Freelance in FLUX

FREELANCE IN FLUX a toolkit for freelance workers

FREELANCE IN FLUX

Special thanks to: Ali Qadeer Nicholas Smith Derek Ma Tori Maas

Designed by Lizz Aston Typeset in Karla Printed in Toronto, Canada at Material Object Lizz Aston, 2017 www.lizzaston.com fibre@lizzaston.com

FREELANCE IN FLUX A toolkit for freelance workers

by Lizz Aston

Contents

INTRO

Who is this Workbook For?

Objectives - The Goals of This Workbook Are

When do You Use This Workbook?

Tools Required Community Guidelines

The Process - A Checklist

Planning For Facilitators OUTPUTS Digital & Physical Publications Design Cards CREATIVE Creative Process (Give & Take) PRACTICAL

P.D. Daze (Professional Development) Document Cache

Basic Rights (& Wrongs)

Other Things That Can Be Crowdsourced Space

7 9 11 14 17 20 22 26 27-30 34 48 60 62 66

PERSONAL Reach-out/Getting Unstuck

Burn-out & Self-care

84 104

PUBLIC

Public Discourse (Local & Global) Burn-it-Down! (Activism)

122 126

POP-OUTS Thematic Dice Fortune Teller Problematic BINGO

136 140 143

INTRODUCTION

Who is this workbook for?

This workbook is for people who identify as freelance workers, people who are self-employed, work in the creative sector, or anyone who is affected by the complicated realities of precarious labour. Whether you work from home, a co-working space, use Wi-Fi at a cafe, work out of a studio or wherever your practice may take you - it is not uncommon to experience feelings of isolation due to the nature of your work. In conducting my research and interviews for this project, one of the biggest issues that became apparent to me was exactly how isolated freelance workers feel, siloed away from one another in their practice. Without access to a larger network or community of people, this makes it difficult to connect over shared problems, seek support, advocate on behalf of each other and organize collectively around labour issues.

Final outputs from each of the workshops will take shape in the form of a physical or digital publication which can include anything from a zine, meme, video, crowd-sourced Google Doc or syllabi as take-aways from the experience and conversation. The end goal is to populate access to new information and outputs that can easily be spread and shared.

The interactions included in this workbook take inspiration from conditional design, Fluxus art, and chance-based games and interactions.

My vision for the workbook is that it will serve as a tool for self-advocacy that exists at the intersection of conceptual art practice and design activism. In the workbook I have included a number of examples lifted from co-design workshops I conducted as a part of my user testing and research phase. While the success of each of the co-design workshops demonstrates achievable goals as well as the spirit of the project – it is important to note that the tools provided will only be successful if there is ownership over them. I am providing you with a series of starting points, however, it is up to you to choose what to do with them. The following strategies presented aim to empower freelance workers by giving them a voice, making the invisible visible and by helping to fill in a knowledge deficit through facilitated discussion and interaction. What is intended to spread from this isn’t just a conversation or a moment in time, but new connections in a larger network that allows social resilience to grow and persist.

Inspired by my own experiences of precarity while working as a freelance artist and designer, I wanted to create a tool to empower and support others in their work. The goal of this workbook is to create new connections and collective discussion by providing a series of starting points in the form of interactions.

Using participatory and co-design methods such as play, discussion and speculative practice, each of the interactions outlined in the workbook are intended to be conducted in a group workshop format in order to encourage creative insight, critical thinking and self reflection while building community among participants. The final outputs from each activity will be published physically or digitally and will culminate in a self-generating system that populates access to new informa tion, tools and resources for freelance workers.

Intro 9

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OBJECTIVES

The goals of this workbook are:

1. To act as a starting point.

2. To catalyze discussion, critique, and self-reflection.

3. To activate collective knowledge as power.

4. To foster new relationships, community and a culture of support.

5. To carry conversations into online and offline spaces.

6. To act as a tool for advocacy and self-organization.

7. To flip the power dynamics back into the hands of freelance workers.

Intro 11

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WHEN DO YOU USE THIS WORKBOOK?

Collectively This workbook can be used to facilitate interactions at events, workshops, breakout sessions, conferences, meet-ups or design jams. It can be used as a tool by co-working spaces, or Not-for-Profits to foster community and new collaborations among colleagues and peers. Through continued engagement and use of the workbook new connections, collaborations and critical dialogue will emerge.

The activities outlined in the workbook are structured in a way that gives the user a set of starting points in the form of instruction based interactions. I have included a breakdown of additional considerations for each activity and provided examples based on the co-design workshops I conducted as a part of my user-testing phase. Additional notes are provided with each activity in order to help facilitators streamline the process. The interactions outlined in the workbook are intended to be open-ended in order to allow for multiple potential processes and outcomes.

Each of the workshops are designed with flexibility in mind in order to accommodate a range of participant needs including individual comfort levels, thinking and working styles.

Riso Workshop: How to make a quick zine

Intro 13

Individually If you are using the workbook on your own, think of it as starting point to reach out and engage your community. Activities are designed to help you activate discussion and connect with others in online spaces to solicit feedback when you need support. If you are feeling up for the challenge, why not host an interaction or event yourself? Gather a group of friends or colleagues together, have everyone bring snacks and pick an interaction to conduct for fun - you will be surprised what comes out of it! The interactions are intended to activate discussion and selfreflection while providing a cathartic means to deal with a range of work-related situations.

Riso test prints - layering images

Intro 15

TOOLS REQUIRED

Enabling technologies

With the keyword ‘enabling’ in mind, emphasis should be placed on using quick and dirty tools in order to make workshops and publications as accessible and easy to complete as possible. Everyday tools such as a laptop, printer, camera, smart phone, photocopier, paper and post-it notes are useful for rapid iteration and publishing the workshop outcomes. Additionally, social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook are a great medium for quickly disseminating information and images and Google Docs or spreadsheets are free, open-source tools, perfect for sharing and collaboration on the fly.

access, borrow, trade, share, network, hack, reinvent or recycle, with the results of the interactions culminating in a larger dialogue that is meant to be shared. It is up to you to discuss with the group what your vision for the publication is, where you want it to end up, what you want it to look like and what you want it to say or do. Think about ways each of these publications can be produced and accumulated in order to create a larger cache of information, while pushing the medium as far as it can go. Dream big. Think subversively.

Another possibility is to leverage the tools, skills or spaces of the people in your immediate network. Processes such as silkscreen printing, risograph, videography, editing or even projection mapping carry the potential to engage your audience in unexpected ways.

