Creating Pixel N’ Brush for social media was a personal and creative project for a Social Media Communications course. Initially, there was so much fear and worry about posting creative content on social media. I was concerned about being consistent, and I eventually decided to do creative projects because I knew I could do that, but coming up with ideas each week seemed daunting. This led to researching gamification for creativity and ideas that could apply to my life as a full-time graphic designer and part-time student. This course taught us how social media has impacted different facets of our lives positively and negatively. I think it was a mostly productive and fun journey, and I will recap what I learned, the challenges I faced, the XP I gained, and why gamifying creativity works.
What I learned
I learnt multiple new skills for this project, but the most difficult was video editing. I learnt how to use Davinci Resolve, a free video editing software and watched a lot of tutorials to prepare myself. I also learnt more about myself and what would motivate me to be more consistent. It was rare for me to make art outside of requests, gifts, work and school projects. Setting up a system with simple rules allowed me to pick an art-related task, which earned me XP (Experience Points). There were colour-coded challenges from easy to difficult, and I wrote them on paper, folded them and stored them in a mason jar:
🟩 Easy Tasks – 5 XP
🟧 Medium Tasks – 10 XP
🟪 Hard Tasks – 25 XP
🟨 Yellow/Gold Tasks – 25 XP (collabs & community submissions)
Each week, I picked a challenge based on mood and time, recorded and tracked my progress, and shared content on YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest. My goal for this project is to reach Level 50 (500XP), but I knew I could not achieve that goal within the semester. Setting a high level will encourage me to continue with it, to be more creative and invest in my hobbies for mental health.
The Challenges I faced
Creating content for multiple social media platforms was difficult. I felt like I neglected Pinterest. It is a valuable platform for posting art content, but YouTube and Instagram took a lot more time for me to work on. I plan to clean it up and improve the content for Pinterest.
The creative challenge I enjoyed the most and really love how it turned out was the creative collaboration with Shania (@shaniabeyondthesky_). It was difficult due to my limited experience with painting clouds, and the various colours in the photograph made it look a lot more challenging. I told myself that I could always paint over a part that did not turn out well, so I worked on blending, and eventually, I was able to complete it.
The XP I Gained
By the end of the project, I reached Level 8 with 80 XP earned, which felt like a huge win considering the demands of school work, life, and consistent creativity. There is an XP counter at the top of the website.
Why Gamifying Creativity Works
Turning my creative journey into a game added structure, motivation and fun. Here’s what I learned:
- It made the process less intimidating:
The XP jar system helped me focus on what was chosen. There was less focus on perfection and more on completing the challenge to get the XP. The small wins were motivating. - It helped with consistency:
Knowing I could earn XP even for smaller challenges kept me engaged. Also, there was less worry about what to do the following week since there were many challenges to choose from. - It allowed flexibility:
This was really important, especially for my schedule. I could choose from Easy, Medium and Difficult. - It made creativity feel more rewarding:
I was growing, unlocking new skills and tracking my journey visually. I can look back on what I’ve done to spark my creativity or motivation.
Running Pixel N’ Brush across multiple platforms taught me a lot about content creation, which type of content is more suited for them and time management:
- YouTube was my primary focus. I shared longer form content of my creative process.
- Instagram was great for more catchy content, which I am still trying to figure out.
- Pinterest mostly helped me find inspiration and share some final artwork.
- The blog was used to reflect more on the journey.
I gained a deeper understanding of content planning and learnt the value of repurposing content across platforms.
This project was a rediscovery for creativity, and Pixel N’ Brush gave me a structure for how to keep going. I plan to continue levelling up, experimenting with new art mediums, and sharing more content.
