Design studio Greenspace creates an online resource of reasons to be cheerful

How? Well, with a website that uses the '21' of '2021' as a springboard to gather together a few reasons to be cheerful. The Greenspace-designed 21silverlinings.com features 21 "uplifting news stories of achievement for science, medicine, sustainability, and human equality from around the globe," as the studio puts it.

According to Greenspace, The World Health Organization recommends that we read and share optimistic stories for our mental health. Each of the stories has been chosen by the Greenspace team and currently feature on the website, with a printed 21 Silver Linings review in the pipeline for some point early in 2012 and plans for a physical exhibition.

As Greenspace points out, while the news headlines throughout 2020 were generally pretty awful, there were a fair few uplifting gems buried among them. These have been illustrated with minimalistic typographic animations for the site, which presents the stories in simple, no-nonsense monochromatic page designs.

Among the featured stories is the news that in just ten years, sales of bicycles are projected to outstrip sales of passenger cars by two to one, in Europe; and that Scotland has now become the first country in the world to provide free period products.

"We want to use 21 Silver Linings to express our own optimistic philosophy and to celebrate all the beneficial changes that have come about this year," says Greenspace managing director Lene Nielsen. "We asked our team what good news stories they remember from this year, which became the backbone for 21 Silver Linings. We hope that other people will enjoy reading and sharing these stories."