Call for Papers - Visible language - Design Failures

Dear all,

The Call for Papers might be of interest.

Both 'papers about failures' as well as 'examples 
of failures' could be published.

Kind regards,
Karel.
[email protected]

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Special issue
Communication Design Failures: Function & interpretation scrutinized

A professor of perceptual psychology remarked 
that it was a pity that there was no journal of 
negative results or failures in experimentation. 
Without such a journal we continue to go down 
blind alleys and make avoidable mistakes. Because 
communication design encompasses so many 
variables, to say nothing of the problem of 
interpretation or communication reception, in a 
loose similarity, design projects are not unlike 
experiments. Yet like perceptual psychology and 
other social science disciplines, discussion of 
failure is rare. Even less than social science 
whose research questions form grounding for 
experimentation, design practice is pragmatic and 
designers quickly move to the next project with 
little reflection on degree of success or reasons 
for failure. Communication design, whether print, 
screen-based or other media rarely publishes any 
reflection on projects, but relies on celebratory 
awards and professional presentations with little 
critical examination.

The aphorism we learn most from our mistakes is 
at play in this special issue.  Visible Language 
invites academics, authors, design practitioners 
and frustrated users who have observed failure in 
their contact with communication design in its 
many guises, whether as a designer or as a user, 
to document and analyze failures. Don't be 
timid-share your failure or that of another-be 
critical and analytical and develop positive 
criticism that might lead to new insights or even 
a remedy.

Guest editors: Dietmar Winkler and Sharon Poggenpohl

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Two perspectives will be presented-that of 
designers and users. Reflection on experience, 
case studies and research are welcome.

Possible themes
- experience and reflection on failure
- failure as a unique or replicable situation
- measurement of failure or success
- function in communication design
- aesthetic failure and its gestalt
- failure in design process
- user developed workarounds
- interpretation issues
- cross-cultural issues

Examples of failure
You may also submit visual documentation of a 
vexing failure with brief commentary instead of 
an article. These examples will be credited to 
their observer/commentator and will be assembled 
as a collective portfolio.

Submission guidelines for papers
- abstracts are 250 words maximum
- articles are around 5,000 words and appropriately illustrated
- author guarantees that the work is previously unpublished
- all textual material has double-line space
- all visual material is sent at 300dpi as jpeg or tiff in separate files

Submission guidelines for examples
- brief description of failure
- nature of documentation

Schedule
January 1, 2009	Abstract deadline
January 15		Review of abstracts
July 1			Submission of full paper
July 15			Review of submissions
November 1, 2009	Target publication date, VL 43.3

If you would like to pass an idea to one of the 
editors for brief comment before proceeding, 
contact either Dietmar or Sharon.

[email protected]
[email protected]


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