Finally, one last possibility to tackle the physical making of outputs or publications, although not as quick, would be to outsource fabrication of workshop-produced materials to on-demand services such as Shapeways or Moo.com. Each of the tools and technologies proposed carries with it a list of pros and cons, however, any design considerations made should be based on sourcing the most efficient, cost effective, spreadible medium.

Ultimately, the goal is to use these tools as a way to either reach the greatest amount of people, or a specific targeted audience.

Any workshop-produced materials that are published should be considered open-source and should avoid crediting any one author in order to maintain the collaborative spirit of the project. The content must be easy to Freelance in Flux 16

tools:

approach:

laptop

network

printer

map

camera

reinvent

smartphone

recycle

photocopier

access

paper

borrow

post-it notes

trade

screen printing

share

risograph

hack

instagram

re-build

facebook

destroy

twitter wikipedia google docs Intro 17

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COMMUNITY GUIDELINES

Why do we need them? to share information publicly - what happens in the room should stay in the room in order to avoid putting anyone at undue risk. Make sure to ask for permission when necessary and don’t make assumptions about what people are comfortable with – It’s okay to ask. Consent should also expand to include making sure that you have permission to continue communication with participants after a workshop or event.

A lot of considerations come into play when conducting community engaged workshops.

It’s important to take the time to establish guidelines at the beginning of each event in order to flesh out a common understanding and agreement about how to communicate as a group. One way to do this is to have the group generate a quick list of the ways in which they would like to communicate with each other, then post the list on the wall as a point of reference during the event. By establishing community guidelines from the beginning, this will help promote healthy conversation and shape positive group dynamics among group participants. Some considerations to address at the beginning of each session include:

Clarifying Expectations

When working in a group setting, we must acknowledge that different people bring different skills, experiences and insights to the table.

Take the opportunity to clarify and manage expectations by establishing goals and objectives with the group. This will help give the interaction and its outputs a sense of scope, as well as establish what it is or isn’t intended to do. During each stage of the activity, it is good to check in with the group and take the temperature of the room to see how people are feeling about the activity before proceeding to the next step.

Consent

In order to create trust among participants we need to establish and understand each other’s needs around confidentiality and disclosing information. It is important to have this conversation at the beginning of a session in order to make sure that everybody is on the same page and people’s expectations are explicit.

Unless someone gives the group their consent Intro 19

INCLUSION & POSITIVE ENCOURAGEMENT

DO: - Be professional.

- Be self-aware.

- Use respectful language.

- Act with integrity.

- Be honest and transparent with your intentions.

- Be respectful of other people’s time and attention.

- Be reciprocal – Commit to listening and sharing.

- Be open minded – We all have something to learn.

- Participate meaningfully.

- Help create opportunities for each other.

- Commit to seeing an activity through.

Intro 21

THE PROCESS

A checklist

1.

Introduce the interaction.

2. Break up it up into manageable parts.

3. Encourage open discussion among participants.

4. Check-in with folks to see how they are feeling.

5. Allow for flexibility.

6. Negotiate decisions about the final output as a group.

7. Determine what needs to be done and delegate tasks.

8. Facilitate the design and making of a final publication.

9. Discuss how the output should be disseminated and shared.

10. Make a plan for future activities and collaboration.

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PLANNING FOR FACILITATORS

Set-up & Preparation

This includes all prep-work involved leading up to an event including sourcing a space to host the workshop, advertising the event, planning, communication and outreach to workshop participants as well as prepping any tools or materials needed to conduct the workshop.

Some additional considerations include: bringing printed materials or a one-pager outlining the workshop, as well as paper to write on or fill out, example publications from past workshops, a sign-up sheet, mailing list, comment cards or any supplementary information that would be useful for people to take away.

Introductions & Discussion

At the beginning of each session have people introduce themselves and talk about their practice. This will help establish what each person does, the skills they bring to the table and what stage they are at in their career, setting common ground for discussion.

Launch Into the Interaction

Negotiate Final Outputs 1.

Prepare any materials needed to produce a final output you already have in mind.

2. Negotiate as a group how you would like to see this information produced physically or digitally, and work with tools and materials you have on hand.

3. Pull a card from the final ouputs, or pair multiple cards and propose a design challenge.

4. Roll a set of dice and leave the final output up to chance. Push participants to consider how each of these design decisions will change the meaning of the publication.

Facilitate Making

Introduce the interaction to the group and give an overview of the process and what is going to take place. Address any questions or considerations and give people the option to negotiate the process along the way. Provide any support materials, hand-outs or examples that will help frame the workshop being conducted. Assign an estimated time required to complete each step involved. Schedule breaks as needed. Be flexible and allow the process to change depending on the goals/skills/needs of the group. Be an active facilitator. Summarize the group’s discussion points and address any themes that come up.

Participation creates a sense of shared ownership – make a space for everyone to contribute.

Check in with folks at each stage of the process and make sure they are feeling comfortable. Be transparent and explicit about the goals of the project - what it is and isn’t intended to do. Pay attention to the social dynamics and energy of the group. If there is a dip in energy in the room, give people a break and allow them to get motivated and back on course.

Final publications need to take the original vision of the group into consideration as well as their goals or any adjustments that need to be made. There are numerous ways to approach making tangible outcomes. Try to streamline the process as much as possible by providing tools and supplies that are tactile, facilitate immediacy and allow for rapid iteration using physical and digital making processes. Assign tasks to the group based on individual skill-sets and comfort levels and where necessary, empower participants with new skills, tips and tricks in order to facilitate making.

Wrap-up & Take Aways

Workshop participants are your key users and stakeholders. These are the people who are going to get the most out of the workshop and advocate for the project moving forward. Participants should leave feeling a newfound sense of community and accomplishment, so that they feel a commitment to one another. At the end of each workshop, thank people for their contributions and give them something to take away.

This can include a copy of the publication or output that was produced during the session, swapping business cards, contact info or giving them a hand-out with supplementary activities to take home.

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Expectations for Facilitators

Here are some expectations to set for yourself before you get started: Be realistic about your timeline and achievable goals. Be agile and adaptable to different situations. Be aware of individual comfort levels and personal boundaries. Different levels of participation and commitment are okay. Keep the meeting active, informative and discussion-based. Be prepared to experience hiccups during the making process.

