Reflection lenses: thinking about preferences and expectations

Testing and using the tool in different versions with designers and trainers: guiding reflection on individual preferences and on client's expectations. Thinking about Contexts & Impact, Collaboration & Roles, Client's Requets & Purpose, Boundaries & Deal breakers. With the findings we were able to finalize the workshop guide for teachers and trainers that want to use the tool for professioal development of designers.

The theme of Barcelona Design Week 2025 is creative resilience, this is also our ultimate goal!

This year’s visual identity, created by Leon Romero’s studio for the third time, captures a duality: visible scaffolding representing structure and construction, and a dreamlike atmosphere suggesting possibility and the unknown. This contrast reflects how creativity can both respond to present challenges and open new paths forward. The power of design to adapt, build, and envision new futures!

Barcelona Design Week 2025 celebrates design not just as a problem-solver, but as a force for transformation in uncertain times, in line with our CforC project!

In co-creation a workshop for creative professionals will be developed on how to use tools to reduce stress in the creative process, as part of a two-day ‘train the trainer’ for teachers on how to implement the interventions regarding creative processes in their educational practice.

The feedback from the pilot participants will allow for the final adjustments of the workshop and training material. The workshop and train the trainer manuals will be translated into Dutch (EDUventure) and Spanish (LABA Valencia) and published online.

Two highly engaged partners exchanging knowledge and ideas

Yesterday we had another inspiring online partner meeting!

We’re making great progress in Activity 4: Development of Methods, Tools and Training for creative professionals. In both Spain and the Netherlands, co-creation labs are developing prototypes for reducing stress in the creative process.

In Spain, Cosette presented the proposal for the creative labs at LABA Valencia, building on earlier research. In the Netherlands, Jos is preparing workshops in Eindhoven using tools like mind maps and flow charts to explore how creatives manage expectations and pressure.

An interesting update of CforC in our latest Newsletter

Insights from Our Labs in Spain and the Netherlands

The Erasmus+ project Care for Creativity continues its mission to support mental health and reduce stress among creative professionals. As a collaborative initiative between EDUventure and LABA Valencia, School of Art, Design & New Media, we’ve entered a new phase: testing ideas and exploring practical solutions in two co-creative labs.

What have we been working on?

Following our fieldwork phase, we hosted two co-creative labs, one in the Netherlands and one in Spain, bringing together emerging creatives and seasoned professionals to dive deeper into the challenges of the design process. Participants explored how expectations, uncertainty, and collaboration impact their stress levels, and developped prototypes of hands-on tools for improving clarity and confidence.

What did we learn?

Across both countries, a common challenge stood out: creative professionals often feel unsure about what’s really expected of them. This uncertainty leads to stress, overwork, and a sense of being “off-track” in the design process.

In the Netherlands, we compared how designers proceed when interpreting a briefing for an assignment. We observerd two different approaches. Some designers used a highly structured, bullet-pointed breakdown; other designers took a reflective, strategic approach. All designers reported their reslience in taking so much time for this task to 'understand the expectations of the customer' and still feeling not sure about their recap. They are in need for quicker and better ways to do it, with a more clear outcome. This showed us the value of offering different task-analysis strategies, depending on a designer’s experience and working style.

In Spain, -for the same goal- we brought together two distinct groups: experienced professionals and young designers at the start of their careers. While senior designers showed confidence and process efficiency, they often sacrificed self-care. In contrast, younger designers were more open to experimentation but faced stress due to uncertainty and time pressure. The insights confirmed the need for teaching better briefing interpretation, time management, and feedback-handling from early on.

What’s next?

In the coming months, we’ll use these findings to refine and develop practical tools—templates, checklists, and collaborative guides—that support clearer communication, healthier workflows, and more balanced expectations in creative work.

And save the date! In October, we’ll meet again during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven to exchange insights, test materials, and share our journey with a wider audience.

Stay creative—and take care,
The CforC Team

The outcome of a few experiments brought insights on how designers at different stages of their careers interpret briefs, handle stress, and manage creative processes.

