Creating the Happiness and Harmony of Everyday Life in the Time of COVID-19: Raison D'être

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly affected our day-to-day life. It has impacted not only the lives but also the mental health of thousands of individuals. People worldwide are suffering tremendously from this unprecedented crisis. In particular, people with poor mental health are more prone to develop stress disorders, anxiety and depression. The experience of traumatic events, such as widespread lockdowns, and the uncertainty of the pandemic and other problems can typically lead to self-isolation and even suicides. In recent years, within the important research on people’s happiness and harmony during the time of COVID-19, the significance of artists, illustrators, and graphic designers in this important issue has not been as fully elaborated on as it should have been. Designers have an important and quite daunting role. The objective of this paper is to remind designers of things that give people’s life meaning and to motivate them to bring awareness to the importance of their well-being. This paper illustrates the process of creating an illustration for product design to facilitate a better understanding of the significance of people’s feelings of happiness and harmony during the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed design method adopts a visual research approach that utilizes creative thinking, visual language, conceptual processing, photography, and illustration. This paper combines illustration design research and creative thinking to people’s awareness of the value of mental health in the time of COVID-19. This research utilizes the practical insights of illustration design and applies to product design to evoke a peaceful, calm, happy, and harmonious feeling in people when they use the product.