"This Is Your Brain On Drugs" Gets A Makeover

Any millennial is probably familiar with that hilarious eggs-in-the-frying-pan analogy that made its commercial debut in the ’90s and left us all thinking that weed burned holes in our brains. A Duke design graduate has co-opted its tagline for her “This Is Your Brain On Drugs” design series that cleverly captures the effects of the market’s most prevalent substances.

The project’s designer Meaghan Li is a soon-to-be graduate from Duke University, where she studies Public Policy and Political Science with a minor in Visual Media Studies. She began the project for her psychology class as an exploration of "popular archetypes to convey the effects of different psychoactive substances."

"[G]raphic design is my passion," she writes on her blog. "I'm completely self-taught (and still learning!) and want to work in the creative arts once I graduate in May." And certainly with the media attention she’s getting for this series in particular, she’ll have plenty of opportunities upon graduation.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Li says her series doesn’t advocate the use of psychotropic drugs, but rather hopes that they will create a dialogue around our societal disposition to drug use. “[W]hat I did want to avoid was fear-mongering and sensationalism," she tells the Post. “These tactics have been used for decades in nationwide PSAs that we're all familiar with; I think that we're ready for a generational shift in our approach towards drug policy.”

She adds that ultimately, she’d like to print small cards to hand out to college students with information on “their addictive potential, effects/side effects, drug interactions, active/lethal dose ratios, etc.” She rightly adds that the most important aspect of the use of any substance is information.

The best part is that any of these gorgeous prints can be yours on her website for $7 a pop.

Images courtesy of Meaghan Li