Design jams
OUR BRIEF
South Africa has a lot of problems that can be solved so for this Project we needed to come up with a solution for one of the problems. We needed to work as a group and come up with a solution that would benefit a lot of people.
OUR CONCEPT
How might we get men to empathize with and prevent gender-based violence? For years gender-based violence has been tackled as a problem for females to fix and combat, but the Thursday night self defense classes and the pepper spray in every woman’s purse is not working. We must now consider the radical idea that this problem is not about protecting women, it is about getting men to no longer abuse women. So how might we get men to no longer commit gender-based violence?
OUR SOLUTION
We want to make a book and a board game that goes hand in hand.
GBV can be stopped by teaching young children about the importance of gender equality.
We want to teach young boys not to hurt women and teach young girls that defending themselves is valid but that they are not the problem.
What we want to achieve in the game: Provide opportunities to practice empathy. Get rid of the comfort zone. Effectively using empathy moving forward.
OUR RATIONALE
When tackling any major systematic problem such as Gender Based Violence (GBV) it is never enough to create a reactionary solution, pepper spray and self-defense classes just combat this problem, they do not prevent it. So this project may seem a little removed from the standard solutions combating GBV but that is because this is a preventative solution targeting this problem at a grass roots level so that nobody attempts to commit acts of GBV moving forward.
Thus, in order to target this problem at a grass roots level we developed a children’s empathy game/story. The story was developed, as children are best communicated with through stories, the game was developed so that the children may actively practice empathy. The game is targeted mainly at young boys aged 6 to 11, the game is designed to cultivate empathy in young boys regarding GBV. However, the game does not just teach boys to not physically abuse women and to help when they are in physical danger.
The game also deals with issues such as slut shaming, cat calling and females being undermined. Along with developing an understanding for these contributing issues, it was also important not to develop a game that promoted a saviour complex among young men, thus, we added empathy events in which the men would not have to continuously protect women. Therefore, a series of situations were developed where context is key to respond correctly.
Visually the characters were developed in a playful, minimal way to fit in with the visual expectations of a children’s book. Colors were selected based on South African colors that we experience daily, such as traffic light yellow. These colors were chosen to make the visuals feel familiar and homey for South African children so they would feel the game was relevant to their lives.
The actual physical board was included in the book to reduce costs and make the product easier to access. Instead of purchasing the book, the board and pieces you simply needed to purchase the book and use whatever small household bits and bobs for pieces. This was done so low-income homes and schools may buy this game.
COLOUR PALETTE
OUR CHARACTER PROCESS WORK
FINALS
OUR BOOK & BOARD GAME
Event 1 is about being peer-pressured in a social environment.
Event 2 is about Asmara being undermined.
Event 3 is about people touching someone to much or to a point where they are uncomfortable.
Event 4 is about not feeling trusted or independent.
Event 5 is about spending time with family.
Even 6 is about being bullied because you seem physically weaker.
Event 7 shows a way of cat calling women/little girls.
Event 8 is about feeling slut shamed for an outfit choice.
MOCKUPS OF FINALS
Thank you