Always have a backup plan and extra materials on hand. If the publication isn’t completed within the allotted time frame, commit to participants by making a timeline and plan for how the project will be executed and shared with the group.

Stick to this commitment and see it through.

Intro 25

Digital & physical publications What is an OUTPUT?

An output is defined as any physical or digital publication produced as a result of a workshop.

On the following pages, I have provided a series of design cards to be used as prompts for potential outputs to be made. Pop them out, and use them to help inform the type of publication you will produce. The word publication is defined broadly and can include anything from a zine, a meme, a crowdsourced google doc or even a dinner party.

The goal is to leverage the conversations and insights gathered from each of the workshops and use this opportunity to proliferate information about freelance workers experience, while creating tools and support mechanisms to help each other in your work.

How-to use the cards?

You can either choose an output that makes the most sense for the activity or shuffle the deck to determine an output / combination of outputs and pose it as a design challenge.

Design considerations should be made based on the most efficient, cost effective, sustainable, or spreadable medium. Media can be borrowed, shared, traded, sourced, networked, hacked, re-invented or recycled. What is the vision for your publication? Where do you want it to end up? And how can you push the medium into meaningful and new territory? Address goals and vision setting with the group.

Steps of the process: 1.

Stage the interaction.

2. Evoke sharing back and forth.

3. Enact co-creation.

4. Discover new insights.

5. Publish new tools and information.

How can we activate and empower workshop participants to author their own experiences?

By creating a series of digital & physical publications, this will ensure ownership over information and how it is disseminated and shared. The end product of the workshop is not only a publication, but the process, conversations and new connections made.

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RAPID PUBLICATION

ZINE

MEME

INSTAGRAM

SOCIAL MEDIA CALL-OUT

VIDEO

DESIGN CARDS

MAP

#HASHTAG

CROWDSOURCED GOOGLE DOC.

SYLLABUS

A STRATEGY OR ACTION

DINNER PARTY

WORKSHOP

SPACE INTERVENTION

INFOGRAPHIC

Creative process (give & take)

Each of the interactions outlined in this section use the creative process to uncover latent feelings and evoke new insights about individual experience through tactile processes and play.

By conducting a series of quick drawing activities such as Exquisite Corpse, this workshop uses creative triggers to get at the core of participants feelings through tactile interactions and collaboration. Participants are given a limited timeframe to conduct the activity and must rely on intuition to create drawings and compositions that speak to their personal experience. What results from each of these interactions are critical moments of self-reflection and insight supported by group discussion and interaction.

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#1. EXQUISITE CORPSE

1. Fold a piece 3. Pass it on to of paper into the next person thirds & draw on to draw on. the first third.

4. Continue until 2. Fold the paper the process is so the drawing complete. is hidden & leave marks for 5. Open the the lines to drawings. Lay them carry on. flat. Discuss.

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#1. EXQUISITE CORPSE

Exquisite Corpse - Riso Workshop

Tools Required

Workshop Instructions

11 x 17 sheets of paper, pens, markers.

Theme

Draw how you feel at the beginning, middle and end of a project.

Possible Variations

Exquisite Corpse is done by folding a piece of paper into three sections and using the beginning, middle and end as a framework for collaborative drawing. The paper could also be folded into quarters, or you could use of the front and back of the page to play with layout as a part of the process. Drawings can be framed around a theme, or can be literal or symbolic depending on what you are trying to achieve.

Fold a piece of paper into thirds. In the first third, draw how you feel at the beginning of a project Once you are finished, fold the paper so the drawing is hidden and leave a mark to indicate where to carry the lines on to the next section.

Pass the paper to the next person. The second person will draw how they feel during the middle of a project, and the third person will draw how they feel at the end of a project. Once the process is complete, open each of the drawings and lay them side by side on the floor to discuss. Have you gained any new insights about the way other people think or work? Is there anything useful you’ve learned that you could apply to your own practice? Make notes on the back of this page.

Creative 39

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#2. MEMES

Work for Funzies - Zine produced from Meme workshop

Creative 41

1. Collect images.

2. Collect statements.

3. Pair them...

4. You’ve got a meme!

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#2. MEMES

Meme - by Andrew Olivares

Tools Required

Workshop Instructions

A wifi connection, a laptop or smartphone. A link to a meme-generator website such as: memegenerator.net/ OR imgflip.com/memegenerator and access to google drive or facebook messenger to upload and share content with the group.

The success of this workshop relies on keeping the process flexible and being able to negotiate with the group based on individual comfort levels. When I conducted this interaction as a Co-Design workshop, we chose to frame the workshop around a casual discussion on people’s work experiences and then mapped out common themes onto post-it notes to use as inspiration. People then broke off into pairs and made memes using a meme generator.

Through this process, one discovery I made was that people felt an added sense of pressure to be clever or funny, which created a bit of a barrier for the group. One way to circumvent this would be to prep the workshop differently and work with tangible materials in order to redirect the focus and prevent social anxiety. The final memes were shared to facebook messenger, downloaded and published in the form of a zine.

Possible Variations

You could prepare physical materials ahead of time, and approach the workshop as a tangible activity. By working with physical print-outs of images and applying text on top of them, this will alter the process and outcomes of the interaction. Tools required include a printer, paper, pens, drawing tools, magazines, photos, collage supplies and glue sticks.

Creative 43

Paste memes from the workshop here:

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Fig. 1. PiĂąata

#3. PROTEST PIÑATA!

Items to stuff the PiĂąata with:

1. Make or purchase a PiĂąata.

2. Stuff it with objects, thoughts or images.

3. Secure it from a vertical height and blindfold participants

4. Take turns beating the pinata until it bursts.

5. Gather the items and discuss their meaning.

6. Leave with a new memory.

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#3. PROTEST PIÑATA!

Draw what you want the Piñata to look like:

Tools Required

Workshop Instructions

Make or purchase a Piñata. Devise a theme for the activity and inform participants ahead of time. Stuff the Piñata with objects brought by the group and hang it from a vertical height. Blindfold participants and take turns beating it until it bursts. Discuss the meaning behind each of the items and leave with a new memory.

You will need a Piñata and items to fill it with.

This could include personal objects connected to a feeling or memory, something that you’ve written, designed or made, a lesson you’ve learned or anything you want to share that feels appropriate to stuff the Piñata with.

Theme

It is important to assign a theme to this interaction in order to inform the types of objects people will bring.

Possible Variations

Another option would be to make the Piñata.

