Analyzing the Context of Your Creative Work

Beyond the Template Podcast

September 25, 2025

Season 1; Episode 4- Creativity within Context

Subscribe to this RSS! This podcast was produced using Buzzsprout

Intro- Analyzing the Context of Your Creative Work:

Welcome to Beyond the Template, the more than “just talk” podcast, created by me, Caroline Amelie- a writer, artist, counselor, and learning designer.

This podcast was built for those who are ready to tackle something new in their lives, but need small steps, encouragement, accountability and community to get there.

This episode’s transcript on Analyzing the Context of Your Creative Work:

Happy Friday all. This week I will share what’s winning in education right now, we will check in on how our projects are going, I’ll discuss how to narrow down the characteristics and traits for our audience through considering context, and we’ll hear the story of someone who surpassed all odds against him to bring innovation into the world. I hope this episode will inspire and uplift you and help you continue towards your goals!

Hey hey, and thanks for listening! If you are new to the podcast and just joining us, welcome! This podcast follows a step-by-step approach to bringing your vision to life. If you haven’t done so yet, make sure to check out the last few episodes to catch up with our group of creatives.

One of my listeners told me last week that my voice makes them go to sleep. If you are listening before bed, you’re welcome, but otherwise, there’s a reason that I encourage everyone to take a break while listening. As someone who hates long lectures and someone who personally has the attention of an acorn, I hope you will breathe and move as we check in together. But, if you are forced to sit at your desk, please get up and stretch now! Even better, go take a walk if you can and get some fresh air! Or, for those of you who are driving… pay attention to the road (haha).

For my listeners who have been following along, I thrive off of feedback like this! Please reach out to me with suggestions and criticisms on what you have heard so far. These can include what you feel isn’t working, what you would like to hear, ideas for the expander of the week, or ways I can make this podcast more interesting and inspiring for YOU. You are who I am doing this for!

That being said, maybe this podcast SHOULD be more of a “nightcast”? What do you think? I bet I would have been great at being a 3AM DJ back in the 1900’s (hah!). If you want MORE of a night-time Lo-Fi vibe, let me know! This would be great feedback.

My listener shoutout goes to Jessica in North Carolina! Jessica is a force to be reckoned with, which is why her telling me that my voice is so soothing she can barely keep her eyes open while listening to me (haha) was so impactful. I may have a superpower, because she is a superwoman! Jessica wears many hats as a mom and working in full-time leadership of a college, but she’s also just become a licensed realtor for Keller Williams! You can find her at JessicaMoran@kw.com I will have this link in this podcast’s description. Jessica, please wake up, I need more feedback.

Let’s get into the GOOD NEWS of the WEEK!

ALL good news links can be found in my blog AND on YouTube if you are curious to read more. Here are some of the top headlines that I read which might uplift and inspire you this week…each is happening in the USA.

A college student was tired of seeing red Solo cups litter her campus so she invented a way to turn them into sweaters

Tufts decided that it Will Be Tuition-Free for U.S. Families Earning Less Than $150,000

An author outfitted an old pickup truck to become a traveling banned bookstore

A Brunswick Schools’ lunch debt was paid off by an anonymous donor

Arizona State University received a $115 Million philanthropic investment from the Rob Walton Foundation for conservation science learning and workforce development

And finally, a new beekeeping program is helping prison inmates heal through nature

I love hearing about recovery programs like this, where those incarcerated are given the tools to make a positive impact on their community and the world… many of which who weren’t given any such opportunity before because of the resources around them. It’s “training and development” at its finest, in my opinion.

In one of my very first counseling courses, I learned that punishment is the least impactful stimulus when trying to change behavior, no matter the age of the recipient. I hope programs like this will keep being funded. Hearing news which aligns with my own value system make me hopeful for the world. I hope this gave you a little bit of hope too.

Other things I responded to this week included…

Stress-management from the barrage of social media fear mongering over Rapture talk. Did anyone else see these videos? Apparently, the rapture was to take place on the 23^rd. In my astrology circles, weirdly (not so weirdly) I have been hearing about this week as well, but for months at this point. I have seen post after post about eclipse season and about some opposing celestial energies which warn of more challenges, explosiveness, opposition, violence, aggression and conflict. Confrontations abounding. Super cool. Because it was so boring before right? Who else is tired?

