If you want to understand more about how design can be used to combat crime, you can download the free guide here.
This practical guide will give design practitioners, clients, educators and students useful information about how the design of products, services and communications can help to prevent crimes occurring, lessen their impact, aid the recovery of stolen items or help apprehend offenders.
It’s a resource which will help designers of all disciplines to find out more about understanding users and abusers, thinking creatively about solutions to the social challenges that crime presents and applying foresight when considering how the products and services they create will be used and misused.
What does it contain:
Why design out crime?
Background information on design and crime, including useful statistics on crime and the cost of crime.
Making the case to clients
A checklist to help designers show clients the benefits of taking a design out crime approach.
Tools and techniques:
User and abuser-centred design
Why it’s important to gain an understanding how offenders think and act, and how user-centred design approaches can be used to design out crime.
The Crime Lifecycle Model
How understanding the factors that contribute to a crime event can help designers find opportunities to design crime prevention features into a product, service or environment from the start. Includes sections on designing solutions that:
- prevent offenders gaining access to spaces in order to commit crime
- help to stop users from being ‘passive promoters’ of crime
- recognise what sorts of products are particularly vulnerable to crime
- anticipate how offenders think about the effort need to commit crime, the risks involved and the rewards offered
- consider how to help law enforcement agencies to detect crime
- have an impact on the long-term consequences of crime.
Design strategy and futures
Tactics and strategies to help designers and brand owners anticipate future crimes and future-proof products and services.
Understanding systems and stakeholders
How to take a whole-system approach to crime prevention, and some tips on involving stakeholders and frontline staff in the design process.
Designing out crime as a catalyst for innovation
Examples of crime prevention and reduction solutions that combat crime by combining design and technology.
Three sample briefs
The guide also draws from live projects that were part of the Design Out Crime programme and includes three sample briefs and relevant background research which will be useful for design students as well as for practising designers. The three sample briefs cover the areas of bicycle theft, retail crime and alcohol-related crime in the form of assault using pint glasses.
Methodologies
Academic research and methodologies in the field of design and crime are summarised, with links to research centres working in this area.
Resources and links
A short directory of links to relevant organisations and sources of information is also provided.
You can download the PDF of the Designing out crime: A designers' guide