Creativity & Personality report

creativity and personality digital report

Isabelle Cijsouw Student number: 2571064 Test code: 25XGAM704A Teacher: Arthur Kok

1.Introduction............................................4 2.Fascination...............................................6 3.Theory & research.............................8

3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8

table of contents

Lesson 1.................................................................9 Lesson 2................................................................12 Lesson 3................................................................13 Lesson 4................................................................16 Lesson 5................................................................17 Lesson 6................................................................18 Pinterest..................................................................19 Biography................................................................20

4.The concept...........................................22

4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5

Creativity canvas.........................................................23 Concept proposal........................................................24 Feedback & adjustments................................................25 Final concept............................................................26 3D product...............................................................27

5.Reflection...................................................28

5.1 Five disposition model..................................................29 5.2 Goal matrix..............................................................30 5.3 Theory....................................................................31

Bibliography...................................................32

Introduction

This digital report was made on behalf of the advanced course Creativity & Personality during my final year at Fontys Academy for Creative Industries. The objective of this course was to find how creativity plays a role on our own personality. The process started with choosing a personal fascination. Because of my many interests, it was tough to settle on one. I eventually chose the fascination that has been in my mind for several years now: sustainability. I wanted to learn more about this topic and decided that this course would be the perfect opportunity for me to dive deeper in it.

This report begins with an introduction to my fascination. Moving on to chapter three, the theory and classes of the course will be discussed. All relevant theory and exercises that have led to my final concept will be discussed. This chapter also contains the most meaningful images from the Pinterest boards I created for my fascination and the four corresponding keywords I have chosen at the beginning of the course. Chapter three ends with the biography I have read during the course. It presents five quotes from the book on which I have written a personal reflection and related it to my fascination.

Chapter four is the chapter in which all the conducted research, theory an received feedback on the pocess is concreticized and used to create my final concept. I have made three Creativity Canvases, which can be found in my physical dummy. In this report, only the Creativity Canvas of the chosen concept is presented and further explained. I will discuss the feedback I received on this concept and show how I used it to further adjust and improve this concept. After describing the feedback and adjustments, the finalized concept will be presented, along with the 3D product that was made to try to capture the essence of the concept.

one.

introduction

4

This report ends with my reflection on the course by means of the Five Dispositions Model, the Goal Matrix and four theory models I used during the entire process.

I want to thank Arthur Kok and the fellow students of this course for providing me with useful feedback on my concept. I would also like to thank my buddy Cherin Riemeijer for her help in improving my final concept.

For now, I hope you enjoy reading this report and learning more about the process that lead me to my concept.

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sustainability [suh-stey-nuh-bil-i-tee] 1.the ability to be sustained, supported, upheld, or confirmed. two.

fascination

2.Environmental Science.

The quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance.

(Dictionary.com, n.d.)

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3.1 Lesson one

The very first lesson of the course was focused on choosing the fascination that would form the foundation of every choice and other assignment during the upcoming weeks. Beforehand, I had made the preparatory assignment, which consisted of several explorational questions to help me find my fascination. My dummy starts with this assignment. I thought it would be hard to come up with one, but at the last question (‘what fascinates you?’) I suddenly had filled in seven possible fascinations. These can all be seen in my dummy. I decided to choose the fascination I considered to be most inspiring for this course and about which I personally wanted to learn more: sustainability.

Mindmap

Once I had chosen my fascination, I created a mindmap for it in my dummy. The objective of this mindmap was to find four keywords that are related to this fascination and could be used in further process and assignments during the course. The entire mindmap is shown on the next page.The keywords I chose from this mindmap were:

Natural

three.

explorations and theory

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Lifestyle Recycling Second-hand For each of these keywords I made a mindmap as well. These are documented in my dummy.

City research

The second part of this first class occurred outside of the classroom. We went into the city center of Tilburg to visit a second-hand store. I was already quite inspired by this, because second-hand stores can be related to my fascination. The object I bought at this store was a second-hand skirt. The reason I bought this skirt is because the fashion industry is among the most polluting industries in the world (Wicker, 2017). Buying more second-hand clothing, or even borrowing clothes from someones can help reduce your global impact. I needed a new skirt at the time and decided it would be much better to buy it at a second-hand store than to buy a new one.

An additional excitement I experienced when buying this item was that it was extremely cheap compared to new clothes. This definitely motivated me to buy more second-hand clothing in the future.