Variations could include decorating it symbolically by playing with the form or the materials used.

Do you want the Piñata to be a literal representation of something? Perhaps you could print thoughts or exchanges on coloured paper and cut it into strips to decorate the Piñata with.

Creative 47

P.D. Daze (professional development)

This section addresses the practical aspects of your practice including education, mentorship, skill-trading and collaboration. The goal of this section is to activate group knowledge while leveraging diverse and complementary skill sets. Activities such as the Rapid-Fire Workshops are intended to address a knowledge or skill gap, while creating your own DIY Executive Board facilitates group problem solving that plays to the strengths of individuals. Each of the activities give participants the opportunity to ask for help, and reach out when they are feeling stuck. By establishing a document cache of information participants are able to pool their knowledge around practical needs by creating access to tools and resources that will help support each other.

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Workshop: Steps to creating positiva allyships

#4. RAPID-FIRE WORKSHOPS

Practical 51

Workshop ideas:

1. Make a list of skills you have.

2. Make a list of skills you need.

3. What can easily be taught?

4. Take turns pitching your ideas and vote on them.

5. Launch into a series of 30 minute rapidfire workshops.

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#4. RAPID-FIRE WORKSHOPS

Workshop: How to organize a successful campaign - Institute for Change Leaders

Tools Required

Workshop Instructions

A laptop, smartphone, printer, pens, markers, post-it notes, paper, a chalkboard and chalk. Whatever tools you need in order to articulate information quickly and easily.

Each of the workshops and the tools needed to conduct them should be kept simple and straightforward. If you could teach a workshop related to your field - what would it be? Vote on pitches and conduct workshops in 30 minute rapid-fire sessions. Document the process, interactions and insights learned. Did the workshops run smoothly, or was there more time needed? Are there any trends that you see? What would you do differently? Think about how this can be published and shared.

Theme

Examples for rapid-fire workshops include: how to write an invoice, a budget or sponsorship letter, freelancer life hacks, tips and tricks, tools for self-care or creating a live/work balance.

The outcome of the workshops depends on the professional background and skill-level of the members in the group.

Practical 53

Student Union Crafternoon

#5. DIY EXECUTIVE BOARD

1. Write down a 3. Form an executive problem you team and need help solving. delegate tasks.

Fold the paper and place it 4. You have one in a hat. hour/day/week/ month to solve 2. Randomly select the problem. one problem from the hat.

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#5. DIY EXECUTIVE BOARD

Student Union Crafternoon - holiday card making workshop.

Tools Required People with skills, a problem to solve, pens, paper, a hat to draw problems from.

Theme

Collaborative skillz to pay the billz.

Workshop Instructions

The goal of this workshop is to leverage the skills of a group to solve a problem through collaboration. On a piece of paper, write down a problem you need help solving. Fold the paper a couple times and place it in a hat. One person will then randomly select a problem out of the hat. What roles or skills are needed to help solve this problem? Conduct 3 minute pitches of everyone’s skills and assign roles based on people’s strengths. Positions can include roles such as a project manager, a researcher, a social media officer, an events coordinator or director

of finance for example. Assemble your own DIY Executive Board, define the scope of the problem, each person’s roles and responsibilities and and brainstorm ways to solve it collaboratively.

The group should agree an explicit timeline in order to get the work done. How can this process be documented and shared? What did you learn from working with the group? Does this working dynamic support future collaboration and would you do it again?

Practical 57

Notes & ideas:

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#6. COLLABORATION SPEED DATING

Practical 59

Possibilities for collaboration:

1. Partner up with a stranger.

2. Conduct a 5 minute pitch of your practice and skills to each other.

4. Once you have met everyone in the room, partner up with folks and brainstorm ways to collaborate.

3. Swap partners and start over.

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#6. COLLABORATION SPEED DATING

Fig. 2. Team work

Tools Required

Workshop Instructions

A group of people with complementary and/or cross-disciplinary skill sets.

Name tags, pens, note paper.

Theme

Speed dating, but for collaborative practice.

Possible Variations

The interaction can also include pairing up to conduct skill-trades, or bartering for skills and information. One thing that is important to note is that this workshop will only be successful if people are actively seeking to collaborate, but don’t necessarily have a network of potential co-collaborators to reach out to.

Similar to the rapid-fire workshops, make a list of skills you have as well as any skills that would compliment your own. In 5 minute timed intervals, take turns pitching your practice and skills to your partner. After 10 minutes has elapsed and both people have had a chance to speak, swap partners and start over. Once you have met with everyone in the room, pair up into teams and brainstorm ways you would like to collaborate.

Is there a project that you already have in mind, or are you seeking to learn something new?

Practical 61

Document cache This can include: 1. Crowdsourced documents 2. Budget templates 3. Click & Grab Contracts 4. Legal documents 5. Sponsorship Letters

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Basic rights (& wrongs)

This section loosely touches upon fair and equitable employment, how to stand up for yourself and rally a group of people when you need help fighting back. How do you set the ground rules for the way you expect to be treated? What do professional boundaries look like, and how do you respond when those boundaries are crossed? These questions are intended to be provocative and open-ended. It’s up to you to draw your own conclusions about what to do with them.

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#7. BEST PRACTICES GUIDE

Practical 65

What do best practices look like?

1. What are some issues you’ve had with clients?

2. What are some things you would like them to know?

3. Unpack problem areas & highlight common themes.

4. Establish a set of rules or guidelines for your working relationships.

5. Use this to set boundaries.

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#7. BEST PRACTICES GUIDE

Tools Required

output should modifiable, or if it is set in stone.

Think about ways that people can add to it, expand on it, or make it their own.

Post-it notes, markers, pens, paper, a laptop, wifi, gmail, google docs etc.

Workshop Instructions

Theme

This activity is meant to be directed towards a target audience including clients, employers or anyone you feel that needs brushing up on understanding personal or professional boundaries and working relationships.

Possible Variations

Get creative with the final output and how it is published and shared. The more people who get see it, the more momentum it will have to create an actual impact. Final outputs could include: a poster, an infographic, a crowdsourced google doc, a template or email signature, a manifesto or community agreement. Some additional considerations include whether or not the final

Figure out what your needs are based on your your experiences/ the experiences of others in the group. This could include what you want to people to know, hear, understand, empathize with or change. Unpack problem areas in your communications/expectations from others and highlight common themes. This could even be distilled into a further breakdown of themes and addressed as a publication series.

