Tag: cfp

CALL – Key Topics and Sustained Research Programs in Communication Design

Visible Language 56.1 -Special Issue

The essence of a field entails its scope, actions, and outcomes. Communication Design entails conveying ideas using visual words and pictures, or typography and symbology. 

Therefore, it is reasonable that all the features of typographic embodiment from reading to interpreting, from social and cultural lenses to physical constraints of lighting and reading distance, from physicality of paper and ink to impression of high resolution led displays, from legibility of letterforms to rhetorical forms of writing, and more, should be well understood by communication designers. The same could be said of all the features of pictures, symbols, and icons, and in addition, all the features of the ways pictures and words combine in layouts across media from print to time-based to interactive media, and in addition to that, all the ways people interact with these features in a multitude of contexts. You get the idea. There is a lot to know about the extent, mechanisms, and impacts of Communication Design. 

But because Communication Design is a young discipline we know relatively little about almost all the aforementioned features, at least we ‘know’ little with the degree of precision or rigor that characterizes so many other disciplines. Because adolescent Communication Design knowledge has a wealth of unanswered questions and a broad expanse of topics needing investigation, to advance, Communication Design needs sustained research programs that focus on the key features of the discipline. 

Visible Language seeks to promote Communication Design research by exposing both what has been studied in-depth and what needs to be studied in-depth. 

This is a call for papers for the Summer 2022 issue of Visible Language that report on one of two related things: either a paper describing a series of related research studies spanning several years centered around a single topic – in other words a sustained research program, or a paper reporting research into what communication design topics are important enough that they should be researched for a sustained period – in other words, key topics that should have sustained research. 

Articles reporting sustained Communication Design research programs may be much different from article proposals reporting topics that need study. The report of a sustained research program will be retrospective and will cover not one study but where, how, what, and why a series of related studies have been conducted and may feature the role of collaboration, funding sources, and the nature of a rich topic worthy of sustained study. 

Articles describing Communication Design topics that merit sustained research should likewise be based on systematic study but will be prospective in nature, using some form of gathered and analyzed evidence to support why a particular topic merits sustained investigation including the topic’s definition and known parameters. 

Article proposals should be in the form of a one-sentence summary of the article followed by an outline of the manuscript argument in the general form: 

  • Introduction/Background – where this is grounded, why the subject is/was important; 
  • Methods – how this has been/might be studied; 
  • Results – what was/might be found; Discussion – why what was/would be found matters. 

Submit article proposals to: 
Mike Zender, Editor, Visible Language 
mike.zender@uc.edu 

  • Article proposals due by Feb, 28, 2022. 
  • Notification of acceptance of article concept by Mar 15th, 2022. 
    *acceptance of concept means the manuscript will be sent for peer-review, only articles accepted by the peer-reviewers will be publish. 
  • Manuscripts due for peer-review on May 15th, 2022. 
  • Peer-reviews to authors: Jun 1st, 2022. 
  • Revised manuscripts due Jun 15th, 2022 publication – August 2022.

CFP Cross Journal Special Issue: Making Justice Together

Deadline for submissions: November 15, 2020.
Publication of special issue: June 2021.

Original papers are invited for peer-review that address one of the following three topics:

Generative Justice in Design

Journal: New Design Ideas (Azerbaijan)

Marginalized Identities in the Design of Aesthetics for Resistance

Journal: Image & Text (South Africa)

Interconnected Apart: Design Research(ers) in the Periphery, in Isolation

Journal: Wicked Solutions Annual (USA, forthcoming) 

About the Special Issue

Making Justice Together is a refereed cross-journal special issue edited by Audrey G. Bennett (University of Michigan, USA) that aims to face down injustice and inequity with the dissemination of criticism, history, research, and theory on the use of design resources collaboratively and cross-culturally to yield social justice. We intend the expression making justice together to be read in two ways. First, how can the collaborative processes of designing (making, fabricating, producing, prototyping, speculating, visualizing) integrate concepts of justice (inclusion, equity, diversity, access, freedom, democracy)? Second, how can the social process of justice (in institutions, civic spaces, legal systems, ecosystems, industry) benefit from design knowledge and resources?

