Message in a Bottle

Don’t Bottle it Up!

Message in a Bottle Prototype

Follow the journey of one boy, a found bottle and the growing presence of ‘the unsaid’ monster shadowing his life.

Message in a bottle; Don’t bottle it up! - Page Flip through.

Message in a Bottle Pages 1-2.

Message in a bottle - Don’t bottle it up! is a story and activity journal in one. It was created to help children express how they feel and encourage them to write down their feelings. A wordless narrative interlaced with activity pages, encouraging the audience to pick up the journal time and time again. Acetate pages over the activity pages allowing for reuse and endless fun.

Beginning with my nephew and a seemingly unrelated glass bottle (one of many) kept on my desk to upcycle. After the loss of my Dad, my nephew was having difficulty sleeping and not wanting to attend school. At the age of 8, he was also having difficulty expressing why he couldn’t sleep and why school had become an anxiety. This playing on my mind, I wanted to use my skills to create something to help him and others like him.

Activity and lift-the-flap pages

The wordless narrative focuses around a boy and his family, beginning on a beach clean up. Our main character finds an unusual bottle he decides to take home with him. Following his journey home, we notice a small purple presence hovering over his shoulder. After shelving the bottle with other treasures he’s found, he goes about his daily life with the purple ‘unsaid’ monster following him everywhere. As we turn the pages, the monster grows in size, expression and anxiety-fuelled phrases. He goes to bed with the monster hiding behind his bed, his family showing their concern around the breakfast table and the ‘unsaid’ monster as big as ever. The size and weight of the ‘unsaid’ gets too much for him, and it is at this point he remembers the bottle he found on the beach and decides to write his own message in a bottle! Writing down all the unsaid things and all the anxieties, the ‘unsaid’ monster starts to panic as the boy finishes his writing and the bottle swallows the monster in a swirling tornado of light! Our main character relieved at the monsters confinement and the weight lifted off his shoulders.

The ‘unsaid’ monster & the five point breathe technique.

It’s often said men and boys find it hard to express their feelings and emotions, engrained in society bottling-up emotions has become the norm. Men are 3.5 times more likely to die from suicide than women. Traditional male gender roles discouraging emotional expression is one attributing factor. The link between bottling-up and the glass bottle sparked an idea. In studies, it shows children respond well to creative therapies that put ‘them in charge’ of communicating their feelings in both verbal and nonverbal ways. After a selection of market research, it was evident that parents and guardians felt their boys did not find talking about their feelings easy. Traditional male gender roles can also explain the physical responses to the emotions boys felt. In my research, 80% said their boys expressed their emotions physically, not only that, but many of the comments showed it was more likely anger or frustration that they expressed.

Recycled bottle and prototype

The concept of writing down anxieties has been discussed before and has been conceptualised in forms of worry monsters, boxes or jars. The benefits of externalising worries in this way includes helping them to understand thoughts, allowing something else to hold their anxieties and forming a routine to acknowledge emotions. The physical movement of anxieties out of children’s minds and onto paper can help them cope. Message in a Bottle ends with the opportunity for children to write down their thoughts and fill paper bottles like the main characters does in the story. Giving space for them to set a routine to recognize their emotions and a space to discuss them with a trusted adult. The activity journal also has a narrative that touches on sustainability, an important contemporary concern and a core brand value. The bottle found in a beach clean, reusable items to create their own message in a bottle, exploring nature and reusing the activity pages with wipeable acetate and a dry erase pen.

Taking all my research into account, the project was aimed predominantly at children (especially boys), between the ages of 5-8. The narrative appeals to this age group with the problem being solved by the main character, coupled with the vibrant illustrations and activities (including seaside themed jokes!) creating a dynamic product. Although the activity journal is for children, the focus on helping children to express their feelings and write them down, backed with the academic research is attractive to parents, guardians, educators and community leaders alike.

If you would like to know more or discuss any part of the project, please contact me.