The online Academic Abstract Writing Program2026 at Design Incubation offers a series of activities that will help design researchers craft a written synopsis of their research. The outcome(s) goals include a concisely written document, typically expected of academic publication venues. This includes conferences, journals, grant applications, publishers, and academic organizations.
The program is designed along two tracks:
The first track is for design faculty who are new to academia and want a program that will help them navigate the academic publication venues.
The second track is aimed at design faculty who have established their research agenda and activities and would like to explore ways to broaden their scope of publication opportunities.
Application:
Academic Abstract Writing Workshop Program
This program is designed to facilitate design researchers in the development of their academic research abstract(s) for conferences, grant proposals, journal articles, and other publications.
The program does not guarantee abstract submissions will be accepted by the academic venues. The program is designed to improve your understanding of abstract writing, and the factors involved in developing a successful abstract submission.
Complete all required application information. Submit as much information as possible in the other fields to help us to understand your interests, goals, and challenges.
Seats are limited for this fellowship program. Upon acceptance, there is a $125 (members)/ $175 (non-members) program registration fee.
Event date: Friday, June 26, 2026 Format: Virtual/Online Location: ZOOM
We invite current and recent communication design graduate students to submit abstracts of their design research, creative investigations, and productions. The work can cover a broad range of topics, including but not limited to graphic design, typography, branding, illustration, photography, videos, motion graphics, advertising campaigns, websites, UX/UI designs, animations, and other visually communicated design products and solutions. The work should have been completed within the past 3 years. This is a virtual online event format. Abstracts can be submitted online now for peer review.
There is a $10 conference fee required per research abstract submission for non-members. Please submit only one abstract per colloquia. The conference fee is waived for active annual members. Find out more about our annual memberships.
Researchers will videotape their 6-minute presentations which will published online in advance of the colloquium. The video recording is due by Friday, May 22, 2026. We encourage all attendees to watch the videos in advance of the moderated discussion.
Event date: Friday, June 26, 2026 Format: Virtual/Online Location: ZOOM
We invite designers—practitioners, creators, and educators—to submit abstracts of design research, creative investigations, and productions. This is a virtual online event format. Abstracts can be submitted online now for peer review.
There is a $10 conference fee required per research abstract submission for non-members. Please submit only one abstract per colloquia. The conference fee is waived for active annual members. Find out more about our annual memberships.
Researchers will videotape their 6-minute presentations which will published online in advance of the colloquium. The video recording is due by Friday, May 22, 2026. We encourage all attendees to watch the videos in advance of the moderated discussion.
A panel discussion by design scholars about their research journeys.
Designing Your Research Agenda (DYRA) 5.1 Friday, April 17, 2026 1:00PM EST Virtual Event
Designing Your Research Agenda (DYRA) is a panel discussion and open forum for design scholars and researchers to discuss aspects of their research agendas. We aim to open a dialogue regarding the challenges of discovering one’s design research inquiry. DYRA is a design research webinar series.
Presentations plus an open Q+A and informal discussion.
Some of the questions we are asking our panelists include:
How did you determine your research agenda (high level timeline of your career/trajectory)
How do you define research and why do you think it matters/for society, the field, yourself?
How do your department and institution define and support the work you do?
How would you describe/categorize your department and institution?
If you were going to position your work within a category, would you say your research addresses: design theory, design history, design practice, design research (traditional graphic design, speculative design, UXUI, typography, AR, VR, creative computing, design solutions, etc.), design pedagogy, or something else?
What barriers (if any) exist at your institution or in the field for creating and disseminating your research?
This event brings together academics from various stages in their careers and from different types of institutions. We hope that by sharing experiences, we can support others on their journeys.
Lesley-Ann Noel Dean of the Faculty of Design OCAD University
Lesley‑Ann Noel, PhD, is a design researcher, educator, and Dean of the Faculty of Design at OCAD University. Her research centers on equity-focused, community-led design, drawing from critical race theory, decolonial practices, and participatory methodologies. She investigates how positionality, lived experience, and local knowledge shape design inquiry—and how design researchers can cultivate agendas that are responsible, relational, and grounded in context. Her work includes developing reflective tools such as The Designer’s Critical Alphabet and the Positionality Wheel, which support designers in articulating values, motivations, and epistemological commitments within their research programs. Across her global practice in the Caribbean, Brazil, the U.S., and Canada, she champions pluriversality, social change, and the expansion of who gets to produce design knowledge. She is the author of Design Social Change and co-editor of The Black Experience in Design.
Robert Harland Reader in Urban Graphic Heritage Loughborough University
Rob holds a PhD in Architecture (Social Sciences) from the School of Architecture and Built Environment at the University of Nottingham (2011) and an undergraduate degree in Information Graphics from Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham (1986). His transdisciplinary research explores urban heritage through the lens of graphic design, under the guise of urban graphic heritage.