Two groups—experienced professionals and emerging designers—offered contrasting yet complementary insights into the challenges of working with client expectations.

Experienced designers brought efficiency, structured methodologies, and confidence to their workflow, but often at the expense of self-care. They relied on experience to anticipate client needs and manage feedback strategically, yet still faced stress due to heavy workloads and tight deadlines.

Younger designers, on the other hand, brought creativity, openness to new tools, and a strong drive to innovate. However, they often struggled with uncertainty, time management, and feedback anxiety—leading to overwork and stress, especially when expectations were unclear.

The analysis highlighted key stress factors for both groups: unclear briefs, time pressure, insecurity in decision-making, and difficulty in pricing creative work. It also confirmed the vital role of education in equipping young designers with tools to manage these challenges—especially around brief interpretation, negotiation, time planning, and client communication.

Notably, collaboration emerged as a powerful stress-reducing factor. Designers who worked in pairs made more confident decisions and felt better supported in the process.

Overall, this activity emphasized the importance of developing sustainable design practices through clear communication, structured processes, and support systems that promote both professional growth and personal well-being.

By exploring how each designer interpreted the client's expectations, addressed ambiguity, and reflected on their process, we uncovered valuable insights into the strengths of both practical and strategic thinking.

In experiments we explored how designers approached the same commissioned assignments, offering a unique comparison of their methods in analyzing a client briefing.

We distinguisdhed two fundamentally different approaches. There was a group of designers individually using a structured, step-by-step process with bullet points and practical solutions, focusing on task clarity, defined phases, and methodology. In contrast, there was a group that took a holistic, narrative-driven approach, emphasizing strategic interpretation, co-creation, and long-term thinking.

Both identified challenges in the briefing—such as missing details and vague expectations—and reflected on how these impacted their confidence and workflow. Through interviews, they shared what was easy or difficult, how they usually approach assignments in practice, and what tools would help improve task analysis.

The key takeaway? A good task analysis—whether structured or strategic—can reduce stress, improve alignment with client goals, and lead to stronger, more sustainable design outcomes.

What does the client expect from a designer? The assignment for a large transition challenge can be diffuse.

Yvonne van Lith, driving power for education in living labs, and working within the Circular Transition Lectorate, provides us a divers set of written briefings for socieatal en sustainable challenges, to eleborate further on how to avoid misleading expectations both from clients åand from designers. 

Curious how designers can reduce stress and gain more control over their work? In this workshop, participants explored real client briefs, uncovered key challenges, and co-created practical tools to tackle uncertainty in the creative process.

In Activity 3, participants were introduced to a structured workflow designed to help interpret design briefs and understand client expectations more clearly. Insights from previous interviews were discussed, emphasizing how unclear tasks can contribute significantly to stress.

Young professionals collaborated with experienced designers to analyse real design briefs. By exchanging briefs, they clarified client expectations and identified required resources, focusing on key questions around communication and initiative.

Based on their analysis, mixed groups created practical tools—including task analysis templates, resource checklists, and communication guides—aimed at reducing stress and enhancing task clarity.

The workshop concluded with shared reflections and a discussion on ‘job crafting’, encouraging participants to tailor their tasks to better align with their strengths and preferences. This approach aimed to empower designers with greater control, reducing professional uncertainty and improving overall job satisfaction.

Designers were observed while they studied briefings of design assignments to analyse what was expected from them. What does this assignment reveal about the process, the deliverables, the resources, the practicalities. What information is unclear or even missing?

Aiming to reduce stress in solo- and team efforts, we focussed on the struggles in expectation management.
First designers were observed while they studied briefings of selected assignments, to dive deeply in what was expected from them. What does these written assignment reveal about the process, the deliverables, the resources, the practicalities. What information is unclear or even missing? What motivates you and what not?
Eight designers worked in duo's, inquiring this subject together. Topics on their findings were, the challenges, hinderance or resistants they felt performing this task. On the opposite they shared how they positively valued this task, the efficacy it brought and thoughts about how this could help to reduce the stress.

