Coercive control is when someone uses repeated patterns of abusive behaviour against another person. It can involve physical and non-physical abuse and this behaviour often underpins family and domestic violence.
While coercive control is not yet a criminal offence in Australia, the Australian Government and state and territory governments published the National Principles to Address Coercive Control (National Principles) in 2023, which outlines a common understanding of coercive control and its impacts.
Fenton was appointed by the Australian Attorney-General’s Department to develop education and awareness resources on coercive control, including tailored materials for First Nations peoples, to support the release of the National Principles.
We developed a number of concept materials showing different options for visualising and telling the story of coercive control in Australia. These were used to conduct user testing with mainstream and First Nations groups, using a mix of survivor focus groups, interviews with individual bystanders (people who do not have lived experience of coercive control) and email responses from stakeholders.
Insights from the user testing formed the basis for recommended changes to the visual design and language used in communication materials, which needed to faithfully communicate the National Principles to a general community audience.
As well as graphic design of the National Principles document, we wrote, illustrated and designed a set of factsheets and animated explainer videos, working with a specialist First Nations agency to commission an Indigenous artwork and adapt the mainstream materials.