Mental Health in Afghanistan

Dari-Language Campaign & Kits

This campaign aimed to assist Doctors Without Borders in treating mental health issues in Afghanistan by focusing on the underserved population of women and girls. Isolation, lack of education, stigma, and limited access to hospital facilities has made seeking mental health care difficult in Afghanistan for women and girls. To combat this vulnerability, I designed a family-based mental health education campaign, allowing women and girls to access mental health care and develop coping strategies without needing to leave their homes. The campaign's messaging incorporates culturally-relevant values of family, faith, and perseverance to help strengthen community resilience and increase understanding of mental wellness concepts.

Year

2026

Client

Graphic Design Studio IV

Role

Graphic Designer

Tools

InDesign, Illustrator

Research & Design Process

One of the biggest challenges throughout this project was designing in a language that I do not speak. This campaign uses Dari because it is the common language in Afghanistan. Dari uses the Arabic script, so my research process involved learning typographic principles in contemporary Arabic and Persian design. I designed a set of long-form booklets set completely in Dari, which read from right-to-left. Additionally, since girls in Afghanistan can not attend school past age 12, the campaign needed to accomodate for the the low reading level. This need for universal communication, along with the restrictions surrounding the portrayal of figures in art meant that I had to develop an abstract visual language. For the Dari-language content, I sourced health information from verfied NGOs limited to a 4th grade reading level, while incorporating unique culturally-specific language and idioms used to describe mental health experiences in Dari-speaking communities throughout Afghanistan.