To adress the strain experiences in team collaboration, two groups, each existing of three professional creatives, worked on a societal challenge and a team chalenge. During the process they were supported by teachers and facilitators. The societal challenge concerned a future scenario for enhancing cross urban connections among creatives and other professionals in businesses, governments, workspaces and cultural institutions. For the sustainable challenge the question was to design an attractive 'do it yourselve' solution to motivate residents to disconnect their rainwater drains so that rainwater does not disappear directly into the sewer, which causes overload. Both groups spend four workdays and extra time to come up with a deliverable they were proud to present to their customer.

These experiments informed us on criteria for potential solutions to diminish strain, enhance performance and well being. We will post our insights in the near future.

During the Dutch Design Week LABA Valencia visited EDUventure in Eindhoven, for a partner meeting, a Care for Creativity event and to be inspired by this large scale design exposition.

During the Dutch Design Week LABA Valencia visited EDUventure in Eindhoven, for a partner meeting, a Care for Creativity event and to be inspired by this large scale design exposition.

Mirjam Hillenius and Cosette Reyes arrived at the 20^th of October to see Jos Hardeman for a planned meeting on the progress of Care for Creativity and to discuss the approach for the next activity described as an experimental environment in participation with designers. Very interesting to share knowledge, experiences and ideas!

The next day, on the 21th of October, the Care for Creativity event was held in Klokgebouw at Eindhoven. The event was organized by Kunstloc Brabant in the lead, with aid from Creative Industries fund NL and EDUventure. Our host was Marsha Simon from the Dutch Design Foundation. 

We received 50 guests and had to put new registrations on a waiting list. All guests were directly related to the design field, either as a designer or as an educator, coach or psychologist. Based on the interview results and as input for the next activities, the whole group worked on dilemma’s that cause strain and the opportunities to reduce strain. 

All guests want to stay informed and be invited to our next event so we are happy with this valuable growth of our network.  

Today the Annual Erasmus day was organized in the NBC Nieuwegein. It was very interesting to visit finished projects and to hear the key note of Bert-Jan Buiskool on “how to increase the impact of your Erasmus+ project”.

Today the Annual Erasmus day was organized in the NBC Nieuwegein. It was very interesting to visit finished projects and to hear the key note of Bert-Jan Buiskool on “how to increase the impact of your Erasmus+ project”.

The speaker introduced the audience to activities of the Research Network for the Adult education sector in Erasmus+ and learned us more on how to create the fertile conditions for impact with the Theory of Change as a fundament. A very interesting and valuable presentation for all change makers and project designers!

A co-creation LAB, led by EDUventure, focused on group work, to find the best educational approach.

We executed a real-life case study on the topic of the psychological and social reasons for people to neglect climate threats and the use of meaningful interventions. Working with a real client ensured relevance and accountability. Client was the Dommel Water Board, who wanted to encourage residents to disconnect their own rainwater. Cutting through the downspout, installing a rain barrel, creating a green roof, or removing a tile and planting a plant are all ideas for preventing rainwater from flowing down the drain. It is difficult to seduce the residents to do so. 

We experimented with our educational approach, to shift the focus from “solving the brief” to navigating complexity, preparing students for real-world projects where clarity is rarely given upfront. Our aim was to find effective educational interventions to build student capacity in managing that uncertainty. Participating designers found solutions for this problem and at the same time solutions to improve the process of challenge-based innovation for a high creative performance and good quality of the outputs. 

Here is what we found effective:

Carry out process experiments to find directions for solutions. The creative professionals and students are co-creator ánd participants in the co-creation labs.

This LAB, led by EDUventure, was focused on group work. To experiment with this process and the educational approach, we executed a real-life case study on the topic of the psychological and social reasons for young people to neglect climate threats and the use of meaningful interventions. We will find solutions for this problem and at the same time solutions to improve the process of challenge-based innovation for psychosocial well-being in combination with a high creative performance and good quality of the outputs.

