"DEPRIVED" is a senior thesis project created for the Woodbury University undergraduate graphic design program.

When deprived of our most basic needs, we are not living as much as we are surviving. Today we find ourselves in a work-dominated society that ultimately promotes a culture of sleeplessness, where sleep hygiene is influenced by a combination of lifestyle and factors that may be out of one’s control. By forsaking our hours of rest, we compromise our ability to optimally function. Studies show that sleep deprivation affects neurocognitive abilities with decreased levels of performance in concentration, memory, thought processing, and creativity. What needs to be understood is that sleep deprivation results in more than yawning and droopy eyelids.

In analyzing quantitative and qualitative information pertaining to sleep deprivation, I found a great muse in the homeostatic drive for sleep: this innate, biological urge of the deprived elicits similar feelings that one experiences in separation from a lover. I explored these emotions by employing narrative and personifying sleep to tell the story of a forbidden love between Sleep and the deprived.

To communicate these effects of sleep deprivation, my solution is to show, rather than tell, these effects in the form of a short film, incorporating live action footage with motion typography. My intended audience is college students that are transitioning into adulthood, or those that have gone back to school and have to balance educational demands with their adult responsibilities. However, due to the widespread plight that is sleep deprivation and relatability of the subject, I hope to connect with a greater audience beyond my intent.

Music by Clint Mansell – "Physical Liaison" from the movie Last Night