With creativity and Design Thinking (DT), we support community life, belonging, creativity and initiative of people in the "Structurally Affected Karlovy Vary Region".
We designed and successfully tested our own EDIPT methodology, which teaches children, students, officials and entrepreneurs DT in a fun, playful, effective and practical way.
We are building the Exchange center, where DT students and local residents will adopt and design the public space of the Karlovy Vary - Tuhnice.
National
Czechia
Karlovarský Kraj, Karlovy Vary
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Yes
ERDF : European Regional Development Fund
{Empty}
No
Yes
As a representative of an organization, in partnership with other organisations
Name of the organisation(s): PROTEBE live z.s. Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Tereza Last name of representative: Vlašímská Gender: Female Nationality: Czechia If relevant, please select your other nationality: Czechia Function: executive Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Hájek 27 Town: Ostrov Postal code: 36301 Country: Czechia Direct Tel:+420 774 232 046 E-mail:pro@tebe.cz Website:https://supermarketwc.cz/
Name of the organisation(s): KultiVary Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Matyáš Last name of representative: Smutný Gender: Male Nationality: Czechia If relevant, please select your other nationality: Czechia Function: executive Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Dr. Davida Bechera 907/27 Town: Karlovy Vary Postal code: 36001 Country: Czechia Direct Tel:+420 775 699 987 E-mail:info@kultivary.cz Website:https://www.kultivary.cz/
Name of the organisation(s): VZBUĎME VARY z.s. Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Tereza Last name of representative: Dvořáková Gender: Female Nationality: Czechia If relevant, please select your other nationality: Czechia Function: executive Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: nám. Emy Destinové 171/9 Town: Karlovy Vary Postal code: 36301 Country: Czechia Direct Tel:+420 608 528 388 E-mail:tereza@offcity Website:https://www.vzbudmevary.cz/
Name of the organisation(s): Cirkus Ceres Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Eliška Last name of representative: Failová Gender: Female Nationality: Czechia If relevant, please select your other nationality: Czechia Function: executive Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Mírové náměstí 733 Town: Ostrov Postal code: 36301 Country: Czechia Direct Tel:+420728 517 877 E-mail:info@cirkusceres.cz Website:https://www.cirkusceres.cz/
URL:https://www.facebook.com/SUPERMARKETWC Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #dizajnpark #supermarketwc #suprac #kreativitamenisvet #hnizdokreativity #hnizdoradosti #kreativnicentrumkarlovyvary#menimevymenik #nakopnidizajnpark#kreativniworkshop #kreativnidilny #kamvevarech
URL:https://www.designovemysleni.cz/ Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #designovemysleni#designcamp#zazijpodchodjinak #zahajujemeprazdniny
We are a team of creatives, designers and educators who have built a gallery of design, SUPERMARKET wc, from former public toilets in the center of Karlovy Vary. Since 2005 here we organize a year-round exhibition program, lectures, workshops and networking meetings.
The Karlovy Vary region belongs to the three "structurally affected regions" of the Czech Republic. It is the smallest and socio-economically weakest region in the Czechia. However, this doesn't mean that there are no significant opportunities for the development of people and the economy. We decided to make a change through creativity and Design Thinking (DT).
In the past three years, in cooperation with the Business Development Agency of KV Region, we have created and piloted a unique methodology of DT for elementary school students and high school students. We followed up on this methodology with lifelong education courses for educators so that they could teach the DT method to pupils and students in all schools in the region.
It is a complex system of developing the skills of a wide range of target groups, the application of which has and will have concrete impacts on the quality of life and services in the region. In the younger generation, it supports motivation for initiative and entrepreneurship, cooperation and healthy patriotism.
It is not just a theory, the goal of the workshop is not only to learn the method, but at the same time to propose solutions to real challenges and tasks and then try to implement them. As a background for these activities, which are still taking place in schools, we are creating a new space in the center of Karlovy Vary together with 4 other NGOs. It is the cultural-creative, educational and community center "The Exchange". In this place, we hold workshops under the label "Dizajnpark", where young people participate in the design of the city's public space and gain a positive attitude towards the place where they live and the community of which they are a part.
Creativity education
Design Thinking
Methodology
System
Community
The topics of recycling, upcycling and sustainable lifestyle are part of our offer of educational programs. We show the ways in which designers approach these topics. And how pupils and students can practically use these approaches in their lives.