Preparing a series of experiments is executed to learn how we can solve the lack of control the designers experience in their individual work and in teamwork.

In this phase a series of experiments is executed to learn how we can solve the lack of control the designers experience in their individual work and in teamwork. To do this poperly both partners prepared a preliminairy handbook, discussed the proposed approaches together to learn from each other, and to make improving adjustments.

Although the lack of control has many reasons, one priority has emerged, namely unclear expectations (external and internal) on the process demands, the role to take, what to deliver, the criteria it must meet, the available time, money and planning, the progress meetings and so on.

Through experiments we examine our target group in their approach to analyze the expectations from clients as well as from themselves question their attitude to commit to these expectations. Insights from this experiment will inform the next phase, aiming to develop tools or interventions that improve expectation management, granting designers more control.

Our second newsletter shows that we briskly go ahead. LABA as well as EDUventure conducted numerous interviews with the target group. These revealed several stressors in the creative process, that provide us the focus and design directions for the next steps.

The Erasmus+ project Care for Creativity (2023-1-NL01-KA210-ADU-000158949) is dedicated to fostering mental health care and resilience to stress among creative professionals. This two-year small-scale partnership initiative is a joint effort by EDUventure (The Netherlands) and LABA Valencia, School of Art, Design & New Media (Spain).

Our mission is clear: to raise awareness about mental health in the creative process, apply effective strategies to manage stress and cultivate an environment that promotes healthy, collaborative and creative work.

We target a wide range of stakeholders, from young professionals about to enter the creative sector and facing the complexities of their profession to educators who are training the creative minds of tomorrow. By addressing issues such as work-related stress, concerns about expectations and work fatigue, Care for Creativity aims to provide useful and accessible strategies for the creative community to thrive both emotionally and creatively.

What drives us?

• Creativity, art and culture.

• Physical and emotional well-being.

• Effective management of stressful situations.

• New methods and approaches to learning and teaching.

What have we done so far?

• A kick-off meeting in Valencia, to get to know each other and consolidate the project planning.

• Fieldwork in the Netherlands and Spain: 18 interviews with creative professionals, 17 questionnaires, deepened with reflective conversations with students/young professionals about how stress and overload affect the daily life of creative professionals.

• Interviews with 12 teachers and trainers, on their perceptions and experiences regarding stressors among professionals and students in the target group. Addressed are the subjects of strain rising in their individual creative work and causes of strain in team work in the context of more complex challenges.

• The outcomes have been very interesting so far. According to the interviews, designers experience a lack of control in the creative process, Furthermore they highlight the importance of stakeholder trust, peer collaboration, and work-life balance. One of the key points is the area of expectations: what are the expectations in an assignment - what is expected from creatives and how do they interpret these expectations.

What’s next?

A collaborative lab in each country to test possible tools for creative professionals to better manage stress in the creative process. And we planned an exchange meeting in Eindhoven during the Dutch Design Week to share the results. 

We'll soon be back with further news!
The CforC Team

LABA explored the job-related strain among creative professionals in Spain, based on interviews with six seasoned design professionals and questionnaires from 17 young professionals entering the creative work field.

LABA explored the job-related strain among creative professionals in Spain, based on interviews with six seasoned design professionals and questionnaires from 17 young professionals entering the creative work field. 

The interviews with seasoned professionals showed that:

• Professionals define themselves through experience rather than formal education, showing adaptability.
• Stress management improves over time but remains inadequate, with severe symptoms like panic attacks normalized.
• Early-career stress is a common reflection among experienced professionals.

The interviews with young professionals showed that:

• Young professionals and students experience anticipatory stress about their future but maintain better work-life balance.
• Stress is less normalized, and coping tools are limited.
• Impostor syndrome stems from self-doubt during school and personal projects, intensifying stress when entering the professional field.

These outcomes reveal that stress management varies across career stages. Experienced professionals normalize severe symptoms, while young professionals face anticipatory stress, impostor syndrome, and uncertainty but exhibit better work-life balance.

