Analysis and definition of the creative skills of designers

Analysis and definition of the creative competences of designers: creation of tools for the analysis of competences for their application in the educational and professional field of design. This doctoral thesis shows an investigation about the designer’s creative competencies. In order to identify them, were used qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative data were collected from fourteen professionals and students in the field of design and engineering were interviewed. Also a case study of a product design company was carried out. Moreover, non-participant observations of 105 young designers in three European Universities. Quantitative data were collected from an online questionnaire, the Creative Decoding Tool.

Keywords: Creativity, Design process, creative process, competencies, creative competencies, design education, design theory, design practice.