The aim of my cookbook is to help
Obsessive-Compulsives slowly treat themselves using Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT). This cookbook is just a part
of their therapy as it is one of their homework assignments that will be given to them by
their therapists. For this specific book
I am targeting Symmetry and
Exactness Obsessions.
To design and create a quirky novelty cookbook that has a unique positioning and recipes that link to a specific and distinct target market.
Through research it was found that there
are various types of OCD. These types are grouped according to specific obsessions.
For example there is the Exactness and Symmetry type. This individual would display symptoms such as ordering objects so that they may appear “just right”.
CBT is based on the idea that our thoughts cause our feelings and behaviours and that
the benefit is that you can change the way
we think to feel/act better, even if the
situation does not change.
The average amount of sessions that an individual receives is 16 and the therapy
makes use of homework assignments.
These homework assignments aim to get
the client to practice the techniques they
have learnt in their therapy sessions.
Top Right: Cover page of the CBT Cookbook.
Above: Visual patterns included in the cookbook that slowly becomes messier and messier.
The idea of creating a CBT homework assignment in the form of a cookbook is
the concept. Since the average amount of sessions an individual receives is 16,
the cookbook will consist of 16 baking sessions. However with every session the amount of actions and rituals will decrease until the session consists only of actions needed to perform the task at hand.
The recipe featured continuously in the cookbook is a sponge cake recipe. This is because the recipe itself is simple and clear, however OCD individuals find these tasks very difficult and time consuming as they have certain rituals to perform. If they can bake
a simple sponge cake by performing only the necessary tasks, then they have changed
the way they behave when doing so
and ultimately treated their disorder.
I chose to layout the cookbook in the form of
a textbook in order to illustrate the concept. This was achieved by incorporating paragraphs ordered into two columns using the grid system. Clear, bold headings appear at the top of every new session and the content page is found on the cover of the book. I chose to work with Century Gothic as the body type
as many psychology textbooks make use of this type in the body copy.
A 4-page count down appears in the beginning of the book, as the target market enjoys counting things and arranging things according to even numbers. I numbered
each even page as a result.
The photography that is included within the book was inspired by the IKEA Conceptual Cookbook. However I took the idea and made
it my own by taking photographs of ordered ingredients that slowly become disordered
and anarchic. This is to illustrate how the individual is changing their behaviour when undertaking a session.
As a result the cookbook itself does not look like an ordinary cookbook. This is because
it is not, and therefore should not be mistaken for one. The sole purpose of the book is to ultimately treat the individual’s disorder through the use of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy.
Top left: Countdown to the beginning of the book.
Top right: Photograph showing the black and white pattern formed from each page.
Bottom right: The layout of the book. i.e: copy of the left and image on the right.
*All work done by Kirsten Morgan
Brief: