Inquiries on the Everyday Online Conversations of Design: Typologies, Comments, and Threads

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, the author explores the nature of design writing in the online environment by looking at everyday conversations of design: the written conversations that occur as a combination of a design-centred blog or social media post, its reader responses, and affordances of its platforms. This study focuses on the authorial activities of readers on graphic design blogs and social network sites (SNS). These are located, analysed, and traced through three evidence-based inquiries referred to as Typologies, Comments, and Threads, using select English-language graphic design blogs and posts on SNS. Findings are presented visually, followed by a discussion on their disciplinary significance, democratic participation, technological mediation, and issues surrounding reader identity. The study also points toward problems finding and archiving the conversations, and positioning them within the broader context of design writing and literature.

Keywords:

• blogs
• design conversations
• design criticism
• design writing
• graphic design
• public discourse
• social media

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on this paper, and colleagues for sharing their perspectives throughout this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jessica Barness

Jessica Barness is a design scholar-practitioner and an Associate Professor in the School of Visual Communication Design at Kent State University. Her research focuses on critical practices and the design of scholarship, and the ways these intersect with design discourse in the public sphere.

Website: http://jessicabarness.com/ Twitter: @jessicabarness