‘Spaces to have a go… The freedom to create… places where you can be yourself.’ That’s what design guru Wayne Hemingway MBE said was important for young people, in his Master Class at Lancaster University campus last week.

…And that’s why we were so thrilled when Wayne agreed to pop in to see the potential of our new ‘Work in Progress’ Studio and Project Room  when he was on campus.

It’s a world where industry, SMEs and start-ups are crying out for creative and enterprising thinkers and leaders in all disciplines. Now more than ever we need a pipeline of people who can connect, collaborate, create and capture the value of their ideas and solutions; make new things happen; but delivering that type of learning experience requires a different approach to designing learning and an injection of very different learning spaces in which learners can experience to ‘become’.

In his story ‘Creating a Global Brand on a Startup Budget’; Wayne told how he and his wife Gerardine were triggered into entrepreneurship by events, but that they had thrived in an ecosystem of creativity and opportunity; in Camden Market as a shop front, and designing and making in Kensington Market; a 1980s version of a modern-day maker and design space, where people could make and test out their ideas and products in small ways. A a 1980s creative community.

Wayne and Gerardine had the creative kit, the attitude and the mindset. They were fearless, they got on, used the means they had, and made it happen; but the ecosystem was ingredient x in helping to release the potential of  their brand Red or Dead to global heights. Space to have a go…the freedom to create…and a place where you can just be yourself.

The sub text in Wayne’s story was clear. We can all show up, bring who we are, have a go. You learn by doing, getting it wrong to get it right, as you learn to master making the things that people, society or industry needs.

What if all Universities, colleges and schools has their own version of the Kensington Market ecosystem? Maker spaces, enterprise hubs with the culture, learning environment, kit and support for people, creativity and innovation to thrive?

Sir Ken Robinson says people misunderstand creativity. It’s not about special people or things. We all have it it…comes with the human kit. Creativity is simply the practical process of putting your imagination to work. It can be learned. It’s about framing challenges, learning to ask the right questions, re-framing and seeing things differently.

Creative breakthroughs come through collaboration, trial and error, sketching things out, prototyping, testing, building to learn, being led and coached in the right way.

It’s hard to have good ideas to innovate unless people can collaborate to have lots of ideas.

From high street fashion, water buts ‘designed in the shape of an arse.’ digital creative marketing solutions creative services or simply festivals, fun and the serious work of regeneration, Hemingway Design have proved that design thinking can change a lot of things in life for the better. You can learn to use it in your life and work too.

Work in Progress Studio at Lancaster, will be a space where students (staff and businesses too) can connect, collaborate, and create solutions to problems of all shapes and sizes. It will be about using play, creative processes, design thinking and Lean Startup … to develop mindsets whilst finding, funding and supporting the potential for ventures of all shapes and sizes to be tested and launched.

If you want to be a part of developing creative confidence and mastering enterprise by design, to co-design the space, register on the Work in Progress mailing list to hear what’s coming up.

If we’re seriously backing productivity in the UK, we need to seriously get going on developing our inner innovators, and a culture of creativity across education for all.

Creativity is contagious…pass it on…