Take the assessment
Menu

Types / Interest types / Artistic · The Creator

AArtistic interest · The Creator

The Storyteller.

someone who wants to make something that reaches people—and stay curious about what they receive from it.

AS

Artistic first, Social second.

Find your type All 30 interest types
AS · ArtisticThe Storyteller
A white sheet pinned across a bookcase catches the shadow of a flying bird from a floor lamp below.

What drives the Storyteller

Someone has to give the toast at the retirement party. The Storyteller may skip the list of dates and titles and tell one small story instead: the ordinary moment that captures who the person was to everyone in the room.

You put feeling into form.

You are often drawn to the point where expression becomes connection. Making something is satisfying, but its meaning comes alive when another person recognizes themselves, remembers something, laughs, changes perspective, or feels less alone.

At your best

You often bring expressive generosity to what you make.

The trade-off

Audience response may become so important that you soften the work, over-explain it, or lose touch with the private reason you made it.

With an audience

This combination can look like leading a community theater workshop, teaching dance, directing a performance, painting a public mural, leading a creative group, or designing an experience for an audience. The making still matters, but it is guided by attention to people: their confidence, energy, background, willingness to participate, and response in the moment. You tend to turn a blank space into something shared rather than merely displaying your own inner world.

What you notice

This mix can make creativity feel less like a private declaration and more like a conversation. You often notice not only what you want to say, but who needs to hear it, what might help them enter the experience, and how the work changes once it meets a real person.

About this information

Artistic and Social share an interest in expression and human experience, but they contribute different parts of the exchange. Artistic focuses on originality, interpretation, and the act of creating. Social focuses on people, participation, development, and mutual understanding.

Our take Built on O*NET’s descriptions of the work each interest describes[1]. It sketches a mix of interests, so expect some lines to fit you better than others—and use the activities to see what holds up in practice.

O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor’s job database, describes Artistic work as “creating original visual artwork, performances, written works, food, or music for a variety of media…” and work in the Social area as “helping, teaching, advising, assisting, or providing service to others”[1].

How the two letters work together

RIASECRealisticInvestigativeArtisticSocialEnterprisingConventional
AS

Side by side on the hexagon

Holland arranged the six interests in a hexagon, placing the ones he considered most alike closest together. Your two interests are next-door neighbors, so they share a natural thread. You may be drawn to work that lets you use both without having to choose between them.

Holland thought interests that sit side by side on the hexagon tend to fit together most naturally. The research behind that idea is mixed[2], so the arrangement is best used to describe the shape of your interests—not to forecast a career or tell you what will fit. Sometimes neighboring interests point to an easy blend; sometimes the tension between them is the more useful clue.
  • A

    Artistic · The Creator Open-ended work that makes room for self-expression, imagination, and original ideas.

  • S

    Social · The Helper Teaching, advising, caring for, and working alongside other people.

When strengths overreach

Every strength solves a real problem. When it runs unchecked, the same strength can create a new one. The cards below name the turning point and the cost you may notice.

  • Playing to the room

    You bring a strong awareness of the room to your work, noticing when people lean in, laugh, grow quiet, or look confused. That attention can help an idea reach its audience. You may also start choosing the safest version because it earns quick approval, familiar laughter, or easy agreement. The work can become smoother and less alive at the same time. When popularity becomes the first test, an unfamiliar idea may be abandoned before people have had time to understand what you were offering.

  • Taking reactions to heart

    At your desk, in a rehearsal, or after a client call, you may read other people’s reactions with unusual care. A lukewarm response can feel personal when you made the work for that person. You may then treat one reaction as a verdict, even though timing, audience, attention, and taste all affect what reaches someone. The result can be a cautious next piece that protects you from rejection but also leaves less room for the surprise and friction that gave the first piece its life.

  • Time to make things alone

    When teaching, rehearsing, discussing, or organizing fills your calendar, you may feel useful and connected while your own making receives the leftover hours. Solitary work can begin to feel selfish beside visible needs from students, clients, or collaborators. Over time, the work other people see may continue, but the private source of new ideas grows quiet. You may then notice that your schedule is full of contributions and strangely short on the unobserved time from which those contributions used to come.

