Design in multidisciplinary teams

moderator: Danielle Arets
speakers:  Sissel Tolaas, Bas Raijmakers, Mike Thompson, Johan Kramer, Elena Pacenti



An integral approach is essential for tackling society's current problems, such as the transition to a sustainable economy and providing affordable health care. As a result, business is opening up to new links with the creative sector, knowledge institutions are looking for new ways of doing research, and government is setting its sights on the creative economy.
Therefore, designers increasingly often operate in social, cultural and economic domains in which they must work with different disciplinary areas and stakeholders. If every element in a multidisciplinary team is deployed in an effective manner, the mixture of visions, qualities and talents can lead to innovative outcomes. Yet this is not a simple process. Trust in one's own skills as well as those of the other is crucial, even when the two come into conflict.

Which added value does the designer bring to these teams? Which members are natural allies, and where is friction likely to arise? How can the designer fulfill his or her role in the team as well as possible, and what are the blockades that have to be demolished? How do you make decisions – who assumes the role of leader and when? Designers know, perhaps better than anyone, how to come up with creative solutions. How do we make the most of those solutions?

We’ll talk about strategic creativity with the following guests:
– Sissel Tolaas, a chemist, linguist and designer who focuses on scent. Tolaas works for commercial clients, makes her own provocative creations, and above all, searches for a fruitful convergence of her own multifaceted talents in equally multifaceted teams.
– Mike Thompson, a designer and research associate for the CRISP (Creative Industry Scientific Programme) project, which last year studied stress in the workplace with researchers from the Technical University Eindhoven and Philips.
– Elena Pacenti, the director of service design and experience design at the Domus Academy Research Center, who specialises in linking design research and consultancy.

In an introduction to the discussion, Johan Kramer, the Dutch consul in Milan, will explain why the Netherlands has dubbed the creative economy a key business sector.
Bas Raijmakers and Danielle Arets of the Design Academy Eindhoven’s readership Strategic Creativity will act as moderators.