Author: Research in Communication Design

Call for Proposals: CAA Conference 2019 NYC

Session proposal deadline: April 27, 2018

CAA 2019 Annual Conference

New York, NY, February 13—16, 2019
New York Hilton Midtown

The CAA Annual Conference is the largest professional convening of art historians, artists, designers, curators, and others in the visual arts. Each year we offer sessions submitted by our members, committees, and affiliated societies offering a wide range of program content.

The Annual Conference Committee members review over 800 submissions each year. They take into account subject areas and themes that arise from accepted proposals to present as a broad and diverse a program as possible. The Committee selects approximately 250 sessions for each conference and it must, at times, make difficult decisions on submissions of high merit. This means that on occasion, quality submissions may not be selected.

The Call for Proposals gives CAA members the opportunity to submit for the 2019 CAA Annual Conference. Proposals must be submitted from March 1 through April 27, 2018.

 

Developing Citizen Designers: Our Civic Responsibility

Social Design is the practice of design where the primary motivation is to promote positive social change within society. As the design industry evolves, so too must design education.

Social Design is the practice of design where the primary motivation is to promote positive social change within society. As the design industry evolves, so too must design education. Developing Citizen Designers is a compilation of case studies written by design educators to address the notion that design, and the teaching of design, can empower students to play a more an active role in improving the way they live, interact and communicate with each other and their audiences. My presentation will address how social design pedagogy can be developed to address concrete social needs utilizing strategies like design thinking, collaborative learning and participatory design process.

Elizabeth Resnick is a Professor Emerita, former chair of Graphic Design and current part-time faculty at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, Massachusetts. She earned her B.F.A. / M.F.A. in Graphic Design at Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island.

Professor Resnick is also an active design curator having organized 7 comprehensive design exhibitions, the last 4 on socio-political graphic design: The Graphic Imperative: International Posters of Peace, Social Justice and The Environment 1965–2005; Graphic Intervention: 25 Years of International AIDS Awareness Posters 1985–2010; Graphic Advocacy: International Posters for the Digital Age: 2001–2012 and Women’s Rights Are Human Rights: International Posters on Gender-based Inequality, Violence and Discrimination (2016) investigating gender-based inequalities deeply entrenched in every global society.

Her publications include catalogs for the exhibitions, plus Developing Citizen Designers, Bloomsbury Academic (2016), Design for Communication: Conceptual Graphic Design Basics, John Wiley & Sons Publishers (2003) and Graphic Design: A Problem-Solving Approach to Visual Communication, Prentice-Hall Publications” (1984). She is currently working on ‘The Social Design Reader’ for Bloomsbury Academic (2019).

Elizabeth Resnick
Professor Emerita, part-time faculty, Graphic Design
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
621 Huntington Avenue, T617
Boston, Massachusetts 02115 USA

Elizabeth.Resnick@massart.edu

Colloquium 5.3: Merrimack College, Call for Submissions

Call for design presentation abstracts: Deadline Monday, December 31, 2018.

Merrimack College, the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, and Nancy Wynn will be hosting a Design Incubation Colloquium.

Abstract submission: deadline Monday, December 31, 2018.

Design Incubation Colloquium 5.3: Merrimack College will be held on Saturday, March 30, 2019, 10:00am-6:00pm. All are welcome to attend.

Featured Presentation by Elizabeth Resnick.

We invite designers—practitioners and educators—to submit abstracts of design research. Presentations format is Pecha Kucha.

For more details, see the colloquia details and description. Abstracts can be submitted online for peer review.

Colloquium 5.3: Merrimack College

Design Incubation Colloquium 5.3 (#DI2019mar) will be held at Merrimack College on Saturday, March 30, 2019, 10:00am-6:00pm.

Design Incubation Colloquium 5.3 (#DI2019mar) will be held at Merrimack College on Saturday, March 30, 2019, 10:00am-6:00pm.

Hosted by Nancy Wynn and the Department of Visual and Performing Arts. This event is open to all interested in Communication Design research.

Crowe Hall
Classroom #107
Merrimack College
315 Turnpike Ave
North Andover, MA

Featured Presentation

Developing Citizen Designers: Our Civic Responsibility
Elizabeth Resnick
Professor Emerita, part-time faculty, Graphic Design
Massachusetts College of Art and Design

Abstract submission of presentations deadline Monday, December 31, 2018. For details visit the Colloquia Overview and Online Submission Form.

Visit back to this page for more details.

Designing Disability: A New Book by Elizabeth Guffey

Design Incubation is excited to announce Elizabeth Guffey’s latest book published by Bloomsbury Publishing, titled Designing Disability: Symbols, Space, and Society. This book describes the development of disability as an idea. Disability, accessibility, its institutionalization, acceptance, and integration is considered within the context of design history.

In collaboration with Design Incubation and AIGA/NY Elizabeth Guffey will host the upcoming panel discussion and workshop, Designing for and Teaching Accessibility, on Saturday, April 14, 2018. There are still a few seats available so register today!