Practical 67

Other things that can be crowdsourced: 1. A curated list 2. A syllabus 3. Resources 4. Advice 5. Contact info 6. Listings for opportunities 7. A critique of employers 8. An Open Letter

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#8. CROWDSOURCING AN EMAIL RESPONSE TO AN IDIOT

1. Open the offending email in question.

2. Copy and paste it into a Google Doc. 3. Invite people to edit and make comments.

4. When you feel that its finally ready, copy and paste it into your response.

5. Hit send and share.

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#8. CROWDSOURCING AN EMAIL RESPONSE...

Workshop notes on different approaches to problem solving as a group.

Tools Required

Workshop Instructions

A gmail account, google docs, the offending email in question, and a group of people to crowdsource a response with.

The results of this workshop depend on your goals and the outcome you would like to achieve. I would like to think of this activity as existing on a spectrum - from needing a second opinion or help with tone and wording, to making a commentary on a larger social issue. The first approach is more practical while the second approach has the potential to become an artform with a message crafted towards addressing larger social issues.

Theme

Salty, sweet, spicy, sour

Possible Variations

This activity can either be done IRL with snacks, drinks, or by reaching out online to friends, colleagues, people on a forum, facebook group or through a hashtag or social media callout.

Practical 71

Space

This section addresses space issues related to freelance work in the city. From going on a field trip to visit different types of workspaces, to thinking about how space enables or hinders people in their practice. This section encourages participants to engage in critical discussion about space issues that directly affect them - including commercial leases, tenant rights, affordability, accessibility and the precarity of space in Toronto.

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#9. WORKSPACE CRIT

1. Conduct a field trip series of your work place or studio.

2. Introduce the space and talk about the impact it has on your practice.

3. Participants are to take notes, make sketches of the space and provide a critique.

4. What have you learned about space in the city?

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#9. WORKSPACE CRIT

Make sketches from your studio visits here:

Tools Required

Workshop Instructions

TTC Tokens, a notebook, pens, drawing tools, post-it notes, a measuring tape and a smartphone or a digital camera to document with.

This workshop will take place ideally on a day when you have the opportunity to visit multiple spaces, or alternately, could take place on a rotating basis with a select group of participants. For the workshop, the host will introduce the space and talk about the impact of the space on their practice. Participants will document the space by taking notes and making sketches, before conducting a critique. Critiques are meant to provide helpful feedback including ways to modify the space, reduce costs or address the precarity of commercial leases. The final output could culminate in the form of a publication including notes and drawings taken from each of the spaces visited. What does this activity say about the different ways people think, make and organize around work, or the barriers that they face as freelance workers?

Theme

Show & Tell, a field trip, a critique.

Possible Variations

This activity can also touch upon themes such as precarity due to zoning, bylaws, gentrification, commercial leases, tenant rights, access and affordability within the city.

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Make sketches & take notes here:

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#10. HACKING THE CITY

Practical 77

1. On a large piece of paper draw a map of the city.

2. Take turns plotting each of the spaces that enable you in your work as a freelancer.

3. Determine categories and make a legend.

4. Compare notes.

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#10. HACKING THE CITY

Draw a map of your go-to places across the city:

Tools Required

Pens, markers, drawing tools, large format paper, post-it notes, a laptop or smartphone and google maps.

Theme

Crowdsourcing information. Tips and tricks on how freelance workers navigate their work in the city.

Possible Variations

This activity can extend from physical spaces to include digital spaces, apps, websites, blogs, job or message forums and facebook groups that are locally based.

Workshop Instructions

Make a list of your go-to places as a freelancer working in the city. This can include accessing free wifi, a favourite cafe to work at, a co-working space, a place you go to copy, print, scan or fax documents, somewhere you schedule meetings or go to take a break, or anything else you can think of that enables you in your work.

Make a large-scale map and plot these spaces out across the map including a legend. Are there any new places have you discovered? Create an output that makes this information accessible to others. Consider how this publication can be contributed to and modified.

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#11. STAYCATION

Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition - July, 2016

Practical 81

1. Where do you go to relax in the city?

2. What does your ideal staycation look like to you?

3. Draw images, make a map, write keywords, or scavenger hunt directions to your favourite place.

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#11. STAYCATION

Where do you go to relax? Draw or write keywords of your go-to places to unwind in the city.

Tools Required

Workshop Instructions

Pens, markers, drawing tools, a smartphone and google maps.

Theme

Where do you go to unwind in the city? What does your ideal staycation look like to you?

Possible Variations

This activity can also include spaces outside of the downtown core such as the surrounding suburbs or parklands.

Have you ever been stuck in the city on a long weekend or missed taking a vacation in anticipation of work? What are your go-to places to unwind? What does an ideal staycation look like to you? Using the space above, draw images, memories, make a map, write keywords, or scavenger hunt directions to your favourite place. This can include a neighbourhood, a park, a book store, a tree to sit under, or even a friends house.

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Reach-out / getting unstuck

Sometimes you just need permission to do what seems obvious. This section gives participants an excuse to come together to create a feedback mechanism by hosting group critiques, Q&A sessions, tapping into past experiences, visual problem solving, and exploring the future potential of rejected projects together.

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#12. SHOW & TELL

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1. Bring a project to share with the group.

2. Conduct a 5-10 minute presentation of the work, followed by a Q&A.

3. Does the work achieve its goals?

What could be done more effectively?

4. Take notes and adjust accordingly.

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#12. SHOW & TELL

Studio visit - work in process

Tools Required

A project you are currently working on, as well as pens and post-it notes.

Workshop Instructions This may seem like an obvious workshop, but I’ve decided to include it because I’m of the opinion that sometimes people just need an excuse or permission to do something that seems obvious but isn’t. In my experience, one of the most difficult aspects of working on your own outside of a post-secondary institution is the lack critical feedback you are used to receiving from your peers. This activity aims to make a space for people to come together and engage in a group critique. For the workshop, bring in a project you are currently working on to present to the group. It can be a personal project or something connected to your professional work, whatever you feel that you would receive

the most benefit from getting feedback on. For the workshop, each person will take 5-10 minutes to present their work, followed by a Q&A. Assign someone documenting the critique for the sake of an output. This can include taking photos, video or making notes. Some suggestions for a final output include creating a DIY guide on how to host your own critique, it could pose a critique of the critique or could be a publication on the projects presented in the workshop.

Participants can choose to accept the feedback they received or can do the exact opposite.

