interactive Design, Prototyping, Art Direction
Black and Hispanic teens are an often overlooked part of today’s U.S. youth mental health crisis. "When You Can’t Say It, Play It," is a bilingual interactive experience leveraging music to normalize mental health discussions. Instead of asking teens to verbalize emotions, I leverage an existing behavior — music sharing — as an emotional proxy.
The campaign successfully helped caregivers and their teens see a behavior they’re already in the habit of in an entirely new way.
Recognition
Webby Awards 2024
Winner | People's Voice Winner - Apps & Software - Experimental & Innovation
Official Nominee | Websites & Mobile Sites - Health & Wellness
Shortlisted | 3 categories
SXSW Innovation Awards 2024
Finalist | Audio Experience
Shortlist | Health & Biotech
One Show 2024
Shortlist | 9 categories
NY Festival of Advertising
Shortlist | Avant-garde/innovation, Audio/Radio Product & Services
Shorty Impact Award 2023
Winner | Mental Health
Ad of the Week
Recognized as “Ad of the week” from Shots, a prestigious advertising industry trade publication
Creative Strategy
To address the communication gap between teens and caregivers around mental health, I reframed music as a bridge for emotional expression. Leveraging Amazon Music’s 100M-track catalogue and Alexa’s voice technology, the platform enabled caregivers to discover, personalize, and share songs that matched specific emotions. The result is a culturally relevant, intuitive, and participatory experience that turned listening into meaningful connection.
Color Psychology
Feelings, especially for teenagers, are complex because they arise from a multitude of interconnected factors, including biological, psychological, and social influences. Just as emotions blend seamlessly into one another, forming new and nuanced feelings, gradient serves as a reflection of this intricate emotional landscape. My approach began with assigning colors to seven primary emotions, which then evolved into a rich palette of 35 hues, each varying in intensity. Through the limitless combinations, these colors create a visually compelling experience that mirror the depth and complexity of human emotions.
