Going beyond Chat: Designing Connotative Meaningful Line Stickers to Promote Road Safety in Thailand through Participatory Design

Road accidents are a leading cause of death in Thailand, with increasing fatalities. Despite road safety campaigns during holidays, consistent communication is lacking in daily life. This research aimed to create Line application stickers, a top chat platform for Thailand, using the participatory design (PD) approach. PD was implemented in two steps. Firstly, 100 participants outlined character types, moods, tones, and communication objectives. They recommended lively animal characters with diverse texts, such as greetings, work, travel, and emotions. Then, through a focus group, the tortoise was identified to represent cautious drivers who follow traffic rules, the rabbit to represent fast and risky drivers, and the zebra to represent vigilant and disciplined traffic police officers as characters for Line stickers. Subsequently, using the semiotics approach, 40 Line stickers were designed, and embedded with denotative and connotative road safety messages. Secondly, feedback from the focus group, integral to the PD process, led to refinements. After launching, a survey of 50 users showed “Benefits Received”, “Text and Messages”, and “Meaning” dimensions received “Very Satisfied/Strongly Agree” ratings. The “Character” dimension received a “Satisfied” rating. The results for “Benefits Received” can also be analyzed in the context of the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) theory, which revealed that K and A were at the highest level, while P was at a high level. This suggests that the Line stickers designed in this study effectively conveyed road safety messages to the receivers. This research constitutes the pioneering exploration within the realm of Line stickers concerning road safety, signifying the originality and unique contribution of our research to the existing body of knowledge in this domain. The PD process in this research can serve as a guideline for creating safety-promoting media in diverse fields.