A 21st century challenge:
There are certain key elements that crop up again and again when you explore the subject of what humans need to thrive.
Here are just a few:
- Movement
- Social connection
- Rest and recovery
- Physical self-care
- Meaningful activity
- Self-compassion
There’s lots of research demonstrating why these things help and countless articles you can read telling you what to do and how. In fact, you only have to spend a few moments online to find yourself swamped with information.
But when we feel overwhelmed, exhausted or are struggling with our mental health, it can be hard to find the time and the concentration to make sense of it all.
- Where do we start?
- Which information should we trust?
- How can we turn the ideas we find into simple actions we can take right away?
There’s no shortage of information: in fact, that's the problem.
Our response:
The Amiko card deck is a set of 54 playing cards.
Each card features a simple icon and a word or short sentence.
Each one represents an evidence-based idea that we know can help us feel better.
You use the cards by looking through them and noticing which ones would feel good to do right now. Then you go and do those things in whatever way works for you.
One person might interpret the ‘exercise’ card by going for a run. Another might simply get up from their chair for a moment. There are no right or wrong ways to respond to the cards.
Words often get in the way - they can be hard to process and can have all sorts of judgements associated with them. Pictures can help to bypass these problems and evoke an instant gut response of ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
The Amiko membership site is a place to find trustworthy, regularly updated information.
Want to know more about what the research says? Want to find ideas about different ways you could interpret a particular card? Want to share your own ideas and experiences with others? Log in from your computer or mobile device and, within moments, you can connect with a wealth of carefully curated information, inspiration and ideas.
The cards:
- 56 full-colour playing cards (54 picture / 2 text cards)
- Supplied in a full-colour, soft-touch laminated tuck box
- Poker size deck (88 x 63mm with radius corners)
- Printed on Sure Slip Air 310gsm Forestry Stewardship Council® certified card
- Coated with a water-based varnish sourced from sustainable materials.
- Printed in the UK
The team:
(photograph: Paul Groom)
Katie Elliott - concept, research and development of Amiko project
Katie is the founder of LittleChallenges.com, a place to find simple, evidence-based ideas that can help to make the 'messy' business of being human just a little bit easier.
After struggling with her mental health for more than three decades, Katie decided to start investigating simple ways to help herself feel better. Over the last few years she has interviewed scores of people around the world, read hundreds of books, articles and research papers and experimented with all kinds of new and different ways of doing things.
Finally well and no longer meeting the diagnostic criteria for any mental health condition, Katie is passionate about sharing what's she's learned in simple, accessible ways.
Which is why she came up with the idea of Amiko Cards.
To find out more about the wide range of projects Katie has run in the past, please visit LittleChallenges.com/workwithkatie
(photograph: Tom Hull)
Anthony Oram - design
Since graduating from The Surrey Institute of Art & Design in 1996, Anthony has worked with some of the largest companies in the world from Nat West to Nintendo. After owning and running agencies in London and Brighton for 15 years, he now works with brands big and small from his studio in Frome, Somerset.
You can find out more about Anthony's other projects at MrO.design and AnthonyOram.com
Your help:
You've probably noticed that we're not yet able to show the full range of cards, the tuck box or back-of-the-card design. This is because we don't have enough money to complete the design process yet.
£5000 will enable us to:
- complete the design of all cards, card-backs and tuck boxes
- publish the limited first edition of 500 decks
- design and print the limited edition postcards and posters
- complete the build and content creation for the Amiko membership site
By pre-ordering now, you can help us to turn our prototype into a simple, inexpensive, self-care tool that could be of use to people all over the world.
Thank you!
Why we believe this matters:
At one time or another, many of us will experience anxiety, mood swings, difficulty in getting things done, creative blocks or episodes of physical or psychological exhaustion or dis-ease. These things are part of the human experience, after all.
But that doesn't mean that it's easy to know how to handle them.
We want to take simple, evidence-based ideas and make them available in a readily-accessible, inexpensive form, to make those times a little easier to navigate.
People are often pretty good at knowing what will help them in any given moment - it's just that they don't always think to ask themselves, or trust the answers they find.
Amiko Cards point people back towards this self-knowledge and encourage them to listen to it.
So...
So, we'd love your help.
Maybe you'd like a deck of cards on your desk for moments when you've been staring at a screen so long you can't think what to do next?
Maybe you're living with chronic physical or mental health issues and you could use some simple reminders of ways to feel a little bit better?
Maybe you spend so much time caring for others, you need gentle encouragement to take care of your own wellbeing?
Maybe you have a child, or a friend or a work colleague who you think might really appreciate having a deck of their own?
Maybe you just like the idea and would like to help us reach our goal?
If so, you can help by pre-ordering from the list of rewards right now.
And if you'd simply rather help us in spreading the word, that would be fantastic too. Please share the campaign amongst your friends and family, on social media, wherever you can.
Every order and share makes a real difference.
Thank you!