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. The campaign helped caregivers and their teens see a behavior they’re already in the habit of—listening to music—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
Despite 39% of Black teens and 46% of Hispanic teens feeling persistently sad or hopeless, they’re about half as likely to receive professional help as their white counterparts. Support at home is also a challenge; stigmas preventing parents from talking about mental health run deeper in these communities. Recognizing their preference for audio streaming services, we utilized Amazon Music's catalogue of 100M tracks and Alexa's communication technology to help caregivers discover and share songs for different emotions with their teens.
Concept
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.