So I took a step back from media consumption and instead played a full video game. Sometimes we need whimsy in our lives. I know I am not the only one. I recently saw a reel of a grown man who has now bought himself multiple dancing squid toys just to watch them dance with one another. Have you seen these? They are pretty great. His laughs were big. They were genuine. And it reminded me that right now, we all need to do what we need to do to keep going. So, buy that damn toy you want. Put a sticker on your laptop. Wear the fun socks. Sing songs and dance in your car and at home.

Last week I bared my soul on my true feelings regarding social media… and why I needed to dramatically shift away from what I have been testing this year. I decided to burn my approach to the ground because it was focused on sales and it felt wrong and unhelpful.

My new approach will be a micro version of how I organized this podcast! Each post will be a micro-lesson.

My prompt of the week connects to this and here it is:

VOTE on which type of content you are curious to grab in the form of microlessons on my socials! Your choices are…

Neuroscience- Learn about how the brain works

Memory and Learning Hacks

Psychology and Mental Wellness

Creativity, Imagination, and Creative Solutions to Self-Care

I would love for my content to be as impactful as possible. If you feel called to support my accounts, please set up a notification for my reels, posts and stories. And, if you have anyone in your life which might enjoy what I am trying to do, please share with them so they can follow along too!

Okay, what have I been working on during rapture week aside from playing a video game?

Last time I shared that my creative project, aligned with both needs and problems to solve is to build a community of individuals who are driven, hold vision, carry similar values, inspire and support one another, and love exploring ideas, cultures and places together.

I asked you all to consider characteristics and traits which may be important in the success of your own work. Here’s what this looked like for me:

General characteristics

In terms of identities and backgrounds- the more diverse the better. Creative collaborative strength comes from bringing people together who have different perspectives.

Financial means- my audience will need to be able to invest in their creative work and invest in attending live events (online and in-person) which may require travel

Specific characteristics

I listed these already- I am looking for people who are driven, hold vision, and love exploring. They need to be competent in their own creative outlets, be open-minded, and have the skills needed to serve as a support system for their peers.

If you have ever been in a group project where one or more members did the bare minimum, this is what I am not looking for.

Learning styles are preferred in yourself or your audience

I listed these already- I am looking for people who, like me, have a hunger for learning about new people, cultures, and places. Most likely these will be people who love to read and learn, have no issue watching films with subtitles, desire to travel, and enjoy having intellectual conversations.

Audience’s prior track record with achieving something new

These individuals will need to be able to talk to strangers. They have to have the courage to cross thresholds. Don’t forget, my community will be intentional and empathy driven so it feels inclusive. I am an introvert. I know what social anxiety feels like. But I also know what it feels like when the burden of responsibility to connect is removed and I immediately feel welcome. But if this audience can’t muster up the energy to get to the doorway, they aren’t for this project.

Personal and social characteristics

This is a community for- people who want to listen, individuals who are sensitive to those around them, people who can hold space for others, those with emotional integrity and intelligence, people who are self-away, and those with humility … we are all a work in progress, but this needs to be a safe space above all else.

Cultural characteristics

I believe the best creativity is manifested through experience-so I am seeking individuals who have really lived or seek to do so. I identify best with those who have been through something challenging or something that really brought their humanity into focus- I believe this sort of experience offers the opportunity for deep connection with others.

Accessibility related characteristics

Heck yes! Everyone knows that inclusivity is big for me. I am nowhere near perfect with this. I am always learning how to be more inclusive and considerate. So, I hope we will have those who can offer their perspectives and needs. Whether they feel comfortable in advocating, or just showing up as themselves.

That was a lot. At the end of this podcast, I will give you some final questions to synthesize as well as introduce the additional contextual factors which should be considered as we plan and research.

Planning and researching, as any true innovator and creator knows, can sometimes lead you to the unexpected. It is the surprises that make us great. My expander of the week is a perfect example of how we might think we have a destination in mind, but the journey takes us elsewhere and we find ourselves doing something we couldn’t have dreamed up!

My expander this week is… Frederick McKinley Jones

Jones was born in 1893, in Kentucky, USA. His mother left when he was a toddler, and his father struggled to take care of him on his own, leading Jones, at the mere age of 7, to be placed in a Catholic rectory orphanage in Ohio. At 11, Jones left school on his own to work odd jobs for three years, until becoming a largely self-taught auto mechanic at 14 years old… showing his early on innate curiosity and natural inclination towards engineering.