Working across interests

Our take

See how a strongest interest in Artistic tends to affect the way you work alongside each of the six interests.

  • R

    Realistic · The Doer

    Where your styles complement each other
    You picture how it could look or feel. They know what it’ll take to build. Your imagination can give their practical skill a purpose people want to experience.
    Where your styles may pull in different directions
    You might still be changing the idea after they have started building it. Your revisions can make the result more useful, while their early work can show you which changes are still possible without making the whole effort heavier.
  • I

    Investigative · The Thinker

    Where your styles complement each other
    New ideas may be your contribution, while they may test which ones can withstand questions.
    Where your styles may pull in different directions
    You might love an idea partly because nobody’s tried it—which may be exactly why they need more proof before trusting it.
  • A

    Artistic · The Creator

    Where your styles complement each other
    You both value original ideas and room to make them your own.
    Where your styles may pull in different directions
    When you both have a strong picture of how it should look, each of you may start protecting your own version.
  • S

    Social · The Helper

    Where your styles complement each other
    You may make something original, while they may think about who it is for and how it will reach them.
    Where your styles may pull in different directions
    They might ask whether it’s what people need just when you’re trying to keep the original idea intact.
  • E

    Enterprising · The Persuader

    Where your styles complement each other
    You may bring the original idea, while they may find the people and backing it needs.
    Where your styles may pull in different directions
    Their push toward an outcome can feel like a box around your idea.
  • C

    Conventional · The Organizer

    Where your styles complement each other
    New ideas may come from you, while they may keep the details, deadlines, and records in order.
    Where your styles may pull in different directions
    You might want to keep things open long after they’d like them settled and written down.

These interests describe the kinds of work people are drawn to, not how anyone handles closeness or conflict.[2]

With other people

At work

What may feel easy

The Storyteller often feels at home with people who lead with Artistic or Social work. They may explain an idea through a story, notice how the room is responding, and care whether the result stays with people after the meeting ends. Conversation can move between expression and connection: not just What is correct? but What will this mean to someone? and How will it land? This combination can make work vivid and human, especially when a dry problem needs a memorable explanation or a group needs to feel why the effort matters.

Where friction may show up

People who lead with Conventional or Realistic work sit across the hexagon from you: Conventional faces Artistic, and Realistic faces Social. They may want the facts ordered, the process clarified, or the job completed in the most practical way while you are still finding the story that gives the work meaning. You may see their checklist as the part that drains the life from an idea; they may see your extra flourish as a delay or an invitation to confusion. The useful bridge is to treat structure as the container that helps the story reach people: let them secure the details and constraints, while you show why those details matter and how the finished work should feel.

What they might bring

A clear structure, a practical editor, and a route from the first spark of the story to something people can actually use.

When you are much alike

Someone just like you can bring a catch too. Two storytellers may both read the room, shape the message, and wait for the moment to take the stage. If neither person names whose turn it is—or what the audience actually needs—the meeting can become a contest of compelling versions.

Research behind this panel

In a meta-analysis of work groups, people who differed from their teammates in personality, attitudes, or values tended to feel less part of the group, especially when the work was tightly linked[C20]. The problem may not be difference itself. When people depend on one another but lack a shared way to explain decisions, being different can start to feel like being unwelcome.

A meta-analysis of work groups found that conflict about each other, or about how the work gets done, went with worse group results, while disagreeing about the task itself was not strongly tied to worse performance[C22]. A team can challenge an idea without attacking a colleague. The distinction becomes harder to maintain when criticism is vague, personal, or tied to status.

People included in the research

Research on teams mixes real workplaces with student project groups, so treat it as a rough guide. A team is also influenced by its manager, incentives, workload, power differences, and whether people have room to work in their own way.

