Overview

Some people grow up believing they are creative. Others learn very quickly to say, “I’m just not a creative person.”

When We Start Making Things Up investigates where that distinction comes from. Through research, conversation and participatory workshops, I explored creativity not as a talent that a person either has or lacks, but as something shaped by education, culture, confidence and the conditions surrounding them.

It reframes creativity as something enabled or restricted by the conditions around us.

This idea is the foundation for the project, Lit-A-Bit-Differently.

Category

Design Research

Participatory Research

Publication

Role

Independent Project learning from workshop participants

5 months

Tools & Methods

Workshop Facilitation

Participatory Research

Editorial Design

Who decided if you were creative or not?

Some people grow up believing creativity belongs to them.

Others learn to say: “I’m just not a creative person.”

This project asks where that belief comes from.

A Breakdown of the Article

Nah, I'd rather read it!

What I argue:

So, did the workshops make everyone feel creative?

Not exactly.

They showed me that inviting people to create does not automatically remove the structures that made them hesitate in the first place.

But they also showed me that those conditions can be changed.

What I Learned:

This is the short version.

The theory, workshop maps, participant behaviour and all the contradictions live inside the full publication.

Read the full analysis ↓

Tell Me What You Think! I'd love to hear it.

If you think the stickers are cute!

What This Project Grew to:

What This Project Also Grew To:

Lit A Bit Differently