Another part of our visit to the city center was to find ten things that could be related to our fascination. Our task was to photograph this thing and to photograph it again, but from another perspective. By actively searching for things that I could document, I noticed that after a while I could make more and more associations to my fascination.

I found it very interesting to look at the city through the ‘glasses’ of my fascination. The pictures of this city research can be found in my dummy.

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mindmap sustainability plastic replacements tiny homes

libraries

plant-based green fuel

animal welfare long-term goals

SOLAR POWER lifestyle

future

RESPECT NATURE sustainability

GREEN ENERGY

natural REUSABLE PRODUCTS

LOCAL PRODUCTS

EATING LESS MEAT

ELECTRIC CARS recycling

SECOND-HAND RECYCLED PAPER

URBAN FARMING

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taking the bike

PLANTING TREES compost

grow your own vegetables

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3.2 Lesson two

The second lesson of the course revolved around a field trip to Antwerp. In the city we visited two museums: the Fotomuseum and the MAS Museum. The objective of this field trip was to find high art that I could use in my ‘four domains research’, which is fully documented in my dummy. Another objective was to make two assignments in the city: one created by myself and one created by my buddy (Cherin Riemeijer).

Assignments

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The assignment I created for myself was to find at least two things in the city that I would consider to be unsustainable. Next, I asked myself to explain why and how I would change it to be more sustainable. The assignment provided by Cherin was to think of which changes I would make to make Antwerp a more self-sufficient city.

For my own assignment, I ended up taking four pictures. A garbage bag on the street, a parking garage, empty/vacant buildings and graffiti art. The solutions I created for these pictures were: more waste containers where the processing of the waste could be used to generate power, increase ventilation systems in garages and let them run on renewable energy, use empty buildings for urban farming or urban garden purposes and facilitate limited spots for street art or facilitate eco-friendly spray paint cans for artists. The assignment is explained more thoroughly in my dummy.

For my second assignment, in making Antwerp a more self-sufficient city, there were a few changes that I would make. Firstly, prioritize local businesses and stores with homemade products.

More local products mean less dependability on foreign or chain stores. Secondly, I would increase food delivery transport on bikes instead of scooters.

This would save a lot of energy that can be used for the city itself.

When it comes to the citizens of Antwerp, I would create public urban farms and gardens where people can walk around and potentially pick their own herbs or flowers. Among these citizens, I would encourage recycling widely by spreading useful knowledge and, like I mentioned in my own assignment, place more waste containers.

Another solution that gives back to the community is to organize community dinners out of food that would unnecessary be thrown away by supermarkets. This food could also be donated to the people in Antwerp that have financial struggles.

The public transport of Antwerp would ideally run on self-generated energy, such as by waste incineration, solar power or wind power. The amount of selfgenerated power could be increased by planting solar panels on big corporation buildings in the city.

High art

As for the high art, I had a hard time finding relevant pieces in the Fotomuseum. The images and the contexts of the photos did not relate to my fascination. I could not think of any other indirect ways of how they could possibly relate to it either.

A bit disappointed but hopeful I would find high art for my fascination and all four keywords that day, I entered the MAS Museum. Apart from it being a part of a mandatory field trip, I enjoyed this museum a lot because of its variety in ‘traditional’ expositions and more interactive and experiential exhibitions. I would definitely consider going back when the museum renews it offer in expositions.

All high art images can be found in my dummy.

Below, you can see the high art that turned out to be most relevant for my process in creating the final concept: the one of ‘sustainability’.

3.3 Lesson three

For this lesson I brought my 15 items related to my fascination to class and positioned them in a simple exposition. The items I brought were: a second-hand denim jacket, a fabric shopping bag, a glas water bottle, a vegetarian cookbook, a wooden cooking utensil, a guide to a sustainable lifestyle, a wooden clothes hanger, a teabag with organic tea, the second-hand skirt I bought during the first lesson, match sticks, candle melts that are scented, an eraser, a necklace made by a local shop in Brazil, a statue of the Colosseum to represent the sustainability of old monuments and a pencil.

Exhibition

Below, you can see what my exhibition looked like.

Buddy’s view

The next step was to switch tables with my buddy and to put their items in order of ugly to beautiful (in my opinion). Returning back to my table, it was interesting to see what Cherin considered to be the most beautiful and ugliest object. But in general, I am open to hear and see other people’s perspectives about something I find interesting.

After everyone was finished we all walked around in the room to look at each other’s exposition and wrote down questions that arose when looking at it.

I went back to my own table and picked out the two questions I found the most inspiring:

Would you be able to live with only second-hand items?

