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Around the world, employers seek graduates with collaboration, teamwork, interpersonal, communication, and project management skills worldwide. Project-based learning (PBL) helps foster these essential professional skills by providing learning opportunities in an environment of mutual investigation. Collaboration is integral to PBL, but often advantages of collaboration are not the focal point of discussion. This study focuses on creating a collaborative learning environment by introducing a real-world project under PBL instructional strategy to check its efficacy in developing some essential professional skills in graphic design education. The project was introduced in 2019 in the Publication Design course undertaken by 35 students enrolled in an undergraduate graphic design programme in India. The study employed mixed-method research in the form of a survey questionnaire followed by semi-structured interviews. The study results show that PBL helps foster the skills mentioned earlier to prepare students for the 21st-century workplace. Joint efforts by students in projects in graphic design education develop multiple skills much needed in the current workplace scenario.

The graphic design profession has evolved and moved far beyond its past skill-centric connotations. Today’s graphic designers are no longer expected to be merely skilled hands working in silos; instead, they are expected to work with multidisciplinary teams, equipped to handle new challenges of the profession and as professionals. Literature indicates towards lack of preparedness of fresh graphic design graduates to meet the demands of the rapidly changing professional landscape. Thus, it is necessary for design education-curriculum designers, educators and policymakers to design and implement learning environments towards the development of some essential professional skills in view of contemporary work scenarios. This study attempts to ascertain from Indian professionals who employ fresh graphic design graduates, the need for fostering collaboration & teamwork, communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, project planning & management skills in graphic design students to thrive in the workplace. The information is necessary to facilitate the design education fraternity for developing strategies to foster these skills in the academic space. The study results indicate strong support from the employers towards the aforementioned skills.