2. Liz Sanders

3. Collective creativity
making, hacking and enacting
Liz Sanders
Maketools.com
Design.osu.edu
Design Fusion 2013

4. There is a creativity crisis today. Children’s
creative thinking scores have been declining
since 1990 (in the US and Canada).
“The Creativity Crisis is not an event, but an
era of continued decline in most measures of
creativity.”
Kim, K.H., (2011) The Creativity Crisis: The Decrease in Creative Thinking Scores on the Torrance Tests of
Creative Thinking, Creativity Research Journal, 23(4).

5. Yet there is the recognition that creativity is
one of the most important leadership
competencies of the future.

6. What do we know about creativity?

7. Individual creativity
idea
head
Ideas are the basic building blocks of creativity.
“Every creative act involves bisociation, a process that brings together and
combines previously unrelated ideas.” Koestler, 1964

8. Individual creativity
idea
head
heart
Emotion drives cognition.
Positive emotional states increase creativity.

9. Individual creativity
idea
head
heart
body
Creativity takes place in time.
Enactment and improvisation can facilitate creativity.

10. Individual creativity
idea
head
heart
body
places, spaces and materials
The materials present in the environment can also foster creativity.

11. brainstorming

12. brainstorming

13. collective creativity

14. transdisciplinarity

15. How much do we know about creativity?
individual creativity
collective creativity
the socio-cultural space
the physical space
the space of tools, techniques
and materials

16. How much do we know about creativity?
individual creativity
collective creativity
the socio-cultural space
the physical space
the space of tools, techniques
and materials

17. How much do we know about creativity?
individual creativity
collective creativity
the socio-cultural space
the physical space
the space of tools, techniques
and materials

18. A proposal
Instead of focusing on individual creativity, we
should focus on exploring collective creativity:
• how it works
• how we can learn to work it

19. Collective creativity in design
The role of design is changing.
In the past, design was seen as a way to give
shape to the future.
We can also see now that design can be the
means to make sense of the future.

20. Collective creativity in design

21. Collective creativity in design
Giving shape to the future

22. Collective creativity in design
Making sense of the future
Giving shape to the future

23. Collective creativity in design

24. Collective creativity in design

26. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Philadelphia, PA

27. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Philadelphia, PA

33. Gus Colvin, University of Dundee

40. Designing spaces for collaborative creativity

41. Designing spaces for collaborative creativity

42. Designing spaces for collaborative creativity

43. Designing spaces for collaborative creativity

44. Designing spaces for collaborative creativity

45. Designing spaces for collaborative creativity

46. Designing spaces for collaborative creativity

47. Designing spaces for collaborative creativity

48. Civic innovation: Columbus OH

49. Civic innovation: Columbus OH

50. Collective creativity for everyone

51. Collective creativity for everyone
hacking
repurposing
upcycling
remaking
reusing
knithacking
etc.

52. Collective creativity for everyone
making
hacking
enacting

53. Collective creativity for children
builders
pretenders

54. Collective creativity for children
builders
pretenders
hackers

55. http://mymakedo.com/

56. THANK YOU