Chasing Happiness: Why We Always Want More

Chasing Happiness: Why We Always Want More is an imagemaking project developed for a magazine article headline, designed as a visual opener that could extend into a broader editorial identity. The work explores the tension between lived reality and the idealised versions of happiness we construct.

The composition contrasts two worlds. The outer frame reflects the overwhelm of everyday experience; vibrant, fragmented and drawn from distorted natural forms that suggest both richness and noise. Within it sits a maze-like structure, symbolising repetitive cycles of comparison, decision-making and the search for clarity.

At the centre, a circular scene presents an imagined ideal: ordered, serene and seemingly resolved. Yet subtle distortions - the distant house, exaggerated perspective and ambiguous celestial forms - undermine its perfection, suggesting a constructed version of happiness that remains just out of reach.

Symbolic elements bridge these spaces. The pinned butterfly reflects the tension between transformation and stasis, while repeated red floral forms act as moments of vitality within chaos, suggesting that meaning already exists in the present.

When expanded into a wider identity system, these motifs form a cohesive visual language across editorial and branding applications, reinforcing themes of longing, perception and emotional projection.