Beforehand

SVA Thesis

Challenge
Interpersonal touch has fallen out of culture. With the recent power shift and movements demanding that inappropriate and violent touch no longer be ignored, people not knowing what is and is not ok have stopped touching all together.

Solution
Introducing, Beforehand, a global brand that educates and inspires people to think, ask, and talk beforehand. We took an approachable and non-threatening approach to better reach and engage with our audience. We found in our research that rules are made to be broken while boundaries are mutually communicated and agreed upon.

In order to establish boundaries for touch, we envisioned a three-tiered approach.

1. To educate on the importance of touch and boundaries.
2. To create awareness about the clear distinction between one’s intention when touching and one’s reception of that same touch.
3. To inform on how to communicate and respect those boundaries. 

To introduce this approach we created June. We follow June along her journey of understanding her own boundaries, how to express them as well as how to respect and understand others boundaries.

Role
Strategist and Designer

Team
Advisors: Debbie Millman,
Bret Sanford,
and Brad Davidson
Teammates: Michael Shirey,
Maria Manuela Andrade,
Theresa Brondholt Sorensen,
and Sophia Yuan

Category
Branding, Business System


We created a guidebook that helps navigate common touch scenarios as well as provide hand
and verbal signals to communicate your boundaries as well as understand others boundaries.

We also created a website that is an important resource to learn the importance of touch, the importance of boundaries, as well as quizzes to learn one’s own touch identity. Beforehand will also exist as an educational platform, integrated into elementary schools, high schools, and universities, encouraging people to think, ask, and talk beforehand.