Design and Communications: A Strategic Tool to Create Awareness about Cyberbullying in Young People

Abstract

This research has focused on the interference of design behavior within cyberbullying in the university public in the city of Barcelona, Spain. Its starting point is to define the causes and effects of the aggressors towards the victims and witnesses to guarantee the mediation of design as interdisciplinary and its intimate relationship with the communications field, thus affecting the actions of every actor who participate in this scenario of digital intimidation. Design Thinking is established as a methodology through a research line with a quantitative and qualitative approach which its content is based on interviews conducted with experts in youth psychology and surveys of students from different public and private universities in Barcelona.  The study concluded that since a cyberbully's attitude toward an individual or group of people is hostile and deliberated, design had to intervene according to the distressing situation and bear a rigorous and inclement message that meets aesthetic and purpose parameters. However, the intrinsic duty of design was to offer a strong meaning that transgresses the imaginary of the audience and make a suggestive call to actively participate when cyberbullying takes place.