Amy Bell
Empowerment Deck
Design Practice:
Querencia
(n.) a place from which one’s strength is drawn, where one feels at home; the place where you are your most authentic self.
Throughout this year, I had a very clear vision in mind of what I wanted to create. I design to connect. I love connecting with people, and from a young age knew that was my purpose in life. The idea of creating something that could in some way, shape or form prove to women they are resilient and stronger than they think, gives me hope that every woman will get to experience the growth of which I have over the last few years.
My mother always told me “Would your future daughter appreciate, be proud or understand what you have just created”, and if the answer is ‘yes’, then that is more than enough. My mother is also an artist, and in a lot of ways has impacted both my confidence within the practice and the direction to lean towards social-good as my main approach to design. My practice is where I feel at home. Connecting with others through illustrations and poetic words reminds me why I do what I do.
Design Project:
My chosen brief for this final project was to create a deck of cards which serve as a reminder of how far you have come in life. Serve as beautiful and compassionate reminder of the hardship and difficulties that women go through daily. This Deck is my heart and soul. It is the tissues that wipe away self-criticism. The 7 suits which are contained within this deck are the mirror into the soul of a lost but courageous 19-year-old Woman that began to understand the powerful impact in which self-love and growth spout from. This empowerment deck is a collection of 56 cards. Each card is a portrayal of a visual representation of the corresponding theme/suit and short poetic phrase.
The 7 chosen suits are Trauma, Growth, Healing, Love, Loss, Confidence and Soul Searching.
Every one of these words represents a year/month/ or phrase of my life which have made me into the woman I am today. There is no order in which these cards have to be picked or read. The journey is up to the reader. Choose to play them like tarot cards, or randomly pick one out and read it throughout the day. There is no wrong way to use these cards.
I want anyone who has the time to read my cards to detach from judgment and be open to self-care. I created these cards intending to invite vulnerability and healing into the lives of all the women who aren’t quite at the phase of their life where healing and growth feel like a choice, but pain. Trauma is not your fault, but you best believe healing is entirely up to you. No one can force you to become a better friend, and support system to yourself, Only you decide that. And if these cards, in one form or another remind you of your precious worth, that is enough for me. As a designer, I always wanted to feel I was creating something more than a temporary beauty. I craved the need to have a creation that added value to someone's life emotionally and physically, it only took me 5 years, but finally, feel like this deck is that. This empowerment deck is an illustration of my journey of courage, pain, tears, and growth. These cards are proof that self-love is a form of self-care, and ‘the words you speak, become the house you live in’.