All high art pieces are analyzed according to the model of Daniel Samama. The analysis of this specific piece was as follows: CONTENT: a photograph of a truck dumping plastic waste and a photograph of a street market where food is sold.

FUNCTION: artwork, wall decoration.

FORM: photograph.

CONTEXT: these photographs were a part of an exhibition about food waste, new food technologies and the present & future of agriculture.

My answer: I would try as much as I can in an ideal world, but I think it is also good to treat yourself to something new every now and then. As long as you make sure you will actually use it for a long time.

What would you want to give/ transfer to others about this world?

My answer: small changes can make a big impact.

Think about the daily decisions you make every now and then. Many people are blind to the story behind what they buy. You don’t have to make drastic changes, but more conscious living goes a long way.

Finally, we were asked to pick a top piece out of all 15 pieces and leave only that item on our table along with a tag and title. I chose the guide to a sustainable lifestyle. The reason for this was because this book is very approachable for those who know nothing about sustainability. It led to sustainability being one of my fascinations and I think that knowledge can really drive changes to increase sustainability.

After this, we thought of our personal truïsm and statement. I had a hard time coming up with a ‘neutral’ truïsm, one that does not necessarily state that something is good or bad but makes a clear statement nonetheless. After writing down sentences, combining sentences and even combining combinations, my final truïsm and statement were created. You can see them on the next page.

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truĂŻsm your character is the sum of your everyday choices.

TruĂŻsm: Your character is the sum of your everyday choices.

Statement: Be the change you want to see in the world.

statement: be the change you want to see in the world.

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3.4 Lesson four

In the fourth lesson, we were given the opportunity to finally create concepts, based on everything we had done in our dummy, and on our truïsm and statement. We did this by using the Creativity Canvas Model. I filled in three Creativity Canvases which can all be found in my dummy.

The process

The Creativity Canvas consists of different boxes that have to be filled in. There are two boxes that remain the same for each canvas: Key partners - key inspirators & values, and value proposition statement & propositions. These are the boxes in which I filled in my truïsm and statement.

The other boxes had to be filled in differently, making sure that each Creativity Canvas could not be compared. Each concept had to be different in customer relationships, customer segments, channels, a different to do list of what the concept asks of the audience, cost structure, revenue stream(s) and key resources from the process in your dummy.

Alltogether, these boxes formed a concept.

I found it quite difficult to come up with three concepts that could not be compared to each other.

In the beginning, each concept had something in common in the execution of it. It also seemed very contradictory to, for example determine a target audience for the concept without having done a thorough desk research beforehand. It was refreshing to mainly use my own explored sources to create something new.

One of the most important things in creating the three concepts was thinking of how I could ideally communicate the idea of motivating people to live more sustainably in the choices they make everyday, linking it to my truïsm. That is why I explored different customer relationships with each of the three concepts. I mainly determined my choice for the final concept on the kind of customer relationship I thought would be most effective.

All three Creativity Canvases can be found in my dummy. All concepts will be quickly described in the following text of this paragraph. The chosen concept will be thoroughly explained in chapter four of this report.

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The outcome

The first Creativity Canvas resulted in a concept with the name ‘Earth Night’. This concept is a night market in central squares of capital cities in Europe that takes place on the night of Earth Day (April 22nd). The market consists of stands that sell sustainable products. The market itself is powerd only by sustainable energy sources, such as solar and wind energy. The idea with this concept is to inspire visitors to release their massconsumerism behavior by making smart buying choices that are beneficial to the environment. I eventually chose this concept because I felt it matched my truïsm the best.

The second concept was: ‘RE-CREATIVE’. It consists of an art contest for (urban) artists and creatives. The objective is to make art pieces from environment friendly materials and methods. The contest lasts a year and during this year more and more art pieces wil appear in various places in the country. At the end of the year, a winning piece will be chosen which will get media attention. Through this competition, artists can prove that art can be beautiful and eco-friendly at the same time.

Implementing an element of co-creation will perhaps effectively bring over the message to the target audience. However, I wasn’t quite happy with the relatively small scale of this concept when it comes to the target audience (only artists and creatives.

The final concept was: ‘Saving the world - 5 minutes at a time’. It consists of a video campaign made of three five-minute videos. Each video confronts the viewer about how much damage certain daily activities can have on the environment in five minutes. At the end, each shows which changes someone can make (that will cost them the same five minutes) to reduce their global impact. I wanted to create one concept that didn’t try to spread positivity around environmental issues, but to be really confronting and impactful. I still like the fact that this is a powerful idea, but personally I didn’t feel comfortable spreading such a confronting message. That much negativity might keep people from wanting to participate to make positive changes.