He co-leads a team who launched the TOWN Observatory in 2025 and was subsequently invited to join the UN-Habitat Global Urban Observatory steering committee. In the same year he became deputy lead for Loughborough University’s UNESCO Chair in Storytelling Education for Sustainability, having joined the university’s renowned Storytelling Academy.
Known also for his interest in graphic design studies, he has led several funded projects with NGOs in Australia, Brazil, China, South Africa and United Kingdom. Recent collaborators include United Kingdom National Commission for UNESCO, Nelson Mandela Foundation, David Roche Gallery, and Loughborough Library Local Studies Volunteer Group.
Kelly Salchow MacArthur Professor Michigan State University
Kelly Salchow MacArthur is a Professor of Graphic Design at Michigan State University, and currently an Honorary Visiting Researcher at University College Cork (Ireland). She received her MFA in Graphic Design with Honors from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and BS in Graphic Design Magna Cum Laude from the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning. Before joining the faculty at MSU, she taught at Kansas City Art Institute, RISD and The College of New Jersey.
Kelly’s design practice and creative research focus on environmental awareness, advocacy and action. Her work has been disseminated internationally through exhibition, design award, conference, and publication, and is included in several permanent collections. She is President Emerita of the international design organization, United Designs Alliance and AIGA Detroit. She is a 2-time Olympic rower, a 2-time Olympian Artist, and a Member of the IOC’s Culture and Olympic Heritage Commission.
Design Incubation will host the College Art Association (CAA) conference business meeting at the Hilton Chicago and on Zoom on Thursday, February 19th from 1:00–2:00 pm CST. There is no cost to attend this meeting.
In this session, we’ll present A Decade of Keywords in Communication Design Research, a project that analyzes over ten years of Design Incubation colloquium submissions to reflect on the themes, methods, and questions shaping the field. We will share results of the keyword analysis and how it leads to topic ideas for a Design Incubation book series. We will present the book series ideas and ask participants to contribute by providing feedback, sharing research interests, and discussing the project goals. This session is open to designers, researchers, educators, and practitioners interested in contributing to this project and book publication.
Design Incubation is a volunteer academic organization whose focus and mission is the facilitation of research and scholarship in communication design. Our aim is to foster discussion and collaboration among academics and industry professionals. We are a resource for those working and studying within the field.
Welcoming Dr. Leslie Atzmon as Director of Design History and Theory
Starting this January 2026, we welcome Dr. Leslie Atzmon as Director of Design History and Theory. Atzmon has been participating with our team for several months. She is currently on the jury of the 2025 Design Incubation Educators Awards, as well as other initiatives we have under development.
Leslie Atzmon is a designer and design historian who teaches at Eastern Michigan University. She co-edited the collections Encountering Things: Design and Theories of Things (Bloomsbury 2017) and The Graphic Design Reader (Bloomsbury 2019). Atzmon and colleague Ryan Molloy were awarded a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) ArtWorks grant from 2012-2014 to support experimental book design workshops and the creation and production of The Open Book Project book. Atzmon has a new collection, entitled Visual Ecologies of Placemaking, edited with Pamela Stewart (forthcoming Bloomsbury 2026).
Atzmon’s current work mainly investigates the intersections between design and science, with a focus on biodesign. In 2016, Atzmon was a Fulbright fellow at Central Saint Martins UAL, UK doing research on Darwin and design thinking. This led to the essay, “Intelligible Design: The Origin and Visualization of Species,” in the journal Communication Design (2016). In 2019/2020, she curated the exhibition Design and Science, which ran at Eastern Michigan’s University Gallery and The Esther Klein Gallery/Science Center in Philadelphia. She also edited a related collection entitled Design and Science (Bloomsbury 2023). Atzmon is currently working on a biodesign textbook, entitled Biodesign in Context (forthcoming Lived Spaces 2027), with Professor Diana Nicholas of Drexel University.
Presentations and discussion in Research and Scholarship in Communication Design at the 114th Annual CAA Conference 2026
Thursday, February 19, 2026 4:30PM – 6:00PM CST Hilton Chicago – Lower Level Salon C-6
Recent research in Communication Design. Presentations of unique, significant creative work, design education, practice of design, case studies, contemporary practice, new technologies, methods, and design research. A moderated discussion will follow the series of presentations.
Since 2014, we have been serving the community to further the field of research in communication design and related disciplines. Please consider a donation.
Design Incubation is a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) not-for-profit membership organization. Help us to support you in your design research and academic scholarly initiatives.
Friday, November 14, 2025
11:00AM – 12:30PM EDT
Online (ZOOM)
Recent research in Communication Design. Presentations of unique, significant creative work, design education, practice of design, case studies, contemporary practice, new technologies, methods, and design research. A moderated discussion will follow the series of presentations.
Friday, November 14, 2025 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM EDT Online
Colloquium Attendee Registration
Please register here to attend the upcoming DI colloquium.
