Exploring Independent Design: Redefining Children's Creative Agency Beyond Participatory Design

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Umm Al-Qura University, Faculty of Design and Art, Makkah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

There are two main premises to the study, firstly, children are always engaged in art and design with an adult or at least in the presence of an adult, and secondly, the presence of an adult has an influence on design outcomes. When children participate with adults in design they do so to varying degrees. A child may be an informant where the adult is designing for children or may have a leading role. While different degrees of involvement are justified, an adult is always present which has an influence on design outcomes. This paper presents a new approach to design, namely, independent design which moves beyond the commonly accepted participatory design continuum towards child art that is not influenced by adults. The new approach was evaluated through experimentation and evaluation of creativity. The results show that removing adult influence increases creativity. Key Words: participatory design, independent design, adult involvement, influence

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