3.5 Lesson five

Approaching the end of the course, lesson five was done at home. The objective was to make a short presentation which showed your fascination, four keywords, truïsm, statement, a description of the chosen concept and three analogies that responded to the essence of the chosen concept.

The presentation

Due to a cancelled lesson, this lesson was made at home during the holidays. The presentations were all uploaded on a Facebook page. The presentation is also documented in my dummy.

A second objective of this at-home-lesson was to give and receive feedback on each other’s presentation. This was done according to the Imagination Matrix, which consisted of answering the following questions: - This spontaneously makes me think of: - This reminds me of (analogy): - This could also be: - To improve this I would: The goal was to give feedback to four people and to receive feedback from four people. I received feedback from Charlotte van Keulen, Manon Wiegmans, Arthur Kok and Cherin Riemeijer. I gave feedback to Cherin Riemeijer, Charlotte van Keulen, Manon Wiegmans and Lisa van Grinsven.

Analogies

The last part of the presentation was to come up with three analogies to get more inspiration, to check if it does not already exist or to use it as a metaphor for those who have read the concept and experience difficulty in understanding it. Below are the three analogies I chose for my concept. The first one represents the aspect of the concept that relates to carrying the future of the world in your hands.

Your consumer choices impact which (polluting or sustainable) industries you support and stimulate.

The second one is a quite simple one: it shows the decision between quantity and quality. Buying many products for less and keep having to buy is it more polluting than buying a few items that are more expensive but will last longer. The final analogy shows the overwhelming amount of choices and offered goods. It is tempting to take them all at once but being conscious and buying only what you need instead of as much as you want is much friendlier to the planet (and your wallet).

The feedback I received was very useful. When I was working on my process in my dummy, everything seemed very clear for myself. However, others could only see the presentation and knew nothing more than my fascination and keywords. I had some very interesting and useful points of feedback which I will further discuss in the third paragraph of chapter four: feedback and adjustments.

The feedback of this assignment helped me a lot in shaping and improving my finalized concept.

I enjoyed seeing which fascinations and keywords were chosen by others and how they had translated this into a concept. All in all, I found it a very refreshing exercise.

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3.6 Lesson six

The final lesson of the course revolved around the Critical Stage, in which we would use one of the methods that was presented to us in order to finalize and improve our final concept.

Opposites

The method I chose to do was ‘Everything the other way around’. The objective of this method was to write down the concept and try to turn around every element and make it into the complete opposite. I chose this method specifically because I felt like I really needed new insights. After the feedback I received on my presentation, new ideas started to form with which I did not really know what to do.

That is why I started to think of, quite radical, changes that would possible be beneficial in the improvement of my concept.

My critical stage went as followed: A physical market > An online webshop that sustainable brands.

People visit the market in any order they want > People follow a planned route that is made for them beforehand.

People are confronted with the effects of mass consumerism > People are confronted with conscious consumerism.

Powered by sustainable energy sources > Powered by unsustainable energy sources.

3.7 Pinterest

During this course I kept five Pinterest boards: one for my fascination and one for each keyword, on which I collected suitable images. In this paragraph, as well as in my dummy, I have documented the images I considered to be the most meaningful ones for each board.

Cities across Europe > Focused on one country, capital cities of each province.

A big, collective environment > A closed, small and private space.

Sustainability

Natural

Recycling

Guest speakers share knowledge at the event > Guest speakers share their questions in the flyer.

Looking back

After this lesson, I had one final meeting with my buddy to reflect on my process, the feedback I received and the critical stage. I obtained some very helpful insights from her that confirmed that the changes I wanted to make in my concept would be really improving. There were a few radical changes, but I am very glad I decided to make them. To make it easier to see which specific feedback points, or moments in my process have caused me to make which changes, I would like to refer to the ‘Feedback and adjustments’ paragraph in the next chapter.

Lifestyle

Second-hand

Takes place at night > Takes place in the morning/ afternoon.

Takes place in capital cities > Takes place in small, unknown villages.

People take flyers home from the event > People receive flyers at home.

Instead of sustainable businesses > Unsustainable businesses sell their products at the market.

A physical market > A physical store that sells different brands.

Asking permission from the government to organize the market > The event is initiated by the government.