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Notes from your critique:

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#13. REJECT PILE

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1. Bring in a rejected project to present & share.

2. Brainstorm what to do with the work next.

3. This can include reclaiming the materials, giving the work a second chance, exhibiting it in a Salon de Refuses, trading it on Bunz, or publicly destroying it.

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#13. REJECT PILE

Discard masters from Material Object Riso studio

Tools Required

Workshop Instructions

Bring in a rejected project to discuss.

Theme

What do you do when your work gets rejected?

Possible Variations

Give the work a second chance, a last chance, Host it in a Salon de Refuses, post the work on Bunz Trading Zone and see what people will trade for it, or make something new.

Bring in a rejected project and present it to the group. This can be something you are embarrassed about that you haven’t shared with anyone yet, or a project you pitched that was rejected. This workshop is meant to be open ended, allowing the group to determine what to do with the rejected ideas and items. Some suggestions include critiquing the work and giving it a second chance, hosting the works in a Salon de Refuses, otherwise known as an exhibition of rejected work, or you could choose to publicly destroy it as a group, document it and share.

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#14. ASK A STRANGER

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1. If you could ask anyone in the room a question about their practice, what would it be?

2. Write your questions down on cue cards.

3. Collect all the cue cards and shuffle the deck.

4. Take turns pulling a card and answering the questions.

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#14. ASK A STRANGER

Co-design workshop - Paris Zheng & Derek Ma

Tools Required

Workshop Instructions

Pens and a deck of cue cards.

If you could ask any person in the room a question related to their practice, what would it be? This could be directed at someone in specific or the group in general. Write down a question - one per card and shuffle the deck.

Each person will take turns pulling a card and have a go around answer the question.

What kind of questions did people ask?

Theme

Work experiences demystified.

Possible Variations

This activity can also take on the form of an interactive mail piece at an event. Instead of using cue cards, design a postcard that can be handed out to attendees. Include a space on the front for their mailing address and a space on the back to write a question and receive an answer. The return address should be optional.

On one postcard, guests will be able to write a question and on another, leave a response.

Document the results and mail them out.

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#15. PROBLEM SOLVING FLOWCHART

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1. Write down a question.

4. Make a diagram of the process.

2. Write down possible solutions.

5. Now you have a flowchart!

3. Map out all of the variables in between.

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#15. PROBLEM SOLVING FLOWCHART

Are You Happy? flowchart

Tools Required

Workshop Instructions

Pens, markers, post-it notes, bristol board or large format coloured paper.

Theme Visual tools and processes for solving a problem.

Possible Variations

In order to streamline the workshop, try making it tangible and hands-on. One way to do this would be to use post-it notes, or circles pre-cut out of coloured paper to write on directly and map onto the wall. This will allow for easy reconfiguration as well as documentation.

The goal of this interaction is to make a diagram or flowchart that helps visualize all of the steps it takes to solve a problem. It’s up to you to decide what problem or theme you would like to address.

Some examples include - tackling issues that directly relate to your practice, making a visual diagram of the creative process or how-to brainstorm techniques. Once you have defined a question you want to map, use post-it notes to map out possible outcomes. What are the steps to get from the problem to a solution? These are the variables in between. Don’t be afraid to include false starts or dead ends. Does the flowchart answer your question or make the process more explicit? Other than a poster, what are the ways could this be published and shared?

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Draw your flowchart here:

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#16. IF YOU KNEW THEN...

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What advice would you give to: 1. Someone interested in going into your field?

3. To your past self?

4. To a colleague?

2. Someone just starting out?

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#16. IF YOU KNEW THEN...

Post-it note brainstorm session

Tools Required

Workshop Instructions

Paper and a pen.

Write down some solid advice you would give to:

Theme

1.

Advice and insights you would have liked to receive or you think would be useful to hear.

Someone interested in going into your field.

2. Someone just starting out.

3. To your past self.

4. To a colleague.

Swap notes and compare your advice with the rest of the group. What are the emerging themes? Is there any advice you don’t agree with or that surprises you? Have you gained any insights into another practice?

Create a publication that addresses the needs of the people you wrote advice for.

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Burn-out & self-care

This section addresses how to recognize the signs and symptoms of burn-out before it happen. How to self-identify any recurring patterns or catalysts that exist. Preventative strategies including needs-mapping in order to create a more sustainable live/work balance, as well as saying NO as an act of self-care.

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#17. BURNING EXERCISE

1. Make a list of things that deplete your energy or burn you out.

2. Make a list of things that motivate and energize you.

3. Collectively burn the first list.

4. Share your insights from the second list.

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#17. BURNING EXERCISE

Burning workshop - March 9th, 2017

Workshop Instructions

Tools Required

Pens, paper, matches, a pot or fire pit, water to douse the embers with.

Theme

Release negative feelings, attitudes and energy. Set positive intentions and goals.

Possible Variations

Instead of making a final output, we decided to make paper cranes as a symbol for hope and healing during challenging times. This decision felt much more personal and symbolic for the people participating in the moment.

This is a quick activity designed to help create self awareness, release negative feelings and provide catharsis. On a piece of paper make a list of things that deplete your energy or lead to burn-out. Once you are finished writing, fold the paper a few times and put it in a pot (or anywhere that is appropriate to burn things).

Write a second list of things that motivate and energize you and hold on to it for now. Once everyone has finished writing, head outside and light a match (or matches if multiple people would like to join). Collectively burn the first list, and be merry. After the fire subsides douse it with water. Now pull out your second list and share it with others. What insights are you taking away? How would you like to see yourself grow?

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#18. CATALYSTS FOR BURNOUT

Paper Cranes - a symbol of hope after burn-out

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1. Reflect on a time you experienced burn-out from your work.

2. What were the factors that lead to burn-out?

3. Are there patterns or common themes?

4. Discuss with the group and use this to determine the catalysts for burn-out.

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#18. CATALYSTS FOR BURNOUT

What do your catalysts look like?

Tools Required A supportive conversation.

Theme

A tool to help others recognize the signs and symptoms of burn-out.

Possible Variations

Variations should be addressed in the final output. This can take on the form of a self-care manual or a zine to help recognize and address the symptoms of burn-out. It could be education-based, a game, a meme, or method to reach out to others when you need them most.

Workshop Instructions

This activity should center around discussion. As a group, have a go-around and talk about a time that you burned out from your work. What were each of the factors that lead you to burning out?

