Service Design to Improve Children’s Visual Literacy by Integrating Visual Methods for Fostering Design Thinking through Unconventional Creative Processes
Amna Qureshi
The field of visual literacy has grown rapidly as it helps stimulate the conceptual process of visual thinking. Humans have always enjoyed visual stimuli, but the new generation of children has access to a more powerful visual experience than previous generations. The overwhelming exposure these children have to digital technologies today gives them a great opportunity for personal growth, as they are a reflection of themselves, apparent through the vast number of digital media outlets available to them. This paper presents results from a summer workshop for children aged between 10-12 years conducted at the University of Lapland, Finland, in 2021 as part of the AMASS European-wide testbed, a Horizon 2020-funded research project. In this paper, the significance of visual literacy is investigated by integrating visual methods through unconventional creative processes with natural settings, for example, mandala making involving natural found objects that can foster design thinking to enhance the children’s visual understanding in a creative and structured way.
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To achieve this, an innovative concept of developing services for children using visual methods with unconventional creative processes was developed to cultivate design thinking skills, allowing children to become creative visual thinkers. The objective of this paper is to explore visual learning that taps into the voices and expressions of children to help them develop design thinking skills to use for reflective thinking. Using this study can have a positive impact on bringing the children closer to their surroundings as well as making them stakeholders in the development of formal and non-formal educational services. For this purpose, service design plays a crucial role in empowering children to build progressive service experiences for themselves that will make a positive impact on their lives. Additionally, it can be helpful for professionals in the design management field to know more about the development of visual literacy among younger children and create better services to help them be actively involved in their futures as agents of change.
Key words service design, visual literacy, visual methods, design thinking, creative processes, children |