Breinspoken
Project for Alzheimercentrum Amsterdam
2023
For their new website Breinspoken, Alzheimercentrum Amsterdam and I worked together to create illustrations that would enhance the website. The illustrations welcome children to the platform and help simplify the texts so it is easier for them to understand the disease. Breinspoken is an initiative by the Alzheimer’s centre to offer a space where children whose parent’s have received the Alzheimer’s diagnose can understand their situation more and where they can learn about the disease.
For each age group, different topics had to be explained. For each text I was given a brief of what the illustration supporting that text should feature. I worked per age group and per topic and once one illustration was done, I sent it to my contact at the Alzheimer’s Centre and received feedback. Once I incorporated the feedback, I sent the new version back until it matched what they had in mind.
The website’s design was made by a design company who also developed the logo for the website; the little ghost. The website also features shapes that are shown throughout every page as background and as a guide to help the viewer find what they are looking for.
Even though it was not asked explicitly, I incorporated those colours and lines of the logo and webdesign in my illustrations to make sure that the platform would keep its uniform look and feel.
Illustrations
The brief:
Create an illustration that showcases the different areas of the brain and their functions in a simple way. It must be understandable for 18 year olds. It will be featured on the website alongside text that explains how a healthy brain works.
The challenge:
Whilst the other illustrations for this project are supportive to the text, this illustration was more of an infographic. The reference image they showed me was quite busy and I wanted to simplify the illustration in such a way that it fit the website’s design and colours. By using similar lines to the little ghost that is the website’s mascot, this illustration fits in well with the rest of the page and does not stand out.
Development:
Upon sending my first version of this illustration, there was only one bit of feedback; some of the text in the illustration should be changed to make it less clumped. I changed the text to shorter synonyms and sent the definitive version back.
The brief:
Create an illustration that shows an adult and their child do something together. It will be featured in the section about how their parents may suddenly not know how to do something they knew how to do before.
The challenge:
To make sure that children from different backgrounds could see themselves in the characters featured in my illustrations, it was necessary to create characters from different backgrounds. I made sure I used different family dynamics and different ethnic groups in designing the families that would be featured in the illustrations.
This illustration needed to show that the parent wasn’t as confident doing something they usually knew how to do very well, like brushing their teeth. By having the father in this illustration look at his daughter while brushing his teeth, the illustration shows this concept and therefore strengthenst the information in the text it accompanies.
The brief:
Create an illustration for the section on the website for 18 year olds explaining that Alzheimer’s disease will eventually lead to death. The illustration will have to be suitable for children.
The challenge:
A difficult topic had to be translated into an illustration for children. While it was intended for the older age group and the topic itself is quite heavy, the illustration itself shouldn’t come across as dark and heavy. It also shouldn’t come across as too light-hearted. Finding that sweet spot was quite difficult.
Development:
For this illusration I used the family models I had created in my head to compose the illustration and make good use of which parents had previously been the ones with the diagnosis in my illustrations. I made sure to show different emotions in their faces and after receiving feedback to make the casket feel more personal, I added handdrawn illustrations as if the children had decorated the casket themselves.