Mass intervention is crucial when tackling pressing social issues, such as gender-based violence. One method in approaching this is the use of the public service announcement (PSA). Traditional PSAs, such as posters and short films, are linear media forms. They rely on passive viewership and an assumption of audience behavioural change, following engagement with the artefact. This limits the PSA’s potential to inspire long-term, sustained, societal change as the effectiveness is highly dependent on the cognitive engagement of the viewer with the content. My research suggests that media employing the use of decision-based fictional narratives, such as interactive film, is more effective in enacting change.

Ubuntu philosophy is based on the premise that umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu (a person is a person because of other people). Ubuntu emphasises empathy, respect, and sensitivity as core tenets. Ubuntu principles are part of the teaching philosophy of Design for Social Change (DSC) that we use in our visual communication design course at a university of technology in South Africa. This teaching philosophy seeks to find solutions that will not only foster aesthetically pleasing and functional creative outputs from students but will also address the root causes of social problems and empower communities to create change that is enduring and sustainable.