Description:

For some, the 2020 lockdown period was an inherently negative time, ‘Endless Sundays’ is a publication that encourages the positive reflection of this period.

Isolation proved to be the necessary catalyst to get lost in your own world and empower individuals to explore opportunities that may not have arisen otherwise. The publication cases precious works from those around New Zealand, alongside stories and experiences of how the reframing of a negative situation, can result in a positive outlook.

Endless Sundays was framed around the question ‘How can Visual Communication Design encourage individuals to positively reflect on the opportunities that arose due to the Level 4 Lockdown period’.

I responded to this question in the form of a physical publication which took place within the casing of Endless Sundays. I wanted to create something tangible, something static and precious, something that could not be altered or changed. The level 4 lockdown period was a very new experience for us all, and a period that we can not go back and alter, so I questioned why I would create something in a digital or other form where 9 times out of 10 can be altered, updated, or just in general changed. After a bit of user testing, which for the most part consisted of giving individuals different resources, finding out what ones felt more special and meaningful to them, it was decided that I would create a static memoir in the form of a publication. This publication was to show off what individuals did throughout the lockdown period, alongside stories consisting of how the lockdown period positively affected that particular individual in order to help educate, motivate, and encourage reflection.

Again, this was seen as a very negative time for some, so my aim was to try and flip the perspective of this ‘negative time’ and encourage individuals to look and appreciate the positives that came out from this time, no matter how big or small. I reached out to fellow Kiwis, and received an overwhelming response of what these ‘positives’ looked like to many different people. With this, I began binding them into the static memoir that takes place within the casing of Endless Sundays.

Endless Sundays contributes to the knowledge of the lockdown period and how it positively impacted individuals with real stories from those that experienced it first hand. The publication was created in the hope of spreading positivity in such negative times, and to act as a memoir if something similar was to happen again, enabling the individual to look back at it to remind them that such a negative situation can be turned positive with just the change of mindset.