Near It, Feat It

Context

Near It, Fear It began with my curiosity about the rise of targeted, location-based advertising and the growing use of personal data in public messaging. At the same time, fear-driven public information campaigns were still a familiar tactic — intense, emotional, and designed to shock people into awareness.

This project looked at what happens when these two worlds meet: when everyday geolocation data becomes the foundation for personalised warnings, and when fear is delivered not broadly, but directly to the individual.

Focus

My aim wasn’t to recreate classic public information adverts, or to build advertising technology. The focus was on understanding the social and ethical implications of delivering fear-based messages based on where someone is, what they are near, and what a dataset assumes about their level of risk.

The project questioned how this kind of system could influence behaviour, reinforce stigma, or shape perceptions of safety — and whether fear remains ethical once it becomes personalised.

Approach

Working within a small team, I led the concept development and creative direction. We built a functioning mobile application that:

• requested a user’s live geolocation

• pulled real-time crime data from the UK Police API

• interpreted nearby incidents

• delivered a custom fear-based video advert in response

My contribution focused on shaping the concept, defining the tone, producing the videos, and guiding the narrative path. Rather than imagining future technology, the project used existing tools to expose what is already possible.

Themes

Several themes shaped the project:

• targeted fear as a form of behavioural influence

• authority, trust, and the ethics of personalised warnings

• the merging of public information and advertising logic

• neighbourhood perception, stigma, and social impact

• data-driven risk scoring and its emotional consequences

• privacy, surveillance, and the politics of location tracking

Outcomes

The final outcome was a mobile web application that delivered tailored public information adverts based on real-time location. Alongside this, I produced a series of short fear-based videos inspired by classic government campaigns, reimagined through a contemporary data-driven lens.

The project exists online and remains fully functional as a conceptual critique.

Reflection

The project strengthened my interest in how media, data, and civic messaging influence human behaviour. Near It, Fear It wasn’t created to showcase technical skill — it was created to question the systems that already surround us and the quiet ways they shape perception.

It reinforced my fascination with the intersection of technology, communication, and emotion, and it showed me how design can expose tensions rather than solve them.

Looking back in 2025

Near It, Fear It clarified my position as someone more interested in examining technological systems than building them. It revealed how easily design can become a tool of influence, and how important it is to question who benefits from that influence.

It pushed my practice toward provocative pieces that aim to spark commentary — toward exploring the social effects of digital infrastructures and the narratives they create.