Loneliness is individual, yet, universal. It is a sensory experience felt by everyone at different times and in different ways. The shame attached to experiencing loneliness stops people from speaking about it and furthers feelings of isolation and disconnection.
Loneliness is epidemic, especially in young people and the more we learn about the health impacts of acute loneliness the clearer the need for action becomes. There is a lot we know about loneliness and a lot we need to learn, Lonely Times exists to explore both, to spark conversation and new ways of thinking about Loneliness.
Loneliness isn’t about solitude it’s about how we relate to the feeling of being alone. The visual identity invites people to investigate their experiences of loneliness on an individual level and understand it as a collective challenge. To see loneliness in a creative context as an experience separate from themselves.
We collaborated with Midjourney AI to create visual representations based on the stories people shared with us about how loneliness feels to them. We then selected specific forms from the artworks and created 3D forms, turning them into fully realised representations of loneliness.
Lonely Times sits against a grey-ruled background both reflecting what client and researcher Pip Kennedy identified as the colour of loneliness and the fact that Lonely Times is an ever-evolving work in progress. The colour pallet was inspired by the paintings of artist, poet, and philosopher Etel Adnan whose work explores questions of life, death, loneliness, longing, creation, and destruction.
The logo is created as a flexible asset extending to the length of the space available. It references the sense of distance and otherness that is a common thread in loneliness.
Lonely Times uses fonts from the Untitled family from Klim Type Foundry. Untitled Sans and Serif were validated by the ideas of Jasper Morrison and Naoto Fukasawa’s Super Normal project. Untitled Sans and Untitled Serif were created around topics of normality and the connection that can bring. Kris Sowersby writes ‘Individuality was once the path to personal freedom — a way to lead life on your own terms. But the terms keep getting more and more specific, making us more and more isolated. Normcore seeks the freedom that comes with non-exclusivity.'