ABOUT

Sixty-nine per cent of Brits make small talk every day about things like the weather, but 45% of us never open up about how we really feel. Experts say that simply opening up and sharing what’s bothering you can help lift a weight off: 85% of people who have attended an online counselling session with the charity Frazzled say they felt better after just one chat (2024 survey of 1,258 attendees).

To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, comedian and author Ruby Wax, Frazzled and Revolt are presenting an innovative, interactive digital sky ceiling designed to get more people talking about their mental health by asking, “How’s the weather in your head today?’

Hosted by Europe’s largest digital ceiling (measuring 900 square metres ) which is located above the indoor streets of Printworks Manchester, ‘The Feeling Ceiling’ uses lifelike full motion VFX effects to make the screens seem like skylights, unleashing dynamic weather conditions above visitors’ heads to convey “frazzled” states of mind.

Using immersive audio, animations and special lighting, the interactive experience is designed to stop visitors in their tracks and start conversations about how they really feel. The VFX work is produced by Flipbook.

Visitors can interact with the display via a touchscreen, answering the question ‘what’s the weather like in your head today?’ by choosing a weather symbol which triggers that animation on the vast ceiling above.

Representing different emotions, dark clouds coalesce into the word ‘ANXIOUS?’, lightning illuminates the word ‘STRESSED?’, raindrops fall to form ‘TEARFUL?’ and rolling fog reveals ‘BRAINFOG?’ A sunny blue sky conveys how a chat with Frazzled “can brighten up your day”.

Created by Revolt, ‘The Feeling Ceiling’ was the sole winner in the Printworks Skylights category of Ocean Outdoor’s 2024 Digital Creative Competition which each year seeks original bold new concepts in Digital Out of Home.

Frazzled wants to help more people weather their storms. This idea not only looks and sounds amazing, but a complex issue had been boiled down into a neat idea which is completely immersive and perfectly crafted for the environment.