Project 3 – Work Redesign

PART ONE Due Oct 11

RESEARCH & IMAGINE YOUR IDEAL JOB

What would work look like if work/jobs were designed for creative people rather than people being redesigned for work?

GOAL: Research, imagine, then visualize key aspects of a healthier, more creative and fun work/job.

Part 1 is an individual assignment–research & conceptualize your own ideal work situation. Use the Redesign an Ideal Job form to complete Part 1.

Below is a list of possible projects you could undertake, followed by some common jobs in the digital creative field. You need not limit yourself to these options.

See the Valve example for unusual working conditions (note the pros & cons). Or see the Full Employee Manual.

PART TWO Due October 18

VISUALIZE SOME KEY ASPECTS OF YOUR IDEAL JOB

Part 2 is a visualization of that ideal job. You may work in smaller teams for this part. And you may also want to coordinate with other classmates and/or teams. One option would be to review and combine ideas and/or goals and create a class-wide ideal job (or workplace) with each person/team contributing some aspect of the visualization. You can choose animation, photo essay, video, infographic(s), web page, etc.

This assignment is both career preparation and humane-design practice: you examine a job you may genuinely encounter, while recognizing that entering the workforce does not mean you have to accept every existing workplace assumption as inevitable.

Possible Projects

Project option	What you create	Course themes + skills
1. Design Your Ideal Job	Invent a job that fits your skills, interests, values, desired lifestyle, and contribution to society. Build a WordPress “job page” showing what you do, who you work with, where, when, and why it matters.	People Care, creativity, meaningful work, web design
2. Design Your Ideal Workplace	Design the organization you would actually want to work for: workspace, schedule, decision-making, compensation, technology, privacy, meetings, benefits, and culture.	Mental health, humane tech, workplace design, UX
3. Anti-Corporate Org Chart	Replace the traditional pyramid with a network. Design a visual system showing how decisions, knowledge, responsibility, and support circulate through an organization.	Networks vs. hierarchies, power, systems thinking, information design
4. Four-Day Future	Design a workplace around a shorter workweek. Decide what should disappear, what should be automated, what meetings are actually necessary, and how work gets distributed fairly.	Well-being, efficiency, automation, mental health
5. Worker-Owned Future	Invent a cooperative business in which workers share ownership and decision-making. Show how money, responsibility, risk, and profits are distributed.	Fair Share, democracy, social justice, economics
6. Sharing-Economy Remix	Redesign a familiar service—transportation, tools, housing, food, childcare, media, clothing—around genuine sharing rather than extraction.	Sharing economy, community, sustainability, platform design
7. Job Without Surveillance	Design a workplace that can function without employee tracking, keystroke monitoring, invasive cameras, or constant productivity metrics. Show what replaces surveillance.	Privacy, trust, autonomy, humane technology
8. Human Job Description	Rewrite the conventional job ad. Along with skills and responsibilities, include autonomy, learning, creativity, relationships, mental health, flexibility, environmental impact, and community benefit.	Values, People Care, professional communication
9. Build a Creative Collective	Create a fictional 3–6 person creative cooperative—designers, filmmakers, coders, artists, writers, makers, etc.—and design how they find projects, share resources, make decisions, and divide income.	Creativity, collaboration, networks, Fair Share
10. Work-Life Ecosystem	Visualize the ideal week, not just the ideal job. Show how paid work fits with sleep, relationships, exercise, creativity, caregiving, civic life, and time outdoors.	Mental health, human needs, systems thinking, data visualization
11. The $100,000 Question	A fictional organization has an extra $100,000. Teams decide whether to spend it on executive bonuses, salaries, shorter hours, childcare, mental-health support, environmental improvements, training, community projects, etc.—then visualize and defend their choices.	Social justice, Fair Share, values, budgeting/data visualization
12. Cooperative Platform	Imagine an alternative to Uber, DoorDash, Etsy, Airbnb, or another platform in which participants actually own and govern the system. Prototype its website or interface.	Platform cooperativism, networks, equity, UX/UI
13. Your AI Coworker	Design a job in which AI handles appropriate repetitive tasks while people retain judgment, relationships, creativity, and responsibility. Clearly establish what AI should not do.	AI ethics, creativity, meaningful work, humane automation
14. Privacy-First Workplace	Create a digital workplace policy and interface showing how communication, files, employee data, AI, cameras, and monitoring would work in a privacy-respecting organization.	Privacy, consent, digital literacy, policy/design
15. Mental-Health First Workplace	Redesign work around attention, recovery, belonging, autonomy, and realistic human limits. Create a visual guide, site, or animated “day at work.”	Mental health, humane friction, People Care
16. The No-Boss Experiment	Design an organization with no conventional boss. Who makes decisions? How are conflicts resolved? Who does undesirable work? How does accountability happen?	Networks, power, collaboration, governance
17. Job of 2040	Invent a plausible future occupation responding to ecological, technological, or social changes—repair-network coordinator, community AI steward, neighborhood resilience designer, digital wellbeing coach, etc.	Futures thinking, ecology, technology, creativity
18. Local Jobs That Should Exist	Identify a real need at UMaine or in a Maine community and invent a paid position addressing it. Build a proposal showing who benefits, who funds it, and what the person actually does.	Community, social justice, civic design, entrepreneurship
19. Skills Exchange Network	Design a community where people exchange knowledge and skills rather than always buying services: bicycle repair for web design, language lessons for gardening, photography for childcare, etc.	Sharing economy, networks, community, reciprocity
20. Make Work More Fun	Take a dull or stressful job and redesign one part of it to increase creativity, social connection, autonomy, movement, nature, or play—without simply reducing the work to a game.	Creativity, human needs, workplace UX