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3.8 Biography

During the course, I read a biography of someone who has done quite a lot in the field of my sustainability: Leonardo Di Caprio. Besides being a world-famous actor, he is very committed to spreading his opinions on environmental issues. He even started his own foundation (The Leonardo Di Caprio Foundation), which supports projects around the world that build climate resiliency, protect vulnerable wildlife, and restore balance to threatened ecosystems and communities (Leonardo Di Caprio Foundation, n.d.). During the process of reading this biography, I came across five quotations that I could very well relate to my fascination. I wrote a short personal reflection on these quotes.

“People talk about personal action. I believe in personal action. It’s great to recycle, it’s great to do all these things but we should have some leadership here. It’s now up to the powers that be to really do something and we’re waiting on them.”

“I want to do good work in interesting films, with good people. If I set high standards for myself, people will remain interested in my work.”

Politics are interesting when it comes to sustainability. We as people only have power to a certain extent to increase our knowledge and behavior to do better for the world. I think, until politics prioritize sustainability, the discussion will be always there. Many politicians state that they want to build a better future, but what if there is no future because the environment wasn’t a high priority?

Reading the book, I noticed that from a young age, Leonardo was driven to do good and be good, regardless of what anyone else said. I think this is the same with my fascination, especially the lifestyle aspect of it. If you don’t know why you do a certain thing and you know it’s not good for the environment, why even do it? It is important to, based on good knowledge, do what you think is right.

“Preservation of the environment has always been of utmost concern to me and I would never be part of any project that did anything to harm nature. I have seen extraordinary measures being taken to protect the island and I pledge to remain viligant and tolerate nothing less than these maximum standards.”

I think Leonardo perfectly describes here that being kind to nature isn’t an achievement: it should be part of your standards in your way of living. Of course it’s sad to know that there are projects that don’t take these environmental measures, but like Leonardo does: it’s important to work with, or choose initiatives that do this and hopefully others are willing to catch up with these standards.

“If people don’t want to listen to what I have to say on environment issues, that’s their right. It’s not going to stop me from using the opportunity as somebody in the public eye to highlight issues that aren’t being given enough attention. The next generation - my children, my grandchildren - are the ones who are going to feel the hardest effect on what’s going on in the world today.”

People have their own interests and lifestyles and will often pay attention to what they want to hear instead of that they need to hear. I think if more public figures like Leonardo spoke up about sustainability issues, it could become more mainstream. Mass communication might be the way to force politics to prioritize policies for sustainability.

The picture below shows Leonardo Di Caprio speaking at one of the annual gala’s of his foundation.

“Global warming is not the only No.1 environmental challenge we face today, but one of the most important issues facing all of humanity. We all have to do our part to raise awareness about global warming and the problem we as a people face in promoting a sustainable environmental future for our planet.”

Issues regarding sustainability might not be the highest priority for everyone. I agree with this quote that we can still do something about it, even when it’s something really small. As long as awareness is spread, hopefully the will to take action will grote more and more.

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4.1 Creativity Canvas

Below, the Creativity Canvas of the chosen concept is presented. It can also be found in my dummy, along with the other two Canvases.

Key partners -

key inspirators & values

This is my truïsm: Your character is the sum of your everyday choices. The key inspirator behind this truïsm is Leonardo Di Caprio, the person about whom I read a biography during this course.

Value proposition -

statements & propositions

My statement is: Be the change you want to see in the world.

Customer relationships

four.

the concept

The relationship with the customers will be confronting at first, but then stimulating and inspiring in a positive way.

Customer segments - Scale:Capital cities in Europe.

- Time:The night of Earth Day (April 22nd from 20:00 until 01:00.

- Target:

the target audience would be urban citizens and tourists who live or visit the cities.

To do list From the point of view of list consists of visiting the to make better choices as support (small) local and let go of mass-consuming

the customers, the to do event and to get inspired a consumer and to sustainable businesses to behavior.

Cost structure

This will cost permission of the cities’ municipalities to organize the event. Also, innovative ideas and solutions are needed to facilitate the event in a sustainable way. The participation of businesses that produce sustainability as their highest priority are needed to make sure the event is filled with options for the customers.

Revenue streams

The concept will gain knowledge, inspiration, participation, learning, a change of mindset and a reality check when it comes to consumer behavior.

Key resources

The main resources for this concept are the mindmap of ‘sustainability’, the domain research, the biography and the Antwerp assignment that was created for me by my buddy.