How important is it for an author to have a significant social media presence and to demonstrate that to the publisher?

Questions: How important is it for an author to have a significant social media presence and to demonstrate that to the publisher? –SR 

Answer: Generally a social media presence is less important in academic publishing than in trade publishing (which are books for the general reader).

But obviously being able to utilise your contacts for promotion of the book is certainly a plus and may well reach people we wouldn’t naturally get to with our own marketing. 

It wouldn’t be a sticking point really though on whether a project was signed up – there are plenty of hugely successful academic authors who barely touch social media.

Your background, the project and the reviews are the most significant aspects for us.  It’s nice to be able to say when presenting a new book idea to our committee that an author has 10,000+ followers, and we would certainly exploit that with the author’s help, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the book will sell any better than one which relies on our own marketing contacts. 

With fairly limited marketing budgets across academic publishing, having a pro-active author, whether on social media or through other channels, is a big help in reaching the right people.

Louise Baird-Smith
Commissioning Editor – Design and Photography
Bloomsbury Visual Arts

“Ask the Editor” is a Design Incubation series, where design academics, researchers, and practitioners pose their questions to editors of books, journals, conferences and other academic and design trade publishing organizations. If you would like your questions answered by publishing professionals, send your questions to Design Incubation via the “Ask the Editor” form on our website.

Aaris Sherin’s Latest Book, Introduction to Graphic Design, A Guide to Thinking, Process, and Style

Our own Aaris Sherin, director of the Fellowship Program at Design Incubation has recently published an Introduction to Graphic Design: A Guide to Thinking, Process, and Style, with Bloomsbury publishing.

Looking for a new book for Graphic Design 1 or a basic design class? Sherin’s text introduces students to the design process and examines the current landscape of contemporary design practice in addition to including chapters on layout and production and the use of basic visual elements such as color, type and shape. This textbook includes over 500 images from international designers explains critical thinking and visual exploration in addition to describing the special relationship graphic designers have to creative problem solving. Check it out!

Can an author approach more than one publisher at the same time?

Answer: This is an interesting question and one which has caused much discussion even in our office! 

Question: Can an author approach more than one publisher at the same time? -MR

Answer: This is an interesting question and one which has caused much discussion even in our office! 

In some cases, publishers will request that you only approach one at a time, but this isn’t always enforced in every subject or publisher.  Some editors I’ve heard will not consider a project if it has been sent to multiple publishers – the argument being that it can seem like you’ve just sent it out haphazardly to everyone, without fully considering which is the best publisher for you and the project.  It’s best to really consider who already publishes in the area you’re working in, where the best books are coming from and whether the reputation of the publisher is right for you (for instance, if you need a university press for tenure, or you need a publisher who double reviews the manuscripts, and so on).  As each publisher will invest time and money in the review process, submitting to various places is a difficult one, but you should certainly feel free to submit elsewhere if you haven’t heard back.

I’d personally say that given the fact it can sometimes take a little while to hear back from editors initially, it might be worth approaching a few to start with to gauge interest – however, it is best to be upfront about this, and certainly once you have had contact with an editor you need to make it clear to everyone if the project is also being considered by another publisher (for politeness as well as practicalities).  It is tricky if you were to get to the point of being offered a contract by two publishers at the same time without either knowing you’d been discussing the project elsewhere, especially as by that point there will likely have been a significant amount of input from the publishers and reviewers in developing the overall approach of the project.  Again, if in doubt have a look at the publisher’s website and see if there is guidance on multiple submissions.  And individually submitting the same project to several editors at the same publisher is generally poor form – if you’re not quite sure who to approach, try one editor and ask them to pass the project on to a colleague if it’s not right for them, or copy the editors into the same email so they don’t all end up individually assessing the same project.   

Louise Baird-Smith
Commissioning Editor – Design and Photography
Bloomsbury Visual Arts

“Ask the Editor” is a Design Incubation series, where design academics, researchers, and practitioners pose their questions to editors of books, journals, conferences and other academic and design trade publishing organizations. If you would like your questions answered by publishing professionals, send your questions to Design Incubation via the “Ask the Editor” form on our website.

Designing for and Teaching Accessibility: Panel Discussion + Accessibility Workshop

“Inclusive design” theory and practice are becoming the norm. Know the common standards and specifications of accessible interfaces for people with disabilities (and meet legally mandated ADA compliance standards).

Saturday, April 14, 2018

General Assembly NYC
902 Broadway, 4th floor
New York, NY 10010

To register.

Follow the discussion on our discussion board: https://social.designincubation.com/topic/101-accessibility-design/

Designing for and Teaching Accessibility Panel Discussion

At a minimum, criteria for success of a designed product, service or experience should be its usability by everyone, regardless of their abilities or disabilities. Since digital access is a Civil Right covered by the American Disabilities Act, the question of usability and access are now as important to digital and interactive designers as to those who produce products and physical artifacts.