As a friend

What may feel easy

Friends who will talk late over tea, trade stories at an open mic, or linger over the meaning of something may feel easy to be around. Conversation is not just social time for you; it is often how you discover what you think. A friend who stays curious can make an ordinary evening feel unexpectedly full.

Where friction may show up

A friend who shows care by doing rather than discussing—fixing a bike, organizing the outing, or keeping a tight plan—may wonder when the story will turn into action. You may experience their brevity as distance; they may experience your elaboration as a request they were never asked to answer. Two Storytellers can also create a subtler strain: each is good at adding meaning, but neither notices when the other needs a pause, a decision, or simple company without interpretation.

What they might bring

A steady rhythm, thoughtful questions, and a friend who brings the jumper cables when the conversation finally turns into a plan.

Research behind this panel

In a study of friendship networks, sharing humor, hobbies and interests, and moral beliefs were among the best predictors of feeling close[C24]. Friends do not need identical personalities. They often need enough shared ground to feel understood, enough room for difference to stay interesting, and enough trust that disagreement does not threaten the bond.

People included in the research

Most friendship studies so far have looked at students. Friendships later in life can carry different pressures, histories, and choices about time, so treat these findings as a starting point rather than a complete picture.

In a relationship

What may feel easy

A partner who enjoys hearing the full shape of your day—and tells you theirs with a detail, a twist, or a good ending—may feel natural. Shared storytelling can become a form of intimacy: not merely reporting what happened, but inviting each other into the meaning of it.

Where friction may show up

Someone who shows care through completed tasks, physical presence, or a practical plan may miss what you mean by all the words. You may miss what they mean by the repaired railing, the stocked pantry, or the problem quietly removed from your path. Neither person is necessarily caring less; you are making care visible in different currencies. A partner just like you can create another challenge: every feeling becomes a story to improve, and both of you may perform understanding instead of saying plainly what you need.

What they might bring

Care that is spoken clearly, care that shows up as a task done, and a steady plan for when words are not enough.

Research behind this panel

In a set of studies on couples, responding with real enthusiasm when a partner shared good news went with closer relationships[C15]. Support is not only comfort during a hard day. It is also joining someone in a moment of pride, relief, or excitement instead of minimizing it, redirecting attention, or treating their success as ordinary.

People included in the research

Most of this research studied married, heterosexual couples in Western countries. One study of the push-pull loop included lesbian and gay couples and found the same link[C12]. Use these findings as useful but incomplete clues, not as a definition of what a relationship should look like.

How a third letter can shade it

A full interest code has three letters. The third is a supporting interest, something to hold on to alongside AS. It may not lead your choices, but it can influence the setting, problems, or people that make the work feel worthwhile.

  • ASRASR

    Realistic third

    Hands-on, practical, or outdoor work—and something tangible to show for it when you’re done.

  • ASIASI

    Investigative third

    Room to investigate why things work, follow the evidence, and get the facts right before acting.

  • ASEASE

    Enterprising third

    A chance to lead something, make the case for it, negotiate for support, or move it forward.

  • ASCASC

    Conventional third

    Clear plans, tidy systems, and dependable follow-through, so everyone knows what’s happening and who’s doing what.

Where AS tends to fit

Here are example jobs with this mix of interests, from O*NET[1]. They are possibilities to investigate, not recommendations. A title can fit your interests while the daily setting, training path, pay, or demands do not fit your life. Each link opens the occupation’s page on O*NET OnLine, where you can explore the work in more detail.

Exactly AS1 listed
AS plus a third letter1 listed
People whose work matches their interests tend to perform better and to be somewhat more satisfied[6][8]. It helps, but it is only one ingredient. A promising match still needs workable conditions, useful support, and a life you actually want to live.

This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Nomigram has modified all or some of this information: scores are rounded and only some fields are kept. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. Credits and licenses

The other Artistic types

All 30 interest types →

Take the Career assessment and find your type

Rate 30 work activities to identify your interest type. Then see what draws or drains you at work, which jobs to explore, and where a strong interest can narrow what you consider.

Start the Career assessment

Questions

What makes two people easy to be around?

