{"id":1184,"date":"2025-09-22T07:43:36","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T11:43:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umainenewmedia.org\/nmd200\/?p=1184"},"modified":"2026-10-09T09:44:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T13:44:52","slug":"project-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umainenewmedia.org\/nmd200\/project-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Project 3 – Work Redesign"},"content":{"rendered":"

PART ONE Due Oct 11<\/h2>\n

RESEARCH & IMAGINE YOUR IDEAL JOB<\/h3>\n

What would work look like if work\/jobs were designed for creative people<\/strong> rather than people being redesigned for work?<\/p>\n

GOAL:<\/strong> Research, imagine, then visualize key aspects of a healthier, more creative and fun work\/job.<\/p>\n

Part 1<\/strong> is an individual assignment–research & \u00a0conceptualize your own ideal work situation. Use the Redesign an Ideal Job form<\/a> to complete Part 1.<\/p>\n

Below is a list of possible projects<\/strong> you could undertake, followed by some common jobs in the digital creative field. \u00a0You need not limit yourself to these options.<\/p>\n

See the Valve example<\/a> for unusual working conditions (note the pros & cons). \u00a0Or see the Full Employee Manual<\/a>.<\/p>\n

PART TWO \u00a0Due October 18<\/h2>\n

VISUALIZE SOME KEY ASPECTS OF YOUR IDEAL JOB<\/h3>\n

Part 2<\/strong> is a visualization of that ideal job. \u00a0You 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Possible Projects<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Project option<\/b><\/td>\nWhat you create<\/b><\/td>\nCourse themes + skills<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1. Design Your Ideal Job<\/b><\/td>\nInvent a job that fits your skills, interests, values, desired lifestyle, and contribution to society. Build a WordPress \u201cjob page\u201d showing what you do, who you work with, where, when, and why it matters.<\/span><\/td>\nPeople Care, creativity, meaningful work, web design<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2. Design Your Ideal Workplace<\/b><\/td>\nDesign the organization you would actually want to work for: workspace, schedule, decision-making, compensation, technology, privacy, meetings, benefits, and culture.<\/span><\/td>\nMental health, humane tech, workplace design, UX<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3. Anti-Corporate Org Chart<\/b><\/td>\nReplace the traditional pyramid with a network. Design a visual system showing how decisions, knowledge, responsibility, and support circulate through an organization.<\/span><\/td>\nNetworks vs. hierarchies, power, systems thinking, information design<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4. Four-Day Future<\/b><\/td>\nDesign 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.<\/span><\/td>\nWell-being, efficiency, automation, mental health<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5. Worker-Owned Future<\/b><\/td>\nInvent a cooperative business in which workers share ownership and decision-making. Show how money, responsibility, risk, and profits are distributed.<\/span><\/td>\nFair Share, democracy, social justice, economics<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6. Sharing-Economy Remix<\/b><\/td>\nRedesign a familiar service\u2014transportation, tools, housing, food, childcare, media, clothing\u2014around genuine sharing rather than extraction.<\/span><\/td>\nSharing economy, community, sustainability, platform design<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7. Job Without Surveillance<\/b><\/td>\nDesign a workplace that can function without employee tracking, keystroke monitoring, invasive cameras, or constant productivity metrics. Show what replaces surveillance.<\/span><\/td>\nPrivacy, trust, autonomy, humane technology<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8. Human Job Description<\/b><\/td>\nRewrite the conventional job ad. Along with skills and responsibilities, include autonomy, learning, creativity, relationships, mental health, flexibility, environmental impact, and community benefit.<\/span><\/td>\nValues, People Care, professional communication<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9. Build a Creative Collective<\/b><\/td>\nCreate a fictional 3\u20136 person creative cooperative\u2014designers, filmmakers, coders, artists, writers, makers, etc.\u2014and design how they find projects, share resources, make decisions, and divide income.<\/span><\/td>\nCreativity, collaboration, networks, Fair Share<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10. Work-Life Ecosystem<\/b><\/td>\nVisualize the ideal week, not just the ideal job. Show how paid work fits with sleep, relationships, exercise, creativity, caregiving, civic life, and time outdoors.<\/span><\/td>\nMental health, human needs, systems thinking, data visualization<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
11. The $100,000 Question<\/b><\/td>\nA 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.\u2014then visualize and defend their choices.<\/span><\/td>\nSocial justice, Fair Share, values, budgeting\/data visualization<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
12. Cooperative Platform<\/b><\/td>\nImagine an alternative to Uber, DoorDash, Etsy, Airbnb, or another platform in which participants actually own and govern the system. Prototype its website or interface.<\/span><\/td>\nPlatform cooperativism, networks, equity, UX\/UI<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
13. Your AI Coworker<\/b><\/td>\nDesign a job in which AI handles appropriate repetitive tasks while people retain judgment, relationships, creativity, and responsibility. Clearly establish what AI should <\/span>not<\/b> do.<\/span><\/td>\nAI ethics, creativity, meaningful work, humane automation<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
14. Privacy-First Workplace<\/b><\/td>\nCreate a digital workplace policy and interface showing how communication, files, employee data, AI, cameras, and monitoring would work in a privacy-respecting organization.<\/span><\/td>\nPrivacy, consent, digital literacy, policy\/design<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
15. Mental-Health First Workplace<\/b><\/td>\nRedesign work around attention, recovery, belonging, autonomy, and realistic human limits. Create a visual guide, site, or animated \u201cday at work.\u201d<\/span><\/td>\nMental health, humane friction, People Care<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
16. The No-Boss Experiment<\/b><\/td>\nDesign an organization with no conventional boss. Who makes decisions? How are conflicts resolved? Who does undesirable work? How does accountability happen?<\/span><\/td>\nNetworks, power, collaboration, governance<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
17. Job of 2040<\/b><\/td>\nInvent a plausible future occupation responding to ecological, technological, or social changes\u2014repair-network coordinator, community AI steward, neighborhood resilience designer, digital wellbeing coach, etc.<\/span><\/td>\nFutures thinking, ecology, technology, creativity<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
18. Local Jobs That Should Exist<\/b><\/td>\nIdentify 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.<\/span><\/td>\nCommunity, social justice, civic design, entrepreneurship<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
19. Skills Exchange Network<\/b><\/td>\nDesign 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.<\/span><\/td>\nSharing economy, networks, community, reciprocity<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
20. Make Work More Fun<\/b><\/td>\nTake a dull or stressful job and redesign one part of it to increase creativity, social connection, autonomy, movement, nature, or play\u2014without simply reducing the work to a game.<\/span><\/td>\nCreativity, human needs, workplace UX<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n

