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

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, May, 2020

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Blumencweig, Sofia.
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Integrated Design and Management Program.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/132736
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author Blumencweig, Sofia.
author2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Integrated Design and Management Program.
author_facet Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Integrated Design and Management Program.
Blumencweig, Sofia.
author_sort Blumencweig, Sofia.
collection MIT
description Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, May, 2020
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spelling mit-1721.1/1327362021-10-07T03:24:34Z From pastime to purpose : design for the elevation of creative hobbies Blumencweig, Sofia. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Integrated Design and Management Program. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering and Management Program. System Design and Management Program. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Integrated Design and Management Program Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering and Management Program System Design and Management Program Integrated Design and Management Program. Engineering and Management Program. System Design and Management Program. Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, May, 2020 Cataloged from the official version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 77-79). 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. by Sofia Blumencweig. S.M. in Engineering and Management S.M.inEngineeringandManagement Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program 2021-10-06T19:17:49Z 2021-10-06T19:17:49Z 2020 2020 Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/132736 1262986887 eng MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 79 pages application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Integrated Design and Management Program.
Engineering and Management Program.
System Design and Management Program.
Blumencweig, Sofia.
From pastime to purpose : design for the elevation of creative hobbies
title From pastime to purpose : design for the elevation of creative hobbies
title_full From pastime to purpose : design for the elevation of creative hobbies
title_fullStr From pastime to purpose : design for the elevation of creative hobbies
title_full_unstemmed From pastime to purpose : design for the elevation of creative hobbies
title_short From pastime to purpose : design for the elevation of creative hobbies
title_sort from pastime to purpose design for the elevation of creative hobbies
topic Integrated Design and Management Program.
Engineering and Management Program.
System Design and Management Program.
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/132736
work_keys_str_mv AT blumencweigsofia frompastimetopurposedesignfortheelevationofcreativehobbies