An example is the use of the Design Thinking methodology, which helps to define the challenge, propose a solution and then implement it.
We are currently working with an architect on an architectural study of the Exchange space with the goal of making an example of good practice of a sustainable building - transformed from an originally unused industrial building into a cultural, creative, educational and community center of the city of Karlovy Vary and the Karlovy Vary Region.
When people "think design" at work or school, they enjoy solving tasks and problems more. They find meaning in them and activate their inner motivation. And this is also logically reflected in the quality of results and satisfaction with one's own performance. DT is inherently experiential, fun, team-based, participatory and inclusive – all participants are drawn into the game, play and the joy of discovery is an integral part of this approach. The results lead to meaningfulness, quality and, in the case of products, an attractive appearance.
We have found during our programs that workshop participants are almost always positively surprised at the end by the attractiveness of the result and the level achieved. They discover in themselves previously unknown possibilities and skills.
We paid great attention to the design of the methodology for pupils and students when developing the methodology and work aids. Graphic design and illustrations were carefully designed and tested with students and teachers in our pilot project. It had confirmed to us that good design motivates an interest in learning and learning.
All communication materials related to Dizajnpark and our activities are designed within the rules of corporate design. We are currently collaborating with an architect on an architectural study of the Exchange space with the goal of realizing an example of good practice in a functional, aesthetic and sustainable building from an originally unused industrial building into a cultural, creative, educational and community center of the city of Karlovy Vary and the KV Region. The goal is to create a cultivated and original environment, which is still lacking in the city and region. We believe that the quality of architecture and the environment in which people work and spend their free time directly affects their experiences, moods and work results. We want to draw attention to it and set an example. Our center is purposefully designed as an experience.
Design thinking also lends itself to inclusive education because it gives everyone on the team the opportunity to play as their own unique instrument in the orchestra. In our experience, DT unites, breaks down barriers between people and strengthens their self-fulfillment. It is because everyone in the team participates in a specific way in solving the task and that joint work leads to a meaningful, interesting and functional result.
Team cooperation, the ability to present and defend one's work, to be able to search for information, to critically assess it and to think outside the established frameworks - these are skills that, being mastered by pupils, significantly increases the success of their entry into further levels of education and the labor market. The skills that their future employers will value the most and will increasingly be a necessary condition for employment.
At first glance, it may seem that DT is only for "some creatives". The opposite is true. Thanks to DT, children and young people can discover that they are creative and get the opportunity to discover their creativity. We believe that DT can be used by anyone in any field and in solving any challenge. You can use this method when designing a birthday party or a bed for a pet, but also when you are looking for a teaching method that would be more suitable for your students, when solving an environmental problem, when looking for a service for the elderly that would make their life easier or overall better.
When people "think design" at work or school, they enjoy solving tasks and problems more. They find meaning in them and activate their inner motivation.
The methodology is accessible to teachers and students free of charge (it was created thanks to support from public sources).
The building of the Exchange community and learning center is designed as a low-threshold building. Part of the programs is designed in cooperation with NGOs directly for disadvantaged groups.
In order for the emerging cultural, creative, educational and community center to meet the real needs of the residents, it is necessary to communicate with them from the very beginning and involve them in its creation. We systematically work with various target groups that will form the base of supporters and users of this space.
Planned activities for 2023
The goal is creative "interventions" as well as informal support of the skills of an active citizen: reflection, self-expression. In DT workshops, young people generate ideas. We will develop these ideas further in workshops focused on the creative process, led by artists and creatives.
Through the workshops, we work with a group of young people (2nd grade primary and secondary schools), find out their needs, get ideas from them and make creative interventions with them right on the spot - involving them in building a new creative space right from the start.
In this way, we involve new informal groups, NGOs, the commercial sphere and public administration in the creation and functioning of DIZAJNPARK.
Community events (celebrations) will help the acceptance of the new design center in Karlovy Vary.
Through networking, other organizations (NGOs, informal groups, the public sector and the commercial sphere) will be involved in the activities of the new creative center.
Work with selected target groups (Tuhnice community, Karlovy Vary residents interested in events, young people and their teachers) will contribute to their active involvement.
The ideas of people from the surrounding area and active residents of Karlovy Vary, which arise at facilitated community meetings, will be included in the center's action plan.
