overview
Phone snatching is a common problem in London, yet traditional crime-prevention materials can be easy to overlook. Inspired by my experience volunteering with the Metropolitan Police, I explored how phone-theft advice could be made more engaging and memorable through an interactive fold-out booklet, later extending the idea into speculative concepts for protecting personal devices.
Interactive crime-prevention booklet and speculative design concept.
Make phone-theft advice more engaging and memorable.
Combined observation, visual research, storytelling, illustration and physical interaction to turn safety information into an experience.
defining the need
90,000+
phones are stolen each year in London, but sadly,
2,000-
are retrieved
hand snatching
pocket picking
bump & grab
bike snatching
left unattended
map distraction
While crime-prevention advice is widely available, it often relies on passive formats such as posters, leaflets and online guidance. This raised an opportunity to explore whether the information could be communicated in a more engaging and memorable way.
design goal
Turn conventional phone-theft advice into an engaging experience that encourages people to interact, learn and remember.
1
engage
Capture attention through playful interaction.
booklet concept
Designed with visitors to busy central London areas in mind, I wanted to create something people would actually pick up, interact with and remember — rather than another conventional crime-prevention leaflet.
familiar & portable
Inspired by foldable phones, the palm-sized booklet mimics the familiar experience of holding and unfolding a phone.
design for attention
Bold colours and playful illustrations make safety information feel approachable and worth exploring.
learn by spotting
Readers help a police officer spot phone-snatching behaviours, turning passive advice into an interactive challenge.
take it with you
Removable stickers extend the message beyond the booklet as everyday reminders to stay alert.
how it works
Click on the booklet and flip through it yourself — and have a play with the stickers too.
beyond the booklet
Designing the booklet got me thinking: how far could the idea of keeping your phone safe be pushed? The booklet focuses on awareness, but what if the protection became physical? What if your phone was hidden somewhere a thief wouldn’t dare to reach, or held somewhere almost impossible to snatch?
With the booklet complete, I also looked into a series of exaggerated and unexpected concepts simply to see where that thinking could go.
reflection
This project gave me a chance to bring together my design practice and my experience as a police volunteer. It went on to receive a MUSE Gold Award, alongside positive feedback from the police volunteer community that originally inspired it.
More personally, it gave me the freedom to turn the observations, conversations and lessons I gathered through volunteering into something visual, playful and distinctly my own.