Channels

The main channel would be a real life event with many different touchpoints. Before and after the event, social media will be the main communication channels. Before and during the event there will be printed communication means, such as posters and flyers.

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4.2 Concept proposal

This paragraph will clearly describe the concept that was derived from the chosen Creativity Canvas.

What

EARTH NIGHT is a night market event which consists of stands owned by entrepreneurs and companies that sustainably produced products. Examples are vintage clothing stores, second-hand and recycled furniture stores, artists that create art from sustainable sources and local food producers. The market it powered by sustainable energy sources (such as solar and wind energy) to provide energy for lights and cooling elements for food stands, for example.

When

The event takes place on the night of Earth Day (April 22nd) between 20:00 and 01:00.

How

The concept takes place in capital European cities, such as London, Amsterdam and Paris, preferably in a large public square or hall. Needed for this concept is permission from all municipalities to organize such an event. There should also be collaborations with sustainable businesses. Market stands are needed to form the market and to make sure each business can display their products accordingly.

Posters and flyers should be designed and printed to display in the area and to inform the target audience. The flyers can be displayed at the event itself so that people can bring something home and reflect on what they have learned about their own consumer behavior during the event. To implement more of this educational element, guest speakers should be invited to inspire the target audience.

Why

The concept will allow the target audience to think about and reflect on their own shopping and consumer behavior. It also increases the exposure of (unknown) sustainable businesses to the mainstream public.

4.3

Feedback and adjustments

This paragraph presents the received feedback on the presentation about the chosen concept, and on the chosen concept in general. It also reflects on the Critical Stage. This feedback will form the base of the adjustments that have been made to finalize and improve the concept.

Presentation

The feedback I received on my presentation was made according to the Imagination Matrix. I received the feedback of four persons in total.

The first one was by Charlotte van Keulen. It spontaneously made her think of Italian food markets and reminded her of “May the forest be with you”.

According to her, the concept could also be a campaign or festival about recycling to be more worldwide. She would have improved it by keeping it in the dark and to do something like a dinner in the dark.

The second part of feedback I received from Manon Wiegmans. It spontaneously made her think of WNF and it reminded her of ‘Ain’t no mountain high enough, you have to face the facts. We are all group animals, try to be the outcast.’ According to her, it could also be a rule from the government, that you don’t have to buy X-taxes if you recycle well. She would improve it by making it more national: creating a national market in the center of the country which is always accessible and driven by energy made from all the clothing we throw away.

The third one was by Arthur Kok. The presentation spontaneously made him think of the art of sustainable living and it reminded him of The Care Label Project. To him, it could also be a guide for responsible shopping to buy off your conscience. He would improve this by playing with the tension between sustainable shopping and mass consumerism.

The final feedback was received from Cherin Riemeijer. It spontaneously made her think of togetherness and improvement and it reminded her of De Wereldwinkel. She would have improved it by thinking about how to communicate my truïsm and statement and how to make visitors feel this.

Critical Stage

The complete Critical Stage can be found in the sixth paragraph of chapter three. In this paragraph, I will take the parts of the Critical Stage that helped me improve my concept, which were: 1. People visit the market in any order they want > People follow a planned route that is made for them beforehand.

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2. People take flyers home from the event > People receive flyers at home.

3. A physical market > A physical store that sells different brands.

4. Asking permission from the government to organize the market > The event is initiated by the government.

5. Cities across Europe > Focused on one country, capital cities of each province.

This Critical Stage showed similar points to the feedback I received on my presentation. Putting this feedback together, it became clear to me that the concept as how it was written in the proposal wasn’t communicating the message I wanted it to effectively. Based on this concept, new ideas came into my head. The feedback of shopping still begin a form of mass consumerism and the concept being national and facilitated by the government made me think and inspired me. These were very helpful insights that could communicate the statement and truïsm so much more effectively. If it was facilitated by the government, the concept would be communicated much more effectively because it is for a collective good in the long term. Sure, a market event is interesting but there is a big chance that the target audience will solely perceive it as something entertaining. What I want to communicate is a very serious matter, so it should come from a serious source.

Buddy

During my buddy meeting to reflect on the process, she gave me some helpful insights of my concept: She told me that maybe an event is not very original: why is this event special, how does it communicate your message/ statement? What will make this event be remembered and why would it make someone want to go sustainable?