Generative Justice in Design

co-edited by Ron Eglash, Ph.D., University of Michigan, USA

Journal: New Design Ideas (Azerbaijan)

Extractive economies, whether capitalist or communist, have similar failures. They extract value from ecological systems in the destruction of nature; from workers in the alienation of labor, and from civic life in the colonization of our social networks. The opposite is a generative economy: one in which value is not extracted, but rather circulated in unalienated form. For all three categories (ecological value, labor value, and social value) generative justice is defined as follows: The universal right to generate unalienated value and directly participate in its benefits; the rights of value generators to create their own conditions of production; and the rights of communities of value generation to nurture self-sustaining paths for its circulation. New opportunities for design in generative justice include agroecology, where forms of organic value circulate from plants to people and back again; commons-based peer production, which ranges from feminist makerspaces to localized currencies; and in platform cooperatives, where worker ownership is creating alternatives for everything from Uber to Facebook. By decolonizing the circular economy, design in generative justice exposes greenwashing and empowers Indigenous, anti-racist and queer theory critiques. How are designers facilitating generative justice, creating new innovations for unalienated value circulation that address grassroots empowerment, egalitarian futures, and ecological collaboration with our nonhuman allies? We seek original papers on this topic to be refereed for free publication in the New Design Ideas

Journal which is indexed in Scopus. Authors should follow the journal’s submission guidelines here and submit papers in APA style to Audrey Bennett (agbennet@umich.edu) and Ron Eglash (eglash@umich.edu)

Papers may take one of the following formats:

  • original articles (5000 words)
  • state-of-the-art reviews (2500 words)
  • short communications (1500 words)

Marginalized Identities in the Design of Aesthetics for Resistance

co-edited by Neeta Verma, University of Notre Dame, USA

Journal: Image & Text (South Africa)

From the Civil Rights era to present-day movements in the West like Me too and Black Lives Matter, it has been proven that organized resistance can make an impact on policy and bring about social change. Whereas historical protests typically have been centralized around leaders–Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights movement, Nelson Mandella and the Anti-Apartheid Movement, Mahatma Gandhi and the Quit India Movement through satyagraha (true principle and Ahimsa (non-violence)) for India’s Independence from Britain–today’s protests are more centralized around communication technology and media (e.g., #blacklivesmatter, #metoo, etc…). Movements no longer brand the leaders’ identities, instead they brand and operate around the core principles of the movements. What does it mean today to design for resistance particularly in the wake of the “lynching” of George Floyd by Minneapolis police? What are the affordances and constraints of marginalizing human identities and promoting mantras and slogans in the design of aesthetics for resistance? We seek original papers that address these questions and others to be refereed for publication in Image & Text. We invite original articles (5000 words) for peer review. Authors should follow the journal’s submission guidelines here and submit papers using Harvard Reference style to Audrey Bennett (agbennet@umich.edu) and Neeta Verma (nverma@nd.edu).

Interconnected Apart: Design Research(ers) in the Periphery, in Isolation

co-edited by Dan Wong, designincubation.com and New York City College of Technology, CUNY

Journal: Wicked Solutions Annual (USA, forthcoming)

Social distancing has created unprecedented challenges for underrepresented communities and the designers who work with them. The question is: When proximity and collaboration are constrained, what is the impact? This session will bring together designers who conduct research for and with underrepresented communities that are underserved, economically-disadvantaged, or marginalized. We seek papers that speak to the future of design research for and with communities within the periphery of society in terms of equity and access during this current period of social distancing. We also seek panelists who represent minority groups and can speak on related topics. We are particularly interested in design research and designers that “intersect” two or more underrepresented social and political identities and disciplines of design. We seek original papers on this topic to be refereed for publication in the new Wicked Solutions Research Annual of the CAA Committee on Design and Design Incubation. Papers should take the following format:

  • original articles (2500 words excluding bibliography) as Microsoft Word documents using Chicago Manual of Style, footnotes, and bibliography format for citations. The paper should include 1) Research question / Problem definition, 2) Methodology / Methods of data collection and analysis, 3) Data analysis and findings, 4) Conclusion, and 5) Bibliography. The content of your paper should include a statement of its original contribution to the discipline supported by an appropriate literature review. Please include four to six keywords with your paper.

Submit papers to Audrey Bennett (agbennet@umich.edu) and Dan Wong (dwong@citytech.cuny.edu).

