The Brief:
Edge was a class that pushed me and my boundaries. Our goal for this project was to research in groups for the following different things: education, architecture, community, sustainability. My project focused on the aspect of community and trying to figure out what I can do to help women that are being trafficked.
Class:
EDGE
Project Duration:
16 weeks
The Statistics
One of the first things I looked at when deciding that I am going down the route of human trafficking was the statistics. This helped me figure out how to narrow down my audiences age for research purposes and it helped me figure out what I should do to aid the victims of human trafficking.
The Research
Here I explain more of my thought process when it came to my research and working within my track and coming to my decision of human trafficking as my research. Working in the community track was difficult for me at first as I did not know what I should be researching at the very beginning.
Competitive Analysis
Competitive analysis was essential for my project. So I researched what other research and movements that exist in the realms of human trafficking and aiding the victims.
AI and Human Trafficking
Initially I looked into using AI because we had talked about how AI could be used in these projects. However AI was too flawed and just did not seem safe. Off to the side explains more of my reasoning.
The Research Question
Finally after a lot of research and gaining opinions from Professor Angelica Sibrian and Professor Lisa Mercer along with my classmates I had narrowed down exactly what my goal was with this project and what I needed to create with in mind.
The Initial Idea
Like every other project you have to start somewhere. I thought I had all the ideas in the beginning of what I should do. These care packages were thought out as something that could be left in bathrooms where the vicitms could take what they needed from. The idea however was scratched as it was not the best way of going about this.
The Start of my Final Idea
The slide to the left talks more in depth of what I was working towards, but essentially I wanted to create a device that one could used secretly so they could have help from the police.
The Final Idea: The Emergency Tampon
After going through several ideas I finally chose the tampon as the secret device that one would be able to use to contact the police and not be figured out by their captor.
The Process of Prototypes
Prototyping was not easy in this circumstance. I used Adobe Firefly trying to create different prototypes of what this emergency tampon would look like. It did not completely get my vision and honestly it just was a struggle to do so.
The Branding
The branding came natural to me. I wanted something simple and sleek but also something that someone would not question upon seeing it. It is important to be able to have something that does not raise the captors attention.
The brochure
The brochure is a way for people who have the time to read about the emergency tampon and what it does along with learning about the initiative itself. It is supposed to be more in depth compared to the poster.
The Brochure Mockup
Here is the mockup of the brochure just so one will be able to know what it would look like put together.
The Poster
The poster is supposed to be a quick run down for someone who cannot read the brochure. It is important that people know what these are and to prevent anyone accidentally using the device.
The Poster Mockup
Here is a mockup of how the poster would look like. It is jsut like any other poster but it would be hanging in the bathrooms next to the special dispensers or even on top of them.
The Challenge
To the left I included the biggest challenge of doing this project. It was probably the hardest thing for me to overcome and I felt it was important to share.
The Positive Outcomes
With every project there are always the positives and the negatives. Since I shared my challenge I wanted to also share the positive things for this project.
Lauren Handley 