“Inclusive design” theory and practice are becoming the norm with companies increasingly expecting employees to know the common standards and specifications for accessible interfaces which are used by people with disabilities (and meet legally mandated ADA compliance standards). Unfortunately, even as progress has been made in industry, teaching digital accessibility is rarely part of design curriculum or undergraduate course work.

To raise awareness and provide specific examples of ways to incorporate principles of accessibility into professional practice and design education, Design Incubation and AIGA/New York is inviting a group of scholars, practitioners and industry leaders to discuss accessible digital design and its relevance to the New York design community.

A morning panel discussion will provide a venue for experts to share their knowledge and an optional afternoon workshop will promote understanding of basic accessibility issues, concepts and best practices.

Panelists

Elizabeth Guffey heads SUNY Purchase’s MA in Modern and Contemporary Art and specializes in art and design history. She is author of several books, including Designing Disability: Symbols, Spaces and Society (Bloomsbury, 2017, Posters: A Global History (Reaktion, 2014), and Retro: The Culture of Revival (Reaktion, 2006. She has also authored numerous articles and is also the founding editor of the journal Design and Culture.

Neil Ward is currently an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Drake University. At Drake, Ward’s  students work through IDEO’s design thinking methodology along with user-centered design principles to solve problems in new and unexpected ways. Neil’s most recent projects focused on movement throughout the art building on campus for those who are unable to take the stairs along with creating a product to help a veteran – with limited mobility on his right side – cook for and feed himself at home. Both projects involve exercises in empathy for the user, ethnographic studies and a discussion around universal design. Outside of the classroom, he is the principle of Neil O. Ward Graphic Design specializing in identity and publication design.

Bo Campbell is an Interaction Designer and Accessibility Design Lead at IBM. As an accessibility thought leader and innovator in the IBM Accessibility organization, Bo functions as a driving force behind the integration of accessibility practices and techniques in the IBM Design Thinking framework. Additionally, he functions as a lead designer on products designed to improve the lives of people with disabilities. Bo has been with IBM since 2013, is a member of the W3C CSS Working group and has his Master’s degree in Human Computer Interaction from Iowa State University.

Liz Jackson is the founder of the Inclusive Fashion & Design Collective, a disability design organization that is focused on increasing the impact of beautiful, functional products in our everyday lives and in the global economy. Liz is committed to shifting the disability narrative, as current mainstream representations of disability do not accurately portray disabled lives. She is currently focused on creating pathways into design for disabled people through initiatives such as The Disabled List, a curated list of creative disabled people who are available to consult and collaborate. You can learn more about Liz on her blog The Girl with the Purple Cane.

Accessibility Workshop

Integrating Accessibility: Inclusive Design Methodologies and Practice

Bo Campbell, an Accessibility Design Lead for IBM, will conduct a workshop on accessible design while focusing on disability as a design challenge.

Participants will explore how and when to apply accessibility in the design and development process and will use empathy exercises to understand why accessibly is important for users with differing cognitive and physical abilities. Campbell will also discuss IBM’s inclusive design framework and will describe some of the training methodologies taught to new employees at the company.

Through a series of exercises, attendees will have the opportunity to learn how to apply the ideas and methodologies presented during the workshop to specific educational and/or practice-based design scenarios.

All are welcome, however, this workshop will be most useful for designers and educators who are less familiar with best practices around accessible design and want to learn more about how to practice and/or teach inclusive design.

(artwork: Mike Lagattuta)

Is there any difference between writing a single authored book and a co-authored book?

Question: Is there any difference between writing a single-authored book and a co-authored book? -AB

Answer: While different publishers or series may have set rules on when they will (or won’t) accept co-authored titles, in most cases, there usually isn’t a problem from the publishers’ side on this. 

Sometimes it can actually be a bonus where the book is interdisciplinary or has broad coverage where a single author couldn’t be an expert in all the content. My colleague is publishing a book on climate change in history written by a historian and a climate scientist together – it’s a massive selling point because we can say our book has holistic coverage and the science is valid.   

Something to bear in mind though is how to divide the work, and do you know you can definitely successfully work together over a couple of years? In terms of how you split the work is up to you – maybe you’d each write certain chapters and swap to read/edit the other ones, or you may have certain aspects of the book you’ll research individually, then write up together.  Generally, there would be a lead author, though this isn’t essential.  Saying all that, going above two co-authors can get tricky, so over this number, you’ll need to really consider if multi-authored is the right approach – an edited collection may then make more sense (a different author writing each chapter, with overall editors who commission individual chapters).  Another consideration is that any royalties will be split between the primary authors/editors of the volume, and you will be equally responsible for the delivery of the book.

Louise Baird-Smith
Commissioning Editor – Design and Photography
Bloomsbury Visual Arts

“Ask the Editor” is a Design Incubation series, where design academics, researchers, and practitioners pose their questions to editors of books, journals, conferences and other academic and design trade publishing organizations. If you would like your questions answered by publishing professionals, send your questions to Design Incubation via the “Ask the Editor” form on our website.