Stay Safe: Guide My Journey
This interactive e-learning module empowers teenagers - especially young women - with practical safety skills for everyday life. Through engaging visual storytelling and interactive scenarios, learners guide the character Jade through real-world situations, making decisions about road safety, stranger interactions, and more.
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Audience: Teenagers, especially women
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Responsibilities: Instructional Design, E-learning Development, Graphic Design, Action Mapping
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Tools Used: Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Suite, Canva, PowerPoint, Articulate, and Adobe Illustrator

The Problem
Despite Ontario's reputation as a safe region, young women, particularly teenagers, face significant risks. In 2022, 55% of all missing children and youth reports in Canada involved females, with 32 cases attributed to human trafficking, 30 of whom were female children and youth in Ontario. (Canada's Missing)
Additionally, women are more likely than men to experience violent crime, with 39% of women reporting such experiences since age 15, compared to 35% of men. (Canadian Women)
Traditional safety education often depends on parental guidance and personal experience, which may not adequately prepare young individuals for real-world dangers.
The Solution
Integrating safety education into school curricula can equip students with essential skills to navigate potential risks. The "Stay Safe" project exemplifies this approach by using interactive scenarios to teach teenagers, especially young women, practical safety strategies.
By incorporating visual storytelling and interactivity, the module engages students and enhances their ability to make informed decisions, thereby reducing their vulnerability to street crimes and abductions.
My Process
Drawing on my South African upbringing, where personal safety and awareness are essential, I created the "Stay Safe" project to address a pressing need. Having witnessed and heard firsthand stories of young girls being taken advantage of due to ignorance or careless decisions, I identified 10 realistic scenarios where small actions can make a significant difference.
With over 15 years of leadership experience, I’ve refined my ability to communicate and connect with young people in ways they understand and trust, ensuring the message resonates and inspires real-world application.
Action Map
The "Stay Safe" action map addresses the gap in intentional education on personal safety. It highlights the school system as the most effective channel for widespread training, ensuring accessibility and completion. To advocate for its inclusion, the plan involves presenting compelling facts and personal stories from young women to emphasize the urgent need for this training in fostering a safer future.
Text-based Storyboard
Using the action map as my guide, I developed a text-based storyboard as the foundation for the "Stay Safe" project. The story follows a character navigating everyday situations with five turning points, each presenting a critical safety decision. If the learner makes the correct choice, the story progresses positively. If the learner selects an incorrect option, they experience a simulated negative outcome, emphasizing the importance of safe decision-making.
This interactive approach allows young people to practice making safety-conscious choices in a virtual, risk-free environment before applying them in real life. To enhance support, I introduced a mentor character that provides guidance and tips whenever learners feel uncertain.
Visual Mockups
To bring the "Stay Safe" project to life, I created a comprehensive style guide in Canva. I used AI-generated watercolor images to depict the proposed scenarios, enhancing visual storytelling, then edited them using Adobe Photoshop. The design features a primary color palette of green with complementary hues, chosen to evoke emotions of balance, health, life, and growth. Icons were customized in Adobe Illustrator to ensure consistency with the style guide, creating a cohesive and engaging visual experience.

Interactive Prototype
For the Interactive Prototype, I utilized Microsoft PowerPoint to design and share the initial version of my project with Instructional Designers and youth within my professional network for feedback. The prototype showcased the first several slides, including the title slide, instructions, and the initial prompt and question.
Based on the feedback, I implemented several key design improvements:
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Redesigned the question slides to mimic a conversational, text-messaging style with character profile pictures to resonate with teenagers' communication preferences.
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Expanded multiple-choice options to encourage critical thinking.
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Incorporated a progress bar to motivate students to complete the module.
These updates enhanced the prototype's interactivity and engagement, aligning it more closely with the target audience's needs.
Full Development
I conducted multiple tests on my interactive prototype to collect feedback and ultimately published my final project using Articulate Storyline 360.
Results and Takeaways
This project showcased my ability to combine storytelling, visualization, and research to create a compelling and impactful learning experience. The use of carefully chosen imagery and precise word choices proved crucial to delivering a module that resonates with teenagers and effectively conveys safety principles.
Drawing on my background in Developmental Psychology and Industrial Design, I approached each scenario from the perspective of a student, ensuring the content was both relatable and accessible. My personal experiences growing up in South Africa allowed me to passionately address a universal issue—personal safety—by highlighting its relevance across different cultural and geographic contexts.
While this was a concept project with a limited scope, it provided valuable insights into how this initiative could be expanded in practice. Future iterations would incorporate the perspectives of parents and teachers, fostering a more holistic approach. Additionally, I envision scaling the project by collaborating with multiple schools to turn it into a community-driven initiative, reinforcing the idea that child safety requires collective effort—after all, "it takes a village to raise a child."
This project not only allowed me to apply my skills but also deepened my commitment to developing resources that equip young people to make safe and informed decisions.