Design and Culture: Call for Editorial Board Members

Design and Culture Call for Editorial Board Members: Associate Editors, Reviews Editors, Social Media Editor

Design and Culture, the official journal of the Design Studies Forum, is seeking scholars with an established record in the scholarship of design to join its international editorial board.  The Editorial Board, headed by the journal’s three editors-in-chief, is responsible for the operation of the journal.  The journal is currently published three times a year by Taylor and Francis.

Associate Editors
Associate Editors will participate in bi-annual or ad hoc internet meetings about the journal’s operation and strategic vision. They will actively promote the journal in their networks, will encourage the submission of high quality papers aligned to the journal’s vision, and will solicit special issues on emerging subjects of interest in the field. Associate Editors will guide the various stages of the -review process in accordance to the journal’s suggested timeline (they will be assigned 3-5 papers per year). They will be responsible for selecting and contacting peer reviewers, communicating with authors and reviewers, leading the revision and re-submission process, and producing recommendations to the editors-in-chief. Associate Editors are also expected to act as peer-reviewers per the request of other Associate Editors or the editors-in-chief. Associate Editors members should expect to dedicate a few days per month to the journal, and the initial appointment will be for three years. There is no remuneration for the position.

Reviews Editors
Reviews editors will work as a team of four under Reviews Editor-in-chief guidance, a position currently held by Maggie Taft. Reviews will include books, exhibitions and media, and each editor would likely be responsible for working on approximately six reviews per year. This would involve two annual e-meetings with the other review editors (i.e. email correspondence chains) to identify books, exhibitions, and media. Editors will interface with potential authors, distribute reviewer guidelines, set schedules for submission, and edit reviews through the revision process. Once complete, reviews are submitted to the journal’s editorial team at large. Review Editors will participate in additional bi-annual or ad hoc internet meetings about the journal’s operation and strategic vision. They will actively promote the journal in their networks. Review Editors should expect to dedicate a few days per month to the journal, and the initial appointment will be for three years. There is no remuneration for the position.

Social Media Editor
Social Media Editor will be responsible for the strategy and day-to-day operations of the journal’s social media presence across multiple platforms. We are looking for an academic or graduate student with both knowledge of design scholarship and experience in running social media platforms. Social Media Editor will participate in bi-annual or ad hoc internet meetings about the journal’s operation and strategic vision, and will be in contact with the editors-in-chief as needed. There is no remuneration for the position.

In your letter of interest please describe your scholarly expertise, and your experience with editorial or social media work.  To apply please email your letter of interest and CV to Laura McGuire at mcguirel@hawaii.edu by June 30, 2020, with the subject line DC_Associate Editor , DC_Reviews Editor, or DC_Social Media Editor depending on the position you are applying for.

Introducing the Abstract Writing Wizard of Design Incubation!

A tool to facilitate the writing of an academic abstract.

Do you struggle with composing an academic abstract? Have a great idea for a conference, paper, or other academic submission, but find that you don’t know where to start, or how best to structure your abstract?

Try out the Design Incubation Academic Abstract Outline Wizard. It doesn’t compose a final abstract, but will help you break your ideas down into key components, and it will email you your draft, so you can return to it later, for further development.

Please let us know what you think!

Academic Abstract Outline Wizard

CFP — Issue 4: Archives | Full Bleed: A Journal of Art & Design

Deadline: January 1, 2020

CFP Website: https://www.full-bleed.org/submit

Full Bleed, an annual print and online journal of art and design, seeks submissions for its fourth issue, Archives, forthcoming in Spring 2020. In particular, we are looking for submissions that critique, investigate, or rely on archives of various kinds. We seek new writing about artists working with, playing with, re-contextualizing, or elevating archival materials; art/design projects responsive to historical documents; and essays, fictions, and poetry related to the work of archiving.

We would be excited to see submissions that address:

  • The construction of narrative through objects and historical documents.
  • Digital archiving as a subject for rumination.
  • New archives under development.
  • The ethics and politics of archival practices.

Published annually by the Maryland Institute College of Art, Full Bleed is committed to cultivating aesthetic experience and progressive design while furthering understanding of contemporary conditions. We favor criticism that emanates personality and experiments with form, as well as ambitious critical essays on cultural phenomena that are of active concern to living artists and designers. Read past issues at Full-bleed.org.