Studio Brief 02 - Design Process - Information Design/Research

In Studio Brief 02, we need to produce a public information leaflet. This should effectively communicate the following: Key facts, Figures, Statistics, data and the information that we should of collected/identified within Study Task 03. This is following from the previous Study Task 03 - Public Information Video/Research, which is about how to prevent a child from being abducted by a stranger, this is based on the animation of a ginger cat, called Charley.  

The leaflet should be no larger than 35.3cm by 25cm. 

The leaflet should communicate the information in a clear, understandable and engaging format. It should also be appropriate for my identified target audience. 

RESEARCH  

KEY POINTS - HOW TO PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN AGAINST ABDUCTION

What YOU should do:

• Know your child's whereabouts at all times.
• At an very early age, teach your child their name, address and telephone number. This must include your first name and last name.
• Teach your child how to call 911 or 999 for help. 
• Make sure your children know how to make a local and long distance telephone calls.
• Never leave your child alone in a car, not even for a few seconds.
• Establish strict procedures for picking up children at school, after a movie, at a friend's house, etc. 
• Create and establish a family code word that only you, your child and a trusted relatives or close friends only knows. Teach your child to ask for the code word when approached by someone offering them a ride. 
• Always remind your child to never to accept a ride fro someone you don't know, even if the child knows them. 
• Sit down and talk to your children about Stranger Danger/Child abduction in a simple yet gentle way. 
• Listen to your child when he or she discusses anyone they have met or spoken with when you were not present. 
• Take a few photographs of your child, especially note down distinctive features - birthmark etc.  

Teach your children to:

• Never leave home without your permission. 
• Young children should only play within areas away from the streets: such as a backyard, or in a play area which is supervised by a responsible adult.
• Never wander off.
• Always avoid lonely places. 
• Always avoid shortcuts through alleys or deserted areas.
• Always tell your child that it is safer to walk with a group of friends.
• Come home straight away from school, unless you have made other arrangements.
• Never enter anyone's house without your approval.
• If any stranger or someone you do not know attempts to touch, grab them or offers them a ride home. Scream, runaway, ignore them or tell a trusted adult. 
• Never give any important information over the phone this includes the following: their name, address, or any indication that they are alone. 
• Always tell your child to keep all the doors locked in the house and never answer the door. Only to admit authorised people into the house. 

Rules for baby-sitters:

• Leave a number where you, a neighbour or relative can be reached in the event of an emergency. 
• If you have a mobile number, give the sitter that number and carry your phone with you at all times while you are out. Also make sure your mobile phone number is fully charged before you leave. 
• Never allow the sitter to admit strangers into the house. Number one rule: No company allowed.
• Instruct the sitter that the phone use is for emergencies only, not for chatting with friends.  

Taken: A study of child abduction in the UK 

The reports offers the most comprehensive account ever undertaken of child abduction in the UK. Data on 675 offences or child abduction and child kidnapping were collected from most UK police forces. Together with previous literature these were analysed to produce a new typology of child abductions, including: international parental child abduction, abduction from care, stranger abduction, and abduction arising from familial abuse, revenge, domestic violence, sexual exploitation and financial gain. 

Beyond Stranger Danger: teaching children about staying safe from stranger child abduction 

Thirty years ago, a simple 'stranger danger' messages were common-place. They even attracted government endorsement. This research examined whether such an approach still has its place in the modern era. 

The study finds that the traditional 'stranger danger' approach does little to keep children safe because: 

• Even older children can struggle to tell a stranger from a non-stranger.
• Strangers will help children (for example if they are lost or feel unsafe) more often than they will harm them.
• Most abductions are committed by people who are known to children. 

Police-recorded child abduction and kidnapping 2012/13 to 2013/14 England, Wales and Northern Ireland

In 2014 Parents and Abducted Children Together (PACT) sent Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to each police force in the UK. The FOI requests asked forces to provide the number of parental child abductions, non-parental child abductions and child kidnappings recorded on 2012/13 and 2013/14. 

The statistical paper reports the key findings: 

• Overall, child abduction and child kidnapping offences increased by 13 percent from 2012/13 to 2013/14, to a total of nearly 900 offences across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• Non-parental child abductions increased at more than twice the rate of parental child abductions (14 percent compared to 6 percent).
• Child kidnappings increased at an even higher rate of 18 percent over the two year period. 
• Whilst increases in this type of offence are clearly alarming, the explanation for their increase may - at least in part - lie in changes to police crime-recording practices.
• There is enormous variation between regions and police forces in the number, and rate, of child abduction and kidnapping offences. Whilst the large city police forces all recorded higher rates of child abduction and kidnapping offences than the national average, some smaller forces recorded even larger increases. 

For more information here is the link to the website : http://www.childabduction.org.uk/index.php/publications

500 children a year abducted from UK 

Link for the full article : http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/aug/09/children-abduction-kidnapping-uk-data

Some statistics of the number of children being abducted from the UK:

• There were 336 cases of child abduction reported to authorities in the UK in 2008, an increase of 20% on 2005 figures. These cases involved an estimated 470 children last year.
• More children were taken illegally to Pakistan than any other country (30 cases in 2008), followed by the USA (23), Ireland (22) and Spain (21). Other abduction hotspots included Australia, France and Egypt.
• The Guardian spent a day in a family court in London recently, eight out of 14 cases heard involved child abduction.
• In 2008, 134 out of the 336 cases of child abduction involved children taken to non-Hague countries, including Bangladesh, Russia, Iraq and Nigeria.
• Scotland dealt with nine cases last year involving 12 children.
• In Northern Ireland last year there were 12 reported instances.
• This involving 20 children taken to the Republic of Ireland, the USA, Israel, Germany, Finland, Poland and France. 

Novel & Film - "The Lovely Bones" 

Link to the trailer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvWXV-c2hWo

The Lovely Bones is a novel, by Alice Sebold. Which tells a story of a fourteen year old girl, Susie Salmon who was murdered by a man from her neighbourhood. While watching from the heavens, Susie watches over her happy, suburban family devastated by her death, isolated even from one another as they each try to cope with their terrible loss alone. Over the years, her friends and siblings grow up and falling in love. Unfortunately do all the things that Susie never had a chance or experience to do herself.

Here this film and novel is a good example of how children can easily be mislead. Even if they know that person or seen them talking to their parents. This could also be a good learning session for children.