ABSTRACT
In many countries, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a period of lockdown that impacted individuals' lifestyles, in both professional and personal spheres. New problems and challenges arose, as well as opportunities. Numerous studies have examined the negative effects of lockdown measures, but few have attempted to shine light on the potential positive effects that may come out of these measures. We focused on one particular positive outcome that might have emerged from lockdown: creativity. To this end, this paper compared self-reported professional creativity (Pro-C) and everyday creativity (little-c) before and during lockdown, using a questionnaire-based study conducted on a French sample (N = 1266). We expected participants to be more creative during than prior to lockdown, in both professional and everyday spheres. Regarding Pro-C, we did not see any significant differences between the two comparison points, before and during lockdown. Regarding everyday creativity, we observed a significant increase during lockdown. Furthermore, our results suggest that participants with a lower baseline creativity (before lockdown) benefited more from the situation than those with a higher initial baseline creativity. Our results provide new insights on the impact of lockdown and its positive outcomes. These measures may have inarguably negative consequences on the physical and mental health of many, but their positive impact exists as well.
ABSTRACT
In many sectors, designers have to develop products that are creative, and thus both new and adapted to the context. They can use a variety of methods to favor their creative design activities, including a new one that we have developed, featuring dynamic personas. This method allows participants to interact in real time in a virtual space with an avatar that represents an archetypal future user and provides them with information about this future user throughout the interactions. In the present experimental study, we compared this method with the classic (or static) persona method, by asking 102 participants to perform a creative design task. Results revealed statistical differences between the use of the static and dynamic persona methods, and highlighted the advantages of the dynamic method over the static one. We discuss the prospects for using this method in an ecological setting and identify the aspects to be improved.