Preliminary recommendations to be inquired further:

• Advanced stress management training and access to psychological support.
• Mentoring programs to guide younger professionals.
• Stress management and impostor syndrome training in initial and in adult education.
• Emphasis on work-life balance and time management from the start.

The outcome of the interviews with Dutch designers and trainers, showed that designers view societal challenges as an opportunity to drive meaningful change using problem-solving and collaboration skills, but this also has a backfiring effect.

The outcome of the interviews with Dutch designers and trainers, showed that designers view societal challenges as an opportunity to drive meaningful change using problem-solving and collaboration skills, but this also has a backfiring effect.

While motivated by the impact of their work and inspiring partnerships, they face challenges such as unclear client expectations, tight deadlines, and the complexity of multidisciplinary collaboration. Designers' roles range from executive to advisory, with preferences for structured or intuitive approaches varying widely.

The main stressors mentioned are related to unrealistic expectations and vague design briefs of clients, unclear roles in the context of multi-disciplinary teams and tight deadlines. Designers feel high performance pressure imposed by themselves, but also external pressure to innovate on major societal issues. This pressure fosters fear of failure and creative blockages. 

This negatively affects originality, focus, and creative confidence. The target group mentions that excessive pressure results in superficial work, reduced innovation, and unmet user needs. Prolonged strain causes physical and mental exhaustion, burnout, and declining passion for the profession.

Key strategies include autonomy, better expectation management, structured time management, peer support, and balancing workloads. Acceptance of strain as part of the creative process helps reduce mental pressure, but this doesn't seem like the right way to go.

Based on our thorough preparation, both partners conduct interviews to gain knowledge on the stressors our creative target group experiences.

Based on our thorough preparation, both partners conduct interviews to gain knowledge on the stressors our creative target group experiences.

LABA and Eduventure prepare to conduct Interviews with designers, design students, teachers and trainers, to identify stressors and performance gaps among the target group.

LABA and Eduventure prepare to conduct Interviews with designers, design students, teachers and trainers, to identify stressors and performance gaps among the target group.

Participants are selected to ensure diversity in roles, experiences, and disciplines within the Dutch and Spanish design field.  A topic list is drawn up that covers the categories of job demands and resources, stressors and issues related to strain. Two pilot sessions were organized to test and refine the topic list. Now let's let the target group have its say!

In the past months educational partners were consulted to collect knowledge and advice. In collaboration with TU/e, the Design Academy Eindhoven and Fontys Hogescholen, we decided on an appropriate project framework to make the project operational, realistic and evidence based. These consultations led to the use of the Job Demands-Resources model.

In the past months educational partners were consulted to collect knowledge and advice. In collaboration with TU/e, the Design Academy Eindhoven and Fontys Hogescholen, we decided on an appropriate project framework to make the project operational, realistic and evidence based. These consultations led to the use of the Job Demands-Resources model. 

Several studies emphasize that an imbalance between high job demands, and insufficient supporting resources can result in reduced work performance and even dropout. This project aims to explore how work-related stressors can be balanced for better mental well-being and performance. The Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model will provide the theoretical underpinning for conducting interviews and experiments to understand these dynamics (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007). Once the stressors are better understood, the project is directed to to seek strategies through design-based research to mitigate them.

Our first newsletter is out to a small group of stakeholders. Dissemination starts off course when the project starts, but -as always- it feels a bit early to chirp about intentions that still must be put into practice.

Care for Creativity Project Receives Erasmus+ Grant!
We’re happy to announce that the Care for Creativity project has been awarded a grant from Erasmus+! This initiative aligns with key priorities, including inclusion and diversity, enhancing educator skills, and increasing access to high-quality, personalized learning.

Why This Matters?
Creative professionals often face high stress, exhaustion, and burnout due to the unique challenges of their field. Uncertainty, isolation, and socio-economic pressures make them particularly vulnerable. This project aims to reduce stress and support well-being through research, experimentation, and tool development that helps to solve the issue.

Project Timeline & Phases

Avtivity 1. Transfer the project from paper to practice assuring quality, communication and good governance.

