Q: Can you tell us a bit about who you are?
A: My name is Katie Mills. I'm a graduating senior at MICA and have spent the last few years studying for a BA in Graphic Design. I've focused my time in school on trying new things through experimenting with various mediums and concepts. I'm really interested in approaching social design with an unconventional eye.
Q: How would you describe this project?
A: “Through the Fog” is a visual narrative of the United States' ongoing struggle with suicide. This complex and multi-faceted social issue does not have a one-size-fits-all solution. This understanding brought forth a series of abstract and data driven experiments that center around the feelings of uncertainty and hopelessness taking over the Nation. My project strives to inspire deeper thought by using common household items and natural elements as unconventional analogies.
Q: What inspired you to do your degree project on suicide?
A: I was really unsure of what to do for my final degree project. There is a lot of pressure to do something amazing and flashy. However, over the winter break I had someone close to me experience suicidal thoughts. I called the hotline to try to get information on how to help this person. I called for hours and couldn't get through. That awakened other thoughts and questions...does everyone who calls the hotline experience a wait? From that point on, I decided to dedicate my final project to others. I wanted to make something sincere.
Q: Which was your favorite experiment to work on?
A: Definitely the matches. The call center data was something I really wanted to show simply but was struggling on how to do that. In the end, I think I finally got across what I was trying to say. And, I got to burn stuff - which was fun. Photoshopping for hours and hours after wasn't.
Q: Why does your project incorporate a fog concept?
A: A way to understand suicide and how it affects a person’s journey through life can be visualized by a fog surrounding the individual. I was inspired by the fog analogy because of my own "brain fog" I was experiencing when working on this project. That feeling of uncertainty when walking or driving through fog can be translated to the fear of the unknown. It can be hard to walk through life when the future is uncertain. The fog concept was a breaking point during my process. Once that concept clicked into place everything else fell in line. This further inspired me to use natural themes and elements to bring my project to life.
Q: Can you talk about the process?
A: It was a tough and draining project. The process was all over the place...I was interested in studying this subject from various points of view. The data from the National Hotline and the emotional aspect was what led my research the most. I talked to Hopkins researchers, created spreadsheets, and did so much reading. In the end, I found the emotional aspect more intriguing than the data.
Although numbers are an important way to understand the severity of the problem in a non-biased way, the data started to feel too cold and clinical. This forced me to experiment with various design methods instead of just one deliverable. My journey extended past just feeling angry and upset with the failing phone system. I moved past the feelings of apathy, which was the product of focusing too much on data and numbers.
In the end, I was overwhelmed with the difficulty and uncertainty of the project. I discovered there wasn't a perfect or a one-size-fits-all design solution. The solution was generally as murky as the problem. The process and my experience with this project were far from perfect. They were messy, and at times I felt I had too many disconnected elements. Whenever I got lost I would remind myself that I wasn't striving for perfection, but sincerity.
Q: Why use household items to represent a social issue?
A: Well, my semester was interrupted halfway through by COVID-19. Originally, I was planning on coding out all the data points I found and creating three-dimensional shapes to represent the data. However, with the virus, all access to 3D printers was nonexistent. I honestly felt like giving up on my project entirely. I had a great thesis mentor at MICA who helped me feel better about the unconventional approach to the assignment. I remembered early on in my research reading that three-quarters of suicides happen in the home. My time being in quarantine really had me reflect on that fact even more. I thought using home found objects rather than 3D printing would be more conceptually true to my project. Can home objects become subtle reminders of hope for those struggling?