Thesis: Open Hand Self-Defence

Thesis Project: Open Hand Self-Defence

Open Hand Self-Defence was a thesis project created to demonstrate the understanding of everything that was taught throughout the Graphic Design program at George Brown College. The premise of the thesis was to find a problem and figure out a design solution to fix the problem. A problem that was discovered was that young adults between the ages of 18–24 were more likely to be in some sort of physical assault than any other age group in Canada. An issue with this is that Canada has very strict laws against what you can and cannot for self-defence, such as not being able to carry a weapon for protection. There are a variety of self-defence programs and memberships that are offered within the GTA, but most require a membership, travel time, personal time, and dedication. Other programs allow the participant to learn by reading the theory behind self-defence or watch boring or complex video tutorials. The design solution to the problem was to create an interactive self-defence program that would help motivate and inspire young adults into wanting to learn everyday self-defence. The idea was to create a program that would be easy to follow, easy to adapt to any lifestyle, interactive and be used as a safety tool in case of an emergency. From this, the Open Hand Self-Defence program was created.

The Open Hand Self-Defence program is a free safety and self-defence program that was design to be easily accessible through a web browser or mobile app. The main objective of the program was to help your avatar character —named Yu— collect as many self-defence badges as possible so that Yu can become a great martial arts master. The only way to collect badges is to watch and participate with self-defence video's, take self-defence quisses and accomplish daily goals that would be created by your avatar Yu or yourself. On the web browser or app, the user would be able to communicate or practice with other users. The major benefit of the program was that it was also created as a safety tool. Safety features that the program offers are map alert which alerts users through text or email about possible threats in their current area, an emergency alarm to set off if the user is in danger and an emergency contact button which will send the users information to the police when activated. The program was advertised by distributing business cards, pamphlets, and swag that can be used in everyday life or for self-defence.