Similarity is less powerful than most compatibility charts suggest. In national studies of married couples in three countries, the resemblance between two people’s personalities explained less than half a percent of relationship satisfaction after each person’s own traits were counted[C1]. Two studies of friends found a similar pattern[C5][C6]. Being alike may make recognition easier, but it does not automatically create trust, care, or a workable daily life.

What each person brings mattered more. Warmth, reliability, and staying steady under stress were linked with the other person’s greater satisfaction[C1][C2]. And the relationship people were actively creating mattered most. Across 43 studies that followed couples for between 2 months and 4 years, feeling appreciated by a partner and believing that partner was committed predicted how the relationship was going better than any personality trait did[C3]. A trait may influence a tendency; repeated responses teach the other person what it is safe to expect.

So read what follows as a set of places to look, not a verdict about a bond. Notice what feels natural, what gets misread, and what each person has to learn to make visible. People also change. In long-term studies in two countries, being in a first serious relationship went with becoming calmer over the years[C33][C34]. A relationship is not only a meeting of two finished personalities; it is also an environment in which habits can strengthen or soften.

Can this tell whether two people will get along?

No. Assessments cannot yet predict whether two people will get along, fall for each other, or last. In two speed-dating studies, more than 100 answers given beforehand could not predict who would be drawn to whom in particular[C7]. A report can offer language for a conversation, but it cannot account for timing, shared circumstances, attraction, repair after conflict, or the many small choices that make someone feel valued.

Can I read this about someone I know?

You can, but treat it as a set of possibilities rather than a description you can assign from a distance. A type page describes a mix of scores, and the person may experience that mix differently from how it looks to you. Ask what fits, what does not, and what you may have been interpreting too quickly.

Where does this come from?

The numbered sources match the table on our method page. The personality statements come from the public-domain International Personality Item Pool, and the percentiles compare your answers with a published open data set of several hundred thousand people. The ones marked C are the studies behind “With other people.”

  • 1 O*NET OnLine, U.S. Department of Labor. Career interest definitions and occupation interest codes.
  • 2 Nauta, M. M. (2010). The development, evolution, and status of Holland’s theory of vocational personalities. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 57(1), 11–22.
  • 6 Nye, C. D., Su, R., Rounds, J., & Drasgow, F. (2017). Interest congruence and performance: Revisiting recent meta-analytic findings. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 98, 138–151.
  • 8 Hoff, K. A., Song, Q. C., Wee, C. J. M., Phan, W. M. J., & Rounds, J. (2020). Interest fit and job satisfaction: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 123, 103503.
  • C1 Dyrenforth, Kashy, Donnellan & Lucas (2010). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 99(4), 690–702. Abstract only DOI
  • C2 Malouff et al. (2010). Journal of Research in Personality 44(1), 124–127. Abstract only DOI
  • C3 Joel et al. (2020). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117(32), 19061–19071. Read the full article DOI
  • C5 Yang et al. (2026). Social Psychological and Personality Science. Abstract only DOI
  • C6 Körner & Altmann (2023). Journal of Research in Personality 107, 104436. Abstract only DOI
  • C7 Joel, Eastwick & Finkel (2017). Psychological Science 28(10). Abstract only DOI
  • C12 Baucom, McFarland & Christensen (2010). Journal of Family Psychology 24(3), 233–242. Abstract only DOI
  • C15 Gable, Reis, Impett & Asher (2004). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 87(2), 228–245. Abstract only DOI
  • C20 Guillaume, Brodbeck & Riketta (2012). Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 85(1), 80–115. Abstract only DOI
  • C22 de Wit, Greer & Jehn (2012). Journal of Applied Psychology 97(2), 360–390. Abstract only DOI
  • C24 Curry & Dunbar (2013). Human Nature 24(3), 336–347. Abstract only DOI
  • C33 Neyer & Asendorpf (2001). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 81(6). Abstract only DOI
  • C34 Lehnart, Neyer & Eccles (2010). Journal of Personality 78(2). Abstract only DOI
See your own personality patternStart now