Ashlyn Brooks

For my BFA seminar project I have chosen to discuss and resolve the lack of a well-designed way for a type one diabetic to manage their chronic illness. Regarding this I ultimately decided the best way to go about doing this would be to create a planner that allows the user to manage their daily medications, track important events, and also allow them a place to log their blood sugar levels. From the start of this project, I knew that I wanted to create a planner marketed towards those living with diabetes that helps them gain control over the hectic disease that seems to control every aspect of life. From this point I began to work out a brand name for the planner. During this process of creating a name I decided I wanted it to be something that would tie it back to the reason it was made, and because of this I went with the name Simpletic. This name was a combination of the words simple and diabetic, and the reason I went with this is because I wanted to symbolize the combination of simplicity and diabetes which don’t often seem to go hand in hand even though you desperately want them to. I also wanted to include the phrase “One to Another” in the branding, meaning that this product is made by a type 1 diabetic for others who go through the same struggles seeing as not many things marketed to diabetics are created by diabetics. After figuring this out I was then able to move on to the visual design elements. I wanted the diabetes awareness color, being blue, to be the focal point of the design. I also used pops of red and yellow to allow the design to feel bright and fun. I also knew I wanted to try and incorporate the symbol of diabetes into the design of the planner. The symbol is a blue circle which I abstracted to make the design feel more organic; however, the circle can be found throughout all of my designs. As a type 1 diabetic I know how important it is to manage the disease and keep track of your blood sugars. This is the reason I decided to make this planner. In hopes that it helps people keep track of their daily lives as well as their chronic illness. This project was really personal to me since this is something I have struggled with since the age of six. I knew that I wanted to create something I felt would have significantly improved the care of my illness, and something that I would have genuinely enjoyed using. I know that I have always struggled with logging my blood sugar and realized that I may not be the only one. Therefore, I created something that I hope will lighten the burden of being diagnosed with type one diabetes.