Maybe the event is too much effort. People have to travel there (which is not sustainable) and events are known to produce lots of waste. Maybe I should look at a concept that breathes my statement, is original, can surprise and others will appreciate. She thought that working out this entire event would be a lot of work. Maybe come up with something more simple that still carries your truism and statement. Of course there also good things about this concept: you reach a lot of people in one place. You can give gifts to your visitors and get social media attention.

Maybe you can use these things in a concept that is just a bit more minimalisitic?

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4.4 Final concept

Based on the feedback and adjustments that were discussed in the previous paragraph, the proposal of the finalized concept is presented in this paragraph. After the feedback I decided to eliminate the idea of an event and made my concept related to something government-related for The Netherlands as a country. I went back to the core with this new and improved concept, to make sure my truísm and statement would be more clearly communicated.

What

The final concept is a printed guide which provides sustainable and conscious shopping routes in The Netherlands. The shopping route consists of businesses of all kinds that sell sustainable and/or eco-friendly products. It also provides clear information, such as facts and figures, about the benefits of conscious consumerism and illustrate the negative impacts of mass-consumerism on the environment.

The guide is the product of a campaign by the Dutch government to stimulate sustainable consumerism in the country.

Why

With this concept, the government can actively stimulate an economy driven by conscious consumerism and stimulate businesses that are not (yet) sustainable to make changes to increase sustainability.

In a world full of misleading labels and names, this concept communicates clearly the knowledge needed for the future. Everyone should have access to it, which is why it is part of a government campaign.

4.5 3D product

This paragraph presents the 3D product that was made to capture the essence of the finalized product. The product is a small puzzle-like game that many may know from when they were kids. In Dutch it is called a ‘happertje’. The objective is to place your fingers in the holes at the bottom. The paper can be moved up and down and will show different texts or images, based on the objective of the game. It used to be a fun game for kids to guess what they would become when they grow up or who they would marry in the future. You play the game by saying a number and then move around the paper for that specific amount. Then you choose the image, color of text of the side you want to be opened up. In the case of my product, the images are quality labels and the text underneath is the explanation of every label. I chose to make this product because, like the game, my concept is about the future as well: a sustainable one. Also, the product illustrates a choice which is a link to my truïsm. The product gives clarity of the meaning of various labels. Like I said, the present world is full of misleading labels and names. My concept aims to communicate in a clear way, which is why the meaning of the labels on the 3d product can be seen when lifting the paper corner.

When

The guide will be delivered to Dutch households before the holiday period in December, because this is a time when people tend to do more shopping. If these people go shopping, they should do it consciously. Because, like my truïsm expresses: your character is the sum of your everyday choices, and shopping is one of them.

How

It will be provided by the Dutch government in collaboration with Milieu Centraal. The shopping routes are divided per capital city of each Dutch province. The guide is not meant as advertising for certain businesses: businesses are mentioned based on their business nature and the correct quality labels on their products. It is rather a way to let citizens know about the right labels and provide a nice shopping route for the shops in which these labels can be found.

Milieu Centraal should be a partner in this campaign because they are experts on this field. They have knowledge about the quality labels, which are right and which are misleading. This organization will add much value to the desired transparency of information and consumerism in general.

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5.1 Five Dispositions model

This paragraph will present the five dispositions model that I filled in over the duration of this course (week one, week four and week 7). I will shortly reflect on this model. A short reflection on this model with a more personal focus can be found in paragraph three ‘Theory’.

What: the Five Dispositions Model is a tool that helps reflecting on your personal (creative) process.

So what: The last weeks of this course for me have been really transformational. Not only in how my concept had changes during the process, but also in how I implemented every piece of feedback. I used to be a real perfectionist and would rather defend my ideas than to radically adjust them. I am happy with how I responded to the feedback, and even though changing my concept asked a lot of me time-wise, I am genuinely convinced the changes are all improvements. This is mainly why a major growth can be seen in point of the model such as ‘crafting & improving’, ‘cooperating appropriately’ and ‘sticking with difficulty’.

Now what: I want to implement the learnings from the outcome of this model and try to work on the dispositions that I did not grow much in.

On the left you can see the filled in Dispositions model in its ‘web’ form. The table below shows the progress of each of the dispositions per week.

five.

reflection

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5.2 Goal matrix

In this paragraph I will reflect on the goal matrix, consisting of the goals I had set at the beginning of the course. I will reflect according to the ‘What, So what and Now what’ method.

Goal 1

The first goal was to broaden my knowledge about sustainability.

