New and creative solutions to crime come from a diverse range of voices. DAC involves government departments, businesses, local communities, prisons and returning citizens in the co-design of our resources and programmes. This generates a strong, socially responsive design methodology, and co-created design benchmarks and crime prevention strategies.
Makeright
Working with prisons in the UK and India, Makeright is an award-winning design education initiative for prison industries. It provides vocational courses as well as teaching materials to help build resilience and encourage creativity amongst participants, leading some towards crime-free lives. It has been delivering participatory design projects in prisons for over a decade.
Redesign Youth Futures
Working in partnership with external agencies Reprezent Radio, Red Thread and the UAL Social Design Institute, Redesign Youth Futures applies a health and humanities perspective to youth crime, using data visualisation and co-creation. This approach helps national and local policymakers, strategic funders, and service providers understand the challenge in new ways, enabling them to make informed, impactful decisions.
Cell Furniture
Working in partnership with UK Public Sector Prison Industries (PSPI), DACRL designed a new range of cell furniture that could be made in prison and aims to improve the safety and wellbeing of prisoners and prison staff. DACRL’s research and design approach involved collaborating with prisoners, prison staff, and designers to identify and address issues of use, misuse, and abuse of existing cell furniture, and to respond to other operational challenges in prison.
Bloqs
Bloqs was developed in collaboration with Southern Denmark University and aimed to adapt the Danish board game Captivated, designed to reconnect incarcerated individuals with their families, for a UK audience. DACRL worked with four BA Product Design students during their industry placement year. Together with prisoners from HMP Thameside and the staff overseeing the ‘Families First’ programme, the Bloqs game was created.
Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls
Since 2021, DACRL has been working with students on the BA (Hons) Product and Industrial Design programme at CSM to explore how design can be used to address the wicked problem of violence against women and girls (VAWG), finding ways to protect, empower, educate and bring about change. The diverse design approaches generated seek to challenge everyday sexism, harassment, racism, and cultural issues related to crime and the fear of crime.
- ‘Designs for Safer Streets’ project (2022), sponsored and supported by Clear Channel. View the catalogue to find out more.
- Working with the VAWG and youth safety teams at Islington BC in 2023, students were asked to consider how design can help to alleviate or prevent misogyny and sexism, and reduce violence against young people, women and girls. See the results here.
Black Heroes
Working with the design agency Here and inmates at HMP Isis, the Design Against Crime Research Lab created a series of posters for Black History Month 2022 featuring black role models from the worlds of music, sport, design and politics.
Case studies
DACRL has delivered practice-led and socially responsive design research for over 20 years, addressing issues from personal security and theft to youth violence, public safety, and social well-being. Our completed projects include anti-theft products such as chairs, bags, bike stands, and ATM art designed to deter thieves. These design against crime responses are recognised within the research field as impactful benchmarks.