Recognizing Patterns

Behavioral Health Awareness Campaign for Parents

Role: Creative Director
Focus: Campaign Strategy, Key Art, Motion Storytelling
Platforms: Digital, Social, Video, In-Clinic / Outreach
Tools: Adobe Creative Suite, After Effects, AI-assisted visual development

Overview

Recognizing Patterns is a behavioral health awareness campaign designed to help parents identify early signs of mental health challenges in children and teens—without relying on diagnostic language or fear-based messaging. The campaign uses symbolic key art and short-form video to reframe mental health as something observed over time, rather than in moments of crisis.

The Challenge

Parents are often overwhelmed by mental health messaging that feels:

Alarmist or clinical
Overly simplified or checklist-driven
Focused on labels instead of lived experience

The challenge was to create an outreach campaign that felt:

Calm and trustworthy
Accessible to parents and caregivers
Clinically respectful without being instructional

Creative Strategy

The campaign was built around a single visual metaphor: light, shadow, and pattern.

Symbolic imagery communicates emotional states without naming them
Visual restraint encourages reflection rather than reaction
Each condition is represented as a distinct pattern, not a label
Tone remains observational, never urgent or accusatory

This approach allows the work to remain inclusive, non-diagnostic, and emotionally safe

Core Insight
Mental health challenges are not defined by a single behavior.
They emerge as patterns over time.
By shifting focus from diagnosis to observation, the campaign creates space for awareness, reflection, and early support—without stigma.

Key Art System

The feather and shadow motif serves as the campaign’s unifying element.

The feather represents growth, identity, and vulnerability
The shadow represents unseen struggle
Together, they communicate what is present but often unnoticed

The system was intentionally designed to scale across:

Still imagery
Motion
Digital and in-clinic environments

Video Development

Short-form videos were created to bring the visual system into motion.

Each video:

Focuses on a single behavioral pattern
Uses minimal text and gentle pacing
Avoids clinical terminology
Is designed for quiet viewing in feeds, waiting rooms, or outreach settings

Conditions explored include:

Anxiety
Depression
ADHD

The videos function as prompts for recognition—not explanations—encouraging parents to notice change rather than diagnose behavior.

Deliverables

Campaign key art and visual system
Short-form educational videos
Digital and social adaptations
Outreach-ready assets for clinics and community settings

Execution & Production

The campaign balanced thoughtful design with efficient production workflows, allowing multiple condition-specific videos to be created within a unified visual language.

AI-assisted exploration supported early visual development, while final execution and messaging remained fully human-directed to ensure emotional and cultural integrity.

Impact

Strong alignment with behavioral health clinicians and outreach teams
Assets designed for long-term use beyond a single awareness month
Campaign structure supports expansion into workshops and parent education programs

Why This Works

This project demonstrates:

Audience-first, parent-forward storytelling
Campaign systems thinking across still and motion
Sensitivity to clinical and emotional contexts
Scalable creative frameworks for education and outreach
Platform-safe content design suitable for streaming, digital, and public environments

Future Expansion

The campaign framework is designed to support:

Additional condition-specific videos
Longer-form parent education content
Workshop integration and clinical programming
Platform-based distribution for broader reach