Many students, especially college students, suffer from anxiety. “Anxiety is your body’s natural response to stress” (Holland and Legg) and college is definitely stressful. Students’ apprehensiveness and worry are triggered with project due dates and exams and balancing your social life and health and a lot more factors that can trigger your anxiety. Staying active and talking to someone can help remedy people’s anxiety (National Institute of Mental Health) . . . and the arts can help with that as it challenges your mind with insightful work and the opportunity for discourse. Product Designer at Envoy Jon Rundle said “[d]on’t allow technical limitations to get in the way of thinking outside the box” so designing the Greenspring Review website should strive to accommodate as many needs as possible, as if there is no box.
My “designing for users with anxiety” accessibility poster has a very simple design and relaxing color scheme. Dizziness, distress, irritability, and headaches are some symptoms of anxiety (Holland and Legg), so to combat that, I opted for a simple design and spacious layout. Negative space “offers light and an open feeling . . . [and] lack of white space will turn your design into an old-fashioned, cluttered one” (Vasile), so a spacious layout is necessary as to not distress users with anxiety. Anger is another symptom, so using cooler, calming colors like the seafoam-blue and soft pink relaxes the user. I initially thought pink was a warm color, but “soft pastel pink can definitely bring an element of peace and calm to a space” (Robinson). The bolded font is also more rounded and playful, instead of a hard-edged font that felt too aggressive.
GSR should definitely provide comment sections, but also remove negative comments. The National Institute of Mental Health state that some people might benefit from support groups as it provides a space for people to share “their problems and achievements with others”. This community can be cultivated in comment sections as well so providing a place for students to interact with others over art and literature could be a way to help alleviate their anxiety. GSR has an editorial staff and they often have meetings to discuss submission guidelines and plan events, but they should also offer the option to allow remote editorial work as social anxiety may prevent some people from attending meetings or events. When there is an event, don’t have such a tight and busy itinerary as anxious people may feel jittery.
Works Cited
“Anxiety Disorders.” National Institute of Mental Health, 2020, https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/index.shtml. Accessed 4 Mar. 2020.
Holland, Kimberly and Timothy J. Legg, PhD, PsyD, “Everything You Need to Know About Anxiety.” Healthline, 19 Sep. 2018, https://www.healthline.com/health/anxiety#in-teens. Accessed 4 Mar. 2020.
Robinson, Sarah. “9 Peaceful Paint Colors to Help You Relax.” Wow 1 Day Painting, https://www.wow1day.com/blog/paint-colors/9-peaceful-paint-colors-help-you-relax/. Accessed 4 Mar. 2020.
Rundle, Jon. “Designing your digital product like a concept car.” Medium, Transform, 15 Jan. 2020, https://medium.com/snapdocs-design/designing-your-digital-product-like-a-concept-car-26e382eb56e. Accessed 17 Feb. 2020.
Vasile, Christian. “Learning the Basic Elements and Principles of Graphic Design.” 1stWebDesigner. 27 May 2018, https://1stwebdesigner.com/graphic-design-basics-elements/. Accessed 4 Mar. 2020.