Common Digital Creative Jobs

Existing job	Typical work	Humane redesign questions
1. Social Media Coordinator	Schedule posts, create content, monitor engagement	How could the job avoid attention-hacking, burnout, and always-on expectations?
2. Digital Content Creator	Produce short video, graphics, photos, posts, articles	Could success be measured by usefulness, creativity, or connection rather than clicks?
3. Junior Video Editor	Edit interviews, promotional videos, social clips	How could deadlines and production practices support creativity and reasonable work hours?
4. Multimedia Producer / Assistant	Combine video, audio, graphics, photography, and web media	How could the role provide more creative ownership and collaboration?
5. Graphic Designer / Junior Designer	Create graphics, branding, marketing materials, layouts	What would change if designers had more say over what—and who—they design for?
6. Web Content Specialist	Update websites, write pages, manage images and media	Could accessibility, sustainability, privacy, and usefulness become the main measures of success?
7. Junior Web Designer	Design and maintain websites and landing pages	What would a job look like if designers were rewarded for humane UX rather than conversion tricks?
8. UX/UI Designer or Junior UX Designer	Research users, prototype interfaces, test designs	What if the designer represented user well-being inside the company, not just company goals?
9. Communications Specialist	Write stories, newsletters, web copy, announcements, media materials	How could communications emphasize transparency rather than persuasion?
10. Digital Marketing Coordinator	Coordinate campaigns, email, websites, analytics, and social media	Could marketing operate without surveillance-heavy tracking or manipulative targeting?
11. Marketing Assistant	Support campaigns, research, graphics, scheduling, events	How could an entry-level employee gain meaningful creative responsibility rather than only doing repetitive work?
12. SEO Content Specialist / SEO Writer	Optimize web content for search engines	What happens if writing is optimized for actual readers rather than algorithms?
13. Paid Media Specialist	Create and monitor online advertising campaigns	Could advertising respect privacy, avoid behavioral targeting, and still be effective?
14. Digital Advertising Assistant	Build ads, track performance, prepare reports	What forms of targeting would a humane advertising team refuse to use?
15. Public Relations Coordinator	Write press releases, pitch stories, manage media relationships	How could PR prioritize honesty, accountability, and community relationships?
16. Community / Online Community Coordinator	Moderate forums, respond to users, organize online engagement	What if success meant healthy relationships instead of maximum participation?
17. Digital Engagement Specialist	Respond to audiences through social platforms, email, chat, or online communities	How could the job promote meaningful interaction without demanding constant availability?
18. Digital Asset / Media Coordinator	Organize photos, video, graphics, files, permissions, and archives	Could this role become a steward of consent, attribution, copyright, and community memory?
19. Marketing Technology / Digital Operations Technician	Maintain digital tools, assets, e-commerce systems, campaigns, and workflows	Which technologies actually make people’s work easier—and which should be eliminated?
20. Content & Social Media Specialist	Create content across social channels, websites, newsletters, and campaigns	How could one role avoid becoming five jobs compressed into one?