Have you experienced burn-out more than once, and if so, were the catalysts the same or different? Reflect on your experiences with the group and map out patterns or common themes. These are the catalysts for burn-out. How can you use this information to help others?

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Patterns that lead to burn-out:

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#19. SELF-CARE

Personal 115

1. In your life what 3. Establish do you want to: short & long-term goals for yourself - keep and create an - change action plan.

- grow - let go of?

2. Map out your needs under each of these themes.

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#19. SELF-CARE

Fig. 3. Feeding Future Narratives

Tools Required Pens, post-it notes, large format paper.

Theme

Creating sustainability in your life.

Workshop Instructions

Using post-it notes and the above chart as a framework, map aspects of your life that you would like to keep, change, grow, or let go of.

This can include biological needs such as physical health & well-being, psychological needs such as emotional & mental health as well as social, spiritual and economic or financial needs.

Once you are finished mapping these items, define short & long-term goals for yourself and devise an action plan. Some questions to consider include - what does self-care mean to you in your personal life vs. your professional life? and how can you take steps to create more sustainable habits and practices? Discuss and compare notes. How can this information be used as a resource to help others?

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Short & long-term goals:

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#20. NOPE.

Personal 119

Just say no.

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#20. NOPE.

Fig. 4. Reflect

Tools Required

Workshop Instructions

Self-awarness and open communication.

Theme

Saying NO as an act of self-care.

Possible Variations

Your reasons for saying NO and your delivery are up to you. The important thing is that you pull the NOPE. card and give yourself permission to use it when you need to. Take a picture of it and send it to someone.

In my experience I’ve learned the hard way that sometimes saying ‘YES’ to something means saying ‘NO’ to something else. Saying yes when you really need to say no is unsustainable and can lead to burn-out - something which is much more difficult to recover from. This isn’t an ‘interaction’ or a ‘workshop’ on how to say NO as much as it is a note to myself that sometimes it’s okay, no matter what the reason. Don’t ever feel guilty about saying no. Your mental health should come first. There will always be more projects to take on or money to be made, but there is only one of you - and taking care of your shit matters more.

Feel free to take NOPE. and turn it into an output if you want. I’m sure there are a million ways to frame this as a workshop, but being honest with yourself is the most important first step.

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Public discourse (local & global)

Think about this section as the ripple effect.

Each of the activities prescribed in this workbook have the capacity to reach audiences both locally and globally. It’s up to you to determine how far you would like the message to spread and use the suggested forms for publication at your disposal to ensure the spreadablity of these messages. Small actions on a mass scale have the capacity to lead to a sea change.

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#21. WIKIPEDIATHON

Public 125

1. Pick a topic related to freelance.

2. Register a wikipedia account & read the core content policies and guidelines.

3. Read the article wizard on how to

write your own wikipedia article here: https:// en.wikipedia. org/wiki/ Wikipedia:Your_ first_article 4. Proliferate information online.

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#21. WIKIPEDIATHON

Fig. 5. PDX Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon

Tools Required

Workshop Instructions

A wikipedia account, a laptop, access to wifi, someone with experience creating and editing articles on Wikipedia to bottomline the event.

Register your own wikipedia account prior to the meet-up. Ideally you would like to invite folks to host the workshop who have had previous experience hosting wikipedia edit-a-thons. In the workshop, address core content policies and guidelines. Give the group a primer on how to create a wikipedia page, so that everyone is equipped with the necessary information. Select a defined topic such as freelance work in Canada and edit or create a new Wikipedia page publishing the information and research compiled by the group.

Theme

Proliferate contextual information about the experiences of being a freelance worker using wikipedia as a tool for dissemination.

Possible Variations

You can use this as a launching point to create multiple Wikipedia pages that branch-off the original article to proliferate more information on the web.

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Burn it down (activism)

What does advocacy look like? What tools do you currently have at your disposal? Make room for the relationships that encourage you to stretch past your comfort zones and align yourself with those that encourage your growth.

Dedicate your time towards movements that move you to act with others in mind and consider how your career might benefit from a more careful application of your skill set.

Your mission is to use your voice, your skills, and the networks and communities that you are a part of to inject rebeliousness into the ways in which you construct your career. Work towards building community and refine your work through complex and compassionate forms of resistance.

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#22. EMPLOYER CREDIBILITY SCORES

Public 129

1. Write a review 3. Open the box of the last and take turns five companies reading reviews. or clients you worked for & rate 4. As a group your experience determine what from 1-10. to do with this information.

2. Submit each of your reviews to the comment box.

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#22. EMPLOYER CREDIBILITY SCORES

Making lists & checking them twice

Tools Required

Workshop Instructions

Pens, score cards, a box to submit reviews anonymously.

Theme

A review or audit of working relationships.

Possible Variations

Variations depend on what you choose to do with this information, how you would like to share it, if you would like to keep it confidential or disclose your experiences with the group in order to help others. What is the most useful way to leverage your experiences to help others?

Using the template provided write a review of the last 5 companies or clients you worked for. Give them a credibility score from 1-10 with one being the most egregious and ten being the most shining example of someone you would want to work for. Submit each of your reviews anonymously using the comment card box. One person will open up the box and take turns reading the reviews. Decide as a group what would be the most productive thing to do with this information. You can opt to discuss the results and keep the information within the room, or turn it into an output that allows people to make informed decisions about the people they choose to work with.

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#23. PRACTICE AS ACTIVISM

Public 133

1. Make a list of things you’re good at.

4. Make a list of people or orgs. that need support.

2. Make a list of 5. Combine info from your limitations. each of these categories and 3. Make a list brainstorm ways of people or to leverage organizations your skills and you’re connected to. networks to help.

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#23. PRACTICE AS ACTIVISM

Unveiling ‘artists & designers crossing’ signs for the Unite Duncan & McCaul Campaign

Tools Required

Workshop Instructions

A pen and paper. Additional tools needed to be determined.

1.

Theme

2. Make a list of your limitations.

What social issues affect you? What do you care the most about? What feels meaningful to contribute your time, energy and resources to? What movements do you choose to align yourself with?

What values do you want to infuse into your career? How do you use the tools you have at your disposal to help others in need?

Make a list of things you’re good at.

3. Make a list of people or organizations that you’re connected to.

4. Make a list of people or organizations that need support.

Look at each of these categories and brainstorm ways you can leverage your voice, skills, communities and networks to help others. This activity can be conducted as an individual or with a group.

