It’s a unforgiving act of violence but also a means of survival; Car-jacking, a crime that has gained prominence in recent years, is perceived as unsympathetic in nature and the city of Newark has seen its fair share in the past few years. Through this capstone I examine this issue, its causes and effects; this examination presents an opportunity to review gang culture and economic assessment but also allows for the ability to raise awareness, create preventative precautions and develop proactive measures in regards to auto-theft.

In creating this capstone I was able to create a narrative that stretched across different mediums with each representing the aspects of learning, creation and discovery; however, instead of keeping all these mediums separate, I was able to tied together all of them though the use of visual language. For the concept of learning, a handmade toolkit was created that contained a field guide that educates the person on the ways carjackers operate. Each toolkit also contained a series of key-chain icons that represented symbols for awareness, knowledge and preparation. Each was laser-cut in 1/4 plywood and was to be held as a symbol of the knowledge that a person can tout around, along with an "I am Aware" sticker to be placed on their vehicle.

For discovery, a large map of the city of Newark was created in which a viewer could learn from start to end what happens when their vehicle is taken. This allowed me to show the viewer the causes and effects of carjacking on our city and how the issue was not so clear cut. As for creation, I developed a prototype mobile application using Adobe Experience Design in which a user, in the event of a car jacking, could notify local taxi services to be on the search for the victims missing vehicle. The app labeled "LightsOn" (a reference for the light that goes on for a on-service taxi) would work on a pay-what-you-want reward system, so the incentive to find your vehicle would be completely up to you. This allows for a better chance of locating your vehicle since taxi drivers are the "eyes and ears" of the streets.

To bring these elements to together, a three part poster series was created highlights each aspect of the project, each containing the imagery and visual language that I had created for the other mediums. Rather than contain these to my capstone show, I made the goal and focus to one in which the posters could live outside of it.