Through 8 workshops, we will open the door for further cooperation with young people from Karlovy Vary schools - they will be able to become volunteers, learn to generate new ideas that they can implement directly in the new center and bring their friends and relatives to community events.
The development and testing of the EDIPT methodology took place in cooperation with PROTEBE live (NGO) and the Business Development Agency of Karlovy Vary Region (contributed by KK). PROTEBE live is the initiator of the project and the author of the methodology, Business Development Agency of Karlovy Vary Region provided financing and administrative background of the pilot project. It is an example of ideal cooperation of professionals from NGO with a public institution in the implementation of the Regional Innovation Strategy of the Czech Republic (RIS3).
3 elementary and 3 secondary schools in the Karlovy Vary region were involved in testing the methodology as part of the pilot project. Professional cooperation in the didactic area was provided by the pedagogical faculties at Charles University in Prague and the University of Hradec Králové.
The circle of partners for implementation is expanding further, as interest in the methodology and its use in teaching is increasing. These include the Department of Education of the Karlovy Vary Region, the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, J. E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, other primary and secondary schools in the Karlovy Vary Region...
We implement the cultural, creative, educational and community center Exchange in a coalition with 4 other NGOs: Cirkus Céres (new circus and movement pedagogy), VzbuďměVary (alternative culture – dance, theater, music, site-specific events, revival of public space), KultiVary (culture, revitalization of public space, community support) and Žijeme TUhnice (community association of Tuhnice district).
External partners are the Karlovy Vary Maternity Center (support for families and community life) and People in Need (an NGO in the social field with a number of programs supporting disadvantaged and socially weak fellow citizens).
The targeted development of the community around the center was supported by the OSF Foundation with the Active Citizens Fund program.
Interdisciplinary cooperation between designers, pedagogues and didactics was key. The formal form of the outputs was given by a graphic designer and illustrator who was also part of the development team. It has been proven once again that innovations are best created where people meet who would not normally meet. Our strategy is to purposefully initiate such projects and collaborations. This is how we conceived this pilot project as well. The development of the methodology and set of services took place as a more than two-year intensive interdisciplinary dialogue. It was very inspiring and rewarding for all parties involved.
Thanks to this project, educators acquire professional methodology, up-to-date skills and modern, attractive teaching aids supporting the motivation of pupils and students to take initiative and entrepreneurship and, above all, the ability to deal with challenges in their personal and professional lives.
The standard Design Thinking method generally uses the principle of 5 phases (empathy, definition, ideation, prototype, testing - EDIPT), when you get from an idea to its meaningful implementation.
Our contribution is that we have created a unique compilation of specific design tools, which we have tested well in our own design practice and which are simple, fun and effective.
Our methodology adapts DT methods and tools in an original way in a form that is attractive, motivating and understandable for individual target groups. It integrates the DT method into the practical educational process at all levels of education. For this, we have an expert team of educators and we are further training others who will help us increase the impact of this initiative.
We consider the most valuable thing about our method to be the fact that it was developed in an interdisciplinary collaboration between designers, pedagogues and didactics. Thanks to this, we were able to interpret the language and approaches of designers to teachers and children in a great way and thus bring these two worlds together and connect them. The methodology therefore reflects educational practice and is revised for work with children and young people.
We can now say that we have succeeded, based on feedback from 1 and a half years of testing at primary and secondary schools in the Karlovy Vary region and at universities.
Our methodology was designed in such a way that it is fully compatible with the Framework educational programs of the education system in the Czech Republic and contributes significantly to the fulfillment of the strategic goals of education and to the development of key horizontal competences: competences for learning, for solving problems and challenges, communicative, social and personal, civic competences and working.
Our entire Design Thinking methodology can be used by anyone.
Publications and worksheets are available free of charge.
The educational modules are also replicable in other institutions (schools, NGOs, etc.) that would like to work with it as we do.
For this, we offer education for pedagogues and lecturers and other methodical support. We have a system designed in such a way that it can be spread further among teachers and lecturers who we can train to be able to teach Design Thinking to their students. From the beginning, we designed the methodology in such a way that it was transferable and our goal was to maximize its impact on schools, public institutions and NGOs.