Common Digital Creative Jobs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Existing job<\/b><\/td>\nTypical work<\/b><\/td>\nHumane redesign questions<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1. Social Media Coordinator<\/b><\/td>\nSchedule posts, create content, monitor engagement<\/span><\/td>\nHow could the job avoid attention-hacking, burnout, and always-on expectations?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2. Digital Content Creator<\/b><\/td>\nProduce short video, graphics, photos, posts, articles<\/span><\/td>\nCould success be measured by usefulness, creativity, or connection rather than clicks?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3. Junior Video Editor<\/b><\/td>\nEdit interviews, promotional videos, social clips<\/span><\/td>\nHow could deadlines and production practices support creativity and reasonable work hours?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4. Multimedia Producer \/ Assistant<\/b><\/td>\nCombine video, audio, graphics, photography, and web media<\/span><\/td>\nHow could the role provide more creative ownership and collaboration?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5. Graphic Designer \/ Junior Designer<\/b><\/td>\nCreate graphics, branding, marketing materials, layouts<\/span><\/td>\nWhat would change if designers had more say over what\u2014and who\u2014they design for?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6. Web Content Specialist<\/b><\/td>\nUpdate websites, write pages, manage images and media<\/span><\/td>\nCould accessibility, sustainability, privacy, and usefulness become the main measures of success?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7. Junior Web Designer<\/b><\/td>\nDesign and maintain websites and landing pages<\/span><\/td>\nWhat would a job look like if designers were rewarded for humane UX rather than conversion tricks?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8. UX\/UI Designer or Junior UX Designer<\/b><\/td>\nResearch users, prototype interfaces, test designs<\/span><\/td>\nWhat if the designer represented user well-being inside the company, not just company goals?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9. Communications Specialist<\/b><\/td>\nWrite stories, newsletters, web copy, announcements, media materials<\/span><\/td>\nHow could communications emphasize transparency rather than persuasion?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10. Digital Marketing Coordinator<\/b><\/td>\nCoordinate campaigns, email, websites, analytics, and social media<\/span><\/td>\nCould marketing operate without surveillance-heavy tracking or manipulative targeting?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
11. Marketing Assistant<\/b><\/td>\nSupport campaigns, research, graphics, scheduling, events<\/span><\/td>\nHow could an entry-level employee gain meaningful creative responsibility rather than only doing repetitive work?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
12. SEO Content Specialist \/ SEO Writer<\/b><\/td>\nOptimize web content for search engines<\/span><\/td>\nWhat happens if writing is optimized for actual readers rather than algorithms?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
13. Paid Media Specialist<\/b><\/td>\nCreate and monitor online advertising campaigns<\/span><\/td>\nCould advertising respect privacy, avoid behavioral targeting, and still be effective?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
14. Digital Advertising Assistant<\/b><\/td>\nBuild ads, track performance, prepare reports<\/span><\/td>\nWhat forms of targeting would a humane advertising team refuse to use?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
15. Public Relations Coordinator<\/b><\/td>\nWrite press releases, pitch stories, manage media relationships<\/span><\/td>\nHow could PR prioritize honesty, accountability, and community relationships?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
16. Community \/ Online Community Coordinator<\/b><\/td>\nModerate forums, respond to users, organize online engagement<\/span><\/td>\nWhat if success meant healthy relationships instead of maximum participation?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
17. Digital Engagement Specialist<\/b><\/td>\nRespond to audiences through social platforms, email, chat, or online communities<\/span><\/td>\nHow could the job promote meaningful interaction without demanding constant availability?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
18. Digital Asset \/ Media Coordinator<\/b><\/td>\nOrganize photos, video, graphics, files, permissions, and archives<\/span><\/td>\nCould this role become a steward of consent, attribution, copyright, and community memory?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
19. Marketing Technology \/ Digital Operations Technician<\/b><\/td>\nMaintain digital tools, assets, e-commerce systems, campaigns, and workflows<\/span><\/td>\nWhich technologies actually make people’s work easier\u2014and which should be eliminated?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
20. Content & Social Media Specialist<\/b><\/td>\nCreate content across social channels, websites, newsletters, and campaigns<\/span><\/td>\nHow could one role avoid becoming five jobs compressed into one?<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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