Activity 2: Understand & Define (Dec 2023 - Apr 2024)
Goal: Identify key stressors and resources.
Approach: Interviews with designers, educators, and alumni.
Outcome: Guidelines for stress-reducing experiments.

Activity 3: Experimenting with Solutions (May 2024 - Oct 2024)
Goal: Test tools to boost creativity & reduce stress.
Approach: Real-life design assignments with our target group.
Outcome: Criteria for effective stress-reducing methods.

Activity 4: Developing Tools & Training (Nov 2024 - Apr 2025)
Goal: Create user-friendly solutions for stress management.
Approach: Co-designing tools & training sessions.
Outcome: Ready-to-use stress-reduction resources & educator training.

 Stay connected as we shape a healthier, more sustainable creative industry!
The CforC team

Start Activity 1: On December 19, 2023, the Care for Creativity Erasmus+ project launched with a kick-off meeting in Valencia, Spain, hosted at LABA Valencia, a leading School of Art, Design, and New Media.

On December 19, 2023, the Care for Creativity Erasmus+ project launched with a kick-off meeting in Valencia, Spain, hosted at LABA Valencia, a leading School of Art, Design, and New Media. The meeting brought together representatives from:

• LABA Valencia: Andrea Contino, Cristina Casanova, Mirjam Hillenius, and Cosette Reyes.
• EDUventure Foundation: Jos Hardeman and Simone Vos.

As part of activity 1. we transferred the plan from paper to practice. The objective of the kick-off was to foster collaboration among partners, finalize the workplan, timeline, and roles. Futhermore we defined the fieldwork methodologies and addressed project management, project dissemination, quality control, and next steps.

The project is now set to advance its mission of fostering creativity through research and innovation. Stay tuned for updates!

The Care for Creativity project has been awarded with a grant from Erasmus+. This project fits the priorities of “Inclusion and diversity in all fields” and “Improving the competences of educators” and “Improving the availability of high quality, flexible and recognized learning”. We start the preparation of the Kick-off Meeting in Valencia!

The Care for Creativity project has been awarded with a grant from Erasmus+. This project fits the priorities of “Inclusion and diversity in all fields” and “Improving the competences of educators” and “Improving the availability of high quality, flexible and recognized learning”. We start the preparation of the Kick-off Meeting in Valencia!

Its objective is to reduce stress, exhaustion and burn out among creative professionals, who have specific vulnerabilities due to their particular position within the current European societies. Creative professionals are vulnerable to psycho-social and socio-economic risks, uncertainty and isolation. 

The timeline of the project is as follows:

Phase 1: Understand & Define (Dec 2023 - Apr 2024)

Goal: Explore the main causes of stress as experiences by creative professionals and -students

Approach: Exchange knowledge, consult experts, and conduct interviews with designers, teachers/trainers, and alumni. Conduct interviews to identify stressors and resources.

Deliverables: Proposed guidelines for experiments in phase 2.

Phase 2: Experimenting to define the criteria for solutions (May 2024 - Oct 2024)

Goal: Learn how tools and methods could reduce stress and enhance creativity in individual creative processes and team-based challenge processes.

Approach: Conducting experiments with designers representing our target group using briefings of real-life assignments. Analysis of hinderances and resources.

Deliverables: A list of criteria for tools and methods to support the target group. Guidelines for phase 3.

Phase 3: Development of tools & training (Nov 2024 - Apr 2025)

Goal: Come up with a solution that is optimally user centered.

Approach: Participative design to develop tools and methods that prevent excessive stress in the creative process.

Deliverables: Tools and guidelines for stress reduction to be used self-regulated by the target group. Pilot testing of workshops for creative professionals and a "train-the-trainer" session for educators.

Dissemination: Engage & Expand

Key Activities:

• Social media and dedicated web page
• Two events in Dutch Design Week 2024 and 2025
• 4 newsletters
• Create an informational video summarizing results and next steps.
• Tools and guidelines and educational materials revised after pilot testing, digitized and published online in Dutch, Spanish, and English.