Concept of Design Thinking has been developing abroad since the 1950s. DT has developed and proven itself well in innovative and successful companies and various institutions – educational, cultural, non-profit and public administration. This approach and way of thinking is a significant source of success for them. DT is gaining more and more popularity around the world, but it is not very well known in the Czechia and, especially at the local level, goes practically unused. We are changing that.
Although it is a clearly structured rational and controlled process of innovation development, it also makes extensive use of the principles of play and experimentation.
The standard DT method generally uses 5 basic stages of the process that leads from the discovery of an idea to its implementation. First of all, it is about understanding the needs of users (empathy), determining the quality specification of a design/innovation project (definition), then discovering ideas (ideation) and testing them before they are finally implemented (prototyping and testing) = "EDIPT"
The DT method is close to the methods of critical thinking, creative thinking and creative problem solving, it is developed in such a way to bring important discoveries and innovations to everyday life.
It naturally develops a whole range of important competences – teamwork, presentation, visualization, argumentation, discussion and polemics.
We have our own methodologies and profiled services for children and young people from kindergartens, elementary schools and high schools, and teaching staff from all over the Czechia. They are e.g.: FUNDAMENTALS OF CREATIVITY - in the form of games, we teach the little ones about colors, materials, space, the meaning of chance and composition, etc...; DESIGN SANDBOX ON THE ROAD is a mobile interactive exhibition for the 1st grade of elementary school.
HOW TO GENERATE IDEAS is a methodology and worksheets for II. primary and secondary level for teachers.
Educated, initiative and innovative regions are a necessary condition for a prosperous Czechia. The prosperous Czechia is an important part of a prosperous Europe.
The Karlovy Vary region belongs to the three "structurally affected regions" of Czechia. This region is threatened by social instability and is gradually depopulating. At every election, we experience firsthand how society here shows a low level of immunity against populism and misinformation.
Europe's security, social stability, functional democracy and sustainability depend on education and training in the regions. That is why education is a priority for us here. In this sense, we consider education that develops critical thinking, the ability to consult and come up with creative solutions to be a matter of national security and a basic prerequisite for competitiveness.
We contribute to the fact that young people who leave the region for education and work will have a perspective for returning. And even those who do not go anywhere will be led to entrepreneurship and initiative, the ability and courage to stand on their own feet and not be dependent only on the state and public institutions. Our goal is that children and young people can use DT independently when solving various school and extracurricular tasks and problems, when solving various life situations, but also when starting their own project or business.
Without these people, the regions will be weak and vulnerable. A weak and vulnerable region is a potential threat to Europe's stability and prosperity.
Our methodology contributes to the development of the "Top 10 Job Skills of 2025" defined by the World Economic Forum: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/10/top-10-work-skills-of-tomorrow-how-long-it-takes-to-learn-them/
It is also transferable to the field of public administration and politics. We are trying to implement it here as well with the goal of accelerating regional public administration, government and policy innovation.
We have tested the integrated functional methodology of EDIPT and its implementation is ongoing in schools in the Karlovy Vary Region and public institutions (e.g. the Labor Office, the City of Karlovy Vary, the Regional Office of the Karlovy Vary Region).
We have already trained more than 500 pupils, 50 teachers in 16 schools. We used 5 types of workshops for this. It's all simple, experiential, playful and fun, and above all, functional. Thanks to this, we register an ever-increasing interest.
The methodology is freely accessible and transferable. It can be used multidisciplinary, i.e. is generally useful in any field or field.
It helps to come up with ideas for specific solutions that improve life in our region - and when multiplied in other places, it will bring positive effects there as well.
We are currently working on a follow-up Project Thinking methodology. We identified the need to help bring ideas generated by design thinking to life. This will create a complete set of developing skills - generate ideas and solutions by Design Thinking and implement them with Project Thinking.
We are building a cultural, creative, educational and community center The Exchange, which will be the center of the Design Thinking movement in the Karlovy Vary region. We also plan to use this methodology in cooperation with 4 other partners, when involving the local community around the center and when cultivating the surrounding public spaces.
This year the season will take place again in this area under provisional conditions. (Last year we started the first test season, when the center was visited by more than 1000 visitors).
We have completed a very successful test of the EDIPT course in the teaching of creative disciplines at the University of West Bohemia. Thanks to this, we will continue to implement this course here, and we have already been approached for cooperation by J.E. Purkyně Univ. in Ústí nad Labem and at the Univ. of West Bohemia (Faculty of Economics).
