From pastime to purpose : design for the elevation of creative hobbies

Abstract

Studies have shown that participating in creative hobbies is important for our physical and mental health. It has also been proven to boost our productivity and creativity at work. Yet, despite these benefits, we still have not seen the rise of a cultural movement similar to the exercising craze that has taken hold in the last two decades. Why are we not intentionally setting aside time to spend on our hobbies in the name of wellbeing and longevity? The answer is that creative hobbies are not "cool," and that is mainly because young urban professionals, the trendsetters of their communities, have not fully bought into them yet. The purpose of this thesis is to carve out a new space for a creative hobbies movement based on Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's concept of flow. Through both a human centered design and systems architecture approach, we look at the time allocation behavior of our target audience and determine how to best market this new space to them. We propose a set of design recommendations that are aimed at elevating creative hobbies and eventually bringing them into the cultural mainstream. Finally, we imagine the positive impact this could have on our society. Firstly, by offering more meaningful alternatives to today's most popular pastimes (watching TV and surfing the web) and secondly, by offering more equitable avenues to finding purpose.