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THEMATIC DICE How to use the dice

Pop out and assemble the dice by folding on the dotted lines. Glue or tape the flaps to the inside surface of the paper and make a cube. The dice can be used as a template to make multiple dice and are meant to act as a topic of discussion for which to frame a workshop around. Possible themes to write on the dice include:

- Flexible Schedule - Networking - New Connections - Independance - The Ability to Say No - Family Needs - Re-prioritizing Life Goals - Full-time Employment - Illness or Sick Leave - Workers Rights - New Legislation - Unions - Unpredictable Income - Late or Non-Payment - Burn-out - Live/Work Balance - Stress & Anxiety - Mental Health - Isolation - Job Security

Pop-Outs 139

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Cut out dice and fold on dotted line

Pop-Outs 141

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FORTUNE TELLER

1. fold each corner to the opposite corner of the paper.

2. fold all corners to the centre of the paper.

3. now your paper should look like this:

4. turn the paper over so the folds you made are face down.

5. fold all corners to the centre of the paper like in step 2.

6. now your paper should look like this:

7. now fold your paper in half vertically and horizontally.

8. insert your fingers under the tabs.

9. the finished product should look like this:

Pop-Outs 145

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? r a fit o o f it r-Pr Is fo to N

SHOULD I WORK FOR FREE?

will it further your career?

ra ? fo y it an Is mp co

is it worth your time?

Maybe later?

Just this once YES

will they return the favour?

r? ra e fo b it em Is y m il m fa

is it a reciprocal relationship?

do you have a personal connection?

Cut out or use as a template for a larger fortune teller

Pop-Outs 145

will it detract from important work?

do you really care?

is it someone you want to support?

NO.

r fo d? t i n Is rie f a

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HAVE YOU EVER...? BINGO

How to play

BINGO is best played with a group of friends or colleagues. Situational uses for the BINGO card include playing at a tradeshow, an art fair, or in your day to day work life. Using the blank spaces on the card, fill-in experiences that you encounter in your work, and dab each of the squares as these situations arise. See how long it takes to fill the entire card! Possible themes include:

HAVE YOU EVER: - been asked to work for free?

- had to remind a client to pay you?

- sought advice from other freelancers?

- been paid with ‘exposure’?

- crowd sourced an email response?

- had to work regardless of being sick?

- had to choose work instead of vacation?

- been told ‘the budget is low’...

- looked up an employer before saying yes to a job?

- been warned not to work with someone?

- been told ‘the cheque is in the mail’?

- experienced burn-out?

- had to thwart a clients ‘creative idea’?

Pop-Outs 147

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B

I

N

FREE

Pop-Outs 149

G

O

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Thank you to co-design workshop participants:

Calvin Calenda Hailey Kuckein Selena Lee Derek Ma Tori Maas Colleen McCarten Shelby McCleod Agata Mrozowski Andrew Olivares Paris Zheng

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151

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IMAGES CITED

All images have been created by the author, Lizz Aston, with the exception of the following: 1.

Fig. 1. Malkav_. Pinata. 2013. Photograph.

Flickr Commons. Yahoo! Inc.. Web. 3 April.

2017. Digital Image.

2. Fig. 2. Untitled. 2013. Digital Image. Flickr.

Yahoo! Inc. Web. 22 Feb. 2016 <https://www. flickr.com/photos/lamodistadelamodestia/11395792185/in/photostream/> 3. Fig. 3. Singh, Prateeksha, mpathy.ca, and Nourhan Hegazy. Feeding Future Narratives: Building Empathy with Food Through Systemic Design. 13 Oct. 2016. RSD5 Symposium.

OCAD University, Toronto.

4. Fig. 4. Zainio, Samantha. 1. Reflect. 2016. The Odyssey Online. Odyssey Media Group, Inc. Web. 20 Feb. 2017. Digital Image. https://www. theodysseyonline.com/21-things-remember-daily-basis 5. Fig. 5. PDX Art + Feminism Wikipedia EditA-Thon. 2017. Portland Institute for Contemporary Art. Web. 10 April. 2017. Digital Image. http://pica.org/event/edit-a-thon/

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.

Baas, Jacquelynn, Ken Freidman, Hannah Higgins, and Jacob Proctor. Fluxus and the Essential Questions of Life. Chicago: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, in Association with the U of Chicago, 2011. Print.

2. Brandt, Eva. Designing Exploratory Design Games: A Framework for Participation in Participatory Design? Proc. of Proceedings of the Ninth Participatory Design Conference, Center for Design Research, Copenhagen.

2006. 57-65. Aug. 2006. Web. 22 Oct. 2016. <http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1147271>.

3. Crary, Jonathan. 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep. London: Verso, 2014. Print.

4. Dunne, Anthony, and Fiona Raby. Speculative Everything. Cambridge: MIT, 2013. Print.

5. Ehn, Pelle, Elisabet M. Nilsson, and Richard Topgaard. Making Futures: Marginal Notes on Innovation, Design, and Democracy.

Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2014. Print.

7. Gottesdiener, Sarah Faith. Many Moons. Vol. 1. California: Modern Women, 2017. Print. January - June.

8. Jenkins, Henry, Sam Ford, and Joshua Green. Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture.

New York: New York U, 2013. Print.

9. LoĂ&#x152;wgren, Jonas, and Bo Reimer.

Collaborative Media: Production, Consumption, and Design Interventions.

Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2013. Print.

10. Murphy, Laura. "Freelance Isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Free Act Passes in NYC with 51 Votes!" Freelancers Union Blog. Freelancers Union Blog, 01 Nov. 2016. Web. 06 Nov. 2016. <https:// blog.freelancersunion.org/2016/10/27/ freelanceisntfreepassed/>.

11. Resnich, Elizabeth. Developing Citizen Designers. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, an Imprint of Bloomsbury Plc, 2016. Print.

6. Frank, Flo, Marnie Badham, and Sue Hemphill. Artist and Community Collaboration: A Toolkit for Community. Regina: Common Weal Community Arts, 2006. Print.

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About:

Lizz Aston is an artist and designer with a keen interest in social design and social innovation.

Her approach to design is human-centered and driven by empathy. In her work she merges participatory and co-design methods with conceptual practice, speculative design and systems thinking to re-frame and tackle large-scale social problems. She is interested in designing communications, products, systems, services, strategies, interventions, tools and policy - whatever it takes to address the core issues at hand.

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