At 19, Jones moved to Minnesota to serve as a mechanic on a 50,000 acre farm, owned by the same man who owned the Great Northern Railroad. This proximity allowed Jones to learn both electrical work and steam locomotive mechanics and gain his engineering license at 20.

Jones served alongside his countrymen in WWI. When his outstanding mechanical skills were noted, he was promoted to sergeant to work as a teaching electrician. He would be responsible for the successful electric, telegraph and telephone services of his camp.

After his service ended, he returned to expand further on his electronic skills, and would build his Minnesota town’s first radio station transmitter, a device which synced sound with motion pictures and a ticket-dispensing machine for movie theaters. This work aligned him with local entrepreneur, Joseph A. Numero, who hired Jones on to convert silent movie projectors into audiovisual ones. After working for Numero for 11 years, Numero commissioned Jones to design what was called the “Thermo Control Model A” automatic truck refrigeration unit, which Jones eventually transitioned to the Model B and then Model C… each iteration solving the problems of the last. The first was too heavy. The second was too flimsy, but the third… well, Model C would eventually be manufactured for military use on trucks and then for commercial use as well.

Jones is well-known for his impact on food access through refrigerated transport. But in his lifetime, he would also invent a portable x-ray machine, an early prototype for a snowmobile, and early radio services specifically for local doctors. All in all, Jones was awarded 61 patents, and 40 of them were for refrigeration equipment. He was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 1991 as the first African-American to receive this honor, and inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2007 for mobile refrigeration, 46 years after death. While he would never know of these prestigious honors, Jones was inducted as the first African-America member of the American Society of Refrigeration Engineers in 1944 when he was 51. I hope he knows how much he is respected and appreciated today. His “homestate” of Minnesota, recently celebrated him through the MPR Wander and Wonder series earlier this year. That article, along with several other resources can be found in this episode’s description.

Alright now, let’s turn it back to you…

It’s time to grab your notebook. We have two sections this time: Synthesis of characteristics and traits and new contextual considerations. This will be a bit heavy, so please remember that these key concepts and reflection questions can be found in my blog for you as a FREE digital download. This along with the full transcript. Links can be found in the podcast description.

Here are some final questions to consider regarding characteristics and traits: Number…

Why do you think is it important to give attention to learner characteristics when planning your work specifically?

Which characteristics are the most important to consider- how can you obtain more information about these?

What limitations might these characteristics place on your creative design?

And finally, what contextual factors should you consider for the success of your work?

Here are the three main types of contexts to consider in your creative work.

Experiential Context

These are all of the technical aspects which might mean the…

Physical environment or the space that it is in which can enhance or detract from the work such as lighting, noise, temperature, room for movement, and accommodations. OR the…

Physical and technological materials needed for the work. Here are some examples from that list I shared in episode two:

course or workshop- projectors, computers, hand-held devices etc.

community garden- what electricity and watering systems are needed?

book or script- writing software like Final Draft, writing instruments, meeting software like Teams or Zoom

song- speakers, sound system, microphones

community mural- whatever is needed for creating and protecting the in-progress work

organization or club- communication software

new or stronger relationship with yourself or with others- use your imagination

Orienting Context

What are your audience’s goals for wanting to be a part of your project? What are they seeking?

What are your audience’s assumptions about your project and how it will impact them?

What role(s) does your audience see as their responsibility in their participation? How invested are they in the work?

Transfer Context

What are the takeaways you hope your audience will gain from your work?

How can you ensure that your audience doesn’t just consume and forget?

In what ways can you plant a seed or imprint your work on them, so they carry your work with them?

That was a ton of questions! Since my major pivot in episode three, I’m now in sync with you all which means we will be working towards our goals together for the remainder of the season! Next week I will be answering these questions, and in the next episode I will share with you what I learned.

Thank you all for joining me!

Outro- Analyzing the Context of Your Creative Work:

Thank you for listening to Beyond the Template! You are doing great. Keep it up. Keep it creative.

My name is Caroline Amelie LeBoeuf. I have a degree in art and in counseling and also professional level certificates in educational advising and learning design & technology. Roles I have carried include illustrator, photographer, writer, traveler, mentor, instructor and most recently entrepreneur!

If you are curious to learn further about the work I offer my clients, check out cameliedesigns.com, that’s cameliedesigns.com.

This episode’s digital download on Analyzing the Context of Your Creative Work:

Beyond the Template 004- Downloadable Download