The brief given was to create a visual identity for a charity who is either involved in the support of people with mental health issues, and/or engaged in the prevention of mental health issues.

After researching on the different organisations and projects tackling issues on mental health, I came upon a whitespace of a dads’ postnatal mental health condition — Parental Postnatal Depression (PPND). Many would know about how some mothers goes through postnatal depression but do they know that dads are also prone to this very condition?

About 26% of dads suffer from depression during the 3 to 6 month period after the baby’s arrival but is largely overlooked. There is a lack of awareness of this condition and men are also subjected to gender expectations, where they have to tough it out, thus many dads do not express what they are feeling. There is also an overall lack of support for dads postnatal mental health in Singapore. If untreated, it can affect father-infant relationship and lead to serious consequences in the cognitive development of their child.

Thus, this is where Dad Code comes in.

Dad Code is a new protocol to screen new dads for Parental Postnatal Depression (PPND) launched by the Ministry of Health.

We hope to raise awareness on the postnatal mental health in dads and provide timely support.