OUGD603 - Brief 07 - Loneliness - Research: Awareness

Researching into awareness campaigns and posters has revealed that there is a trend to use isolated photography and an obvious focus of loneliness. None of the imagery is positive, which is one aspect as to why I am inspired to launch a positive, uplifting campaign. Some of the adverts found from primary research can be seen below.

A particularly interesting awareness campaign is The Loneliness Project, created by The Campaign to End Loneliness. It focuses on an experiment where a man lives alone for one week with no phone or social interaction. One of the points that he identifies is that loneliness is about 'the feeling of [not] having a connection'.



Baya Voce's Ted Talk focuses on a 'Cure for Loneliness' and essentially explains that the people who live in Blue Zones live the longest and happiest lives due to having an 'anchor of connection', essentially due to having a stronger community and more important focus on family. The main line that struck me was when Baya said 'connection isn't created by the things we go get, connection is created by the things we go back to'. In respect to elderly loneliness, this is saying that elderly people should continue what they are doing by seeing family and speaking to those around them; however, when isolated this can be extremely difficult. Therefore, I have found that the main problem that needs to be tackled is creating a solution that elderly are aware of. Whilst many charities exist, they have phone numbers or websites that many elderly people do not even know about. For this reason I aim to focus ideas on creating something that elderly people would directly be able to interact with.