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Inhale This! Designing an Interactive Smoking Awareness Tool Young People Actually Engaged With

Some health messages are ignored the moment they feel like a lecture.

Young people often switch off when information arrives in a predictable format especially when the subject is smoking, risk, or long-term health.


That was the challenge behind Inhale This!, commissioned by Quit Because, QUIT’s youth service, created to help young people understand what smoking does to the body and make informed choices for themselves.


But instead of producing another leaflet full of warnings, the brief called for something far more engaging.

  • Something they would want to open.

  • Something they would explore.

  • Something that made the message stay.


Turning Health Information Into Interaction

The objective was simple:

Explain the damage smoking causes to lungs in a way that young people would actually absorb. The solution was a highly visual printed activity book designed to behave more like an experience than a booklet.





We created a format that invited curiosity before information.

  • Pop-up lungs revealed healthy versus damaged tissue.

  • 3D glasses transformed imagery into something unexpected.

  • Comic-style stories showed how smoking affects ambition, fitness, voice, appearance and everyday life.

  • The content moved beyond facts and into consequence.


Why Interaction Changes Attention

When people physically engage with information, attention rises.

The brain gives more value to something it touches, unfolds, reveals or discovers.

That is why the book used layers:

  • pop-up structures

  • hidden reveals

  • bold visual contrasts

  • tactile moments

  • unexpected page changes

The interaction slowed the reader down.

And when attention slows, understanding improves.


Showing Damage Without Talking Down

One of the strongest parts of the project was visual honesty.


Instead of abstract health warnings, the book used striking lung imagery, smoke distortion, and direct comparisons between healthy tissue and damaged lungs.

Some pages asked uncomfortable questions:

Feeling wheezy?Are you full of it?

Others showed passive smoking effects and even how smoking harms pets.

The tone was direct, but never preachy.

That balance matters. Because young audiences reject anything that feels forced.



Real Stories Create Emotional Connection

Alongside health facts, comic-strip narratives followed relatable young characters.

A footballer losing breath.

A singer damaging her voice.

Moments where future ambitions quietly collide with smoking habits.

This matters because behaviour rarely changes through facts alone.

People remember stories.

They imagine themselves inside them.

That emotional link often lands more deeply than instruction.


Behaviour Design in Print

Long before digital engagement tools became common, this project used behavioural principles in print:

  • curiosity before instruction

  • interaction before explanation

  • visual reward before message

  • self-discovery instead of authority


That is why the booklet worked. Young people were not simply told what smoking does.

They discovered it page by page.


Distributed Where It Could Influence Choice

Five thousand copies of Inhale This! were distributed across schools in London, free of charge. Its role was not simply education. It was intervention through design.

A printed object designed to hold attention long enough for a message to lodge.


Good Design Can Change What Gets Remembered

The strongest communication does not always shout louder.

Sometimes it simply creates a moment that people do not forget.

That was the thinking behind Inhale This!


A health message turned into something young people explored, questioned and remembered. And that is where design starts influencing behaviour.



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