What: I divided this goal into six smaller ones to reach it. I watched a documentary (‘Minimalism’), tried a new vegetarian recipe, read 20 pages of ‘Dit is een goede gids’ about a sustainable lifestyle, read two articles: one about how governments plan to increase sustainability in urban areas and another one about the top polluting industries in the world and the policy changes regarding these industries. I also listened to a podcast about how veganism can benefit the environment and only used trains and bike as a transportation method for two weeks.

So what: I learned that sustainability relates to almost anything: lifestyle, how we make money, how we spend money, how we eat, etc! It opened my eyes and made me think about my own behavior.

Now what: I want to continue learnin more about this topic and set new goals for myself to live more sustainably.

Goal 2

The second goal was to improve my drawing skills.

What: I divided this goal into six smaller goals to reach it. I made a Pinterest board of drawing styles that interest me, drew everyday for a week, described myself using only drawings, watched an episode of ‘The art of design’ on Netflix, watched a drawing tutorial for beginners on YouTube and created an Instragram account to post my own drawings (Isaillustrates).

So what: I learned how therapeutic drawing (and making art in general) is and now use it as a tool to calm my mind.

Now what: I want to determine a ‘signature’ drawing style and keep practicing to make my Instagram account bigger.

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Goal 3

The third and final goal was to become more conscious about my buying/consumer habits.

What: I divided this goal into six smalles ones to reach it. I watched ‘The True Cost’ on Netflix, listed everything I bought for one week, only bought the bare essentials for another week, cleaned out my room and donated two bags of clothes, listed sustainable and unsustainable brands and went to the market to buy ingredients instead of the supermarket.

So what: somehow, in doing these challenges my mind became very focused on the ‘here and now’.

I became aware of how many things I buy out of habit (bottles of drinks at school for example), when I could easily bring my own. I want to try to stay conscious about this.

Now what: like I said, I want to improve my consciousness even more and change/eliminate the purchases I make out of habit instead of need.

5.3 Theory

In this paragraph I will reflect on four of the models I have used during the course. I will reflect according to the ‘What, So what and Now what’ method.

Daniel Samama

Five Dispositions

So what: normally when I visit a museum I primarily look at pieces I consider to be beautiful. Because of this model, I started looking at as much art pieces as possible and analyzed them in order to determine if they would be a valuable addition to my process.

So what: when I normally reflect on my personal process, I come up with different aspects myself to base my improvements on. In this case, the aspects (‘dispositions’) were given to me. It helped me to look at myself and my own process in ways I would not have thought of myself.

Now what: I noticed that an art piece doesn’t have to catch my eye immediately in order for it to be interesting. After analyzing with this model, I found the unobtrusive pieces maybe even more beautiful.

I want to be aware of this when seeing art in the future.

Now what: having learned more about my personal (creative) process and way of working, I want to apply this knowledge further after graduating, in finding a future workplace that suits me and will help me improving myself even more when it comes to creativity.

Creativity Canvas

Pyramid model of problem finding / problem solving

What: a model that is used for analyzing high art pieces, based on their content, form, function and context.

What: a model that helps creating your concept. It is part of the problem solving phase.

So what: this model helped me the most during my process. For me it was a very new way of concept creating. However, because it was a method I had never used before, I took a long time and effort to fill it in.

Now what: the difficulty in using, and getting used to, this model caused me to learn a lot from it at the same time. In the future I definitely want to consider this method for creating concepts.

What: a tool that helps reflecting on your personal (creative) process.

What: a work method in which a fascination forms the fundament of concept creation. It serves to find a problem within this fascination and then helps to find methods or other ways to solve this problem.

So what: I found the truïsm quite similar to the vision in the concepting lessons I experienced earlier in my education at Fontys. However, I did think that the truïsm was easier to create somehow. I was used to do the research before creating concepts primarily online. This method of literally researching outside opened new doors for me.

Now what: the aspect of going outside and basing research on ‘real’ experiences by myself was very interesting and unusual to me. I really want to challenge myself to do this more often instead of only limiting myself to sources I find online, experienced by others.

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Dictionary.com. (n.d.). Sustainability. Retrieved on January 3rd 2018, from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/sustainability Leonardo Di Caprio Foundation. (n.d.). Dedicated to the long-term health and wellbeing of all Earth’s inhabitants.

Retrieved on January 5th 2018, from https://www.leonardodicaprio.org/ Wicker, A. (2017). Now we know! Fashion is the 5th most polluting industry, equal to livestock. Retrieved on January 5th 2018, from https://ecocult.com/now-know-fashion-5th-polluting-industry-equal-livestock/

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