Transversal creative skills as a link between higher education in product design and industry. The Elisava case.

In exploring our area of study, the creative industries, our extensive professional and teaching experience has enabled us to place ourselves in an intermediate position between professional and academic activities. This position has allowed us to observe the characteristics of the design discipline and the professional activities that interact through the design process and of product design speciality.

From a methodology with a mixed quantitative, qualitative, interventionist and non-interventionist approach, we channel our intuition and support it from the review of the specific literature. A preliminary analysis of the problem has enabled us to determine the contextual framework where the events take place. Based on this analysis and the previous results of a series of in-depth interviews with experts in higher education, product design, and the professional sector, it has guided us in the approach of our research activity.

With all this, we base the Elisava Case Study, due to its relevance in Higher Education in Spain, and its influence and connection with the national and international business fabric from Barcelona. Our participation in the academic structure of this case has allowed us to actively participate in two European projects and to be able to compare internal operations with other international models.

The results of this research support a theory on transversal creative skills, which allows us to define the tools that are useful to enhance the interconnection of the new generations of students with the industrial reality and their possible demands for jobs. And propose a method that can be extrapolated to other creative disciplines, providing a reflection that is directed towards a paradigm shift on the identification of transversal creative skills as a connecting link between higher education and the professional activity of the company.

Contacts: ctaverner@elisava.net