Design Studies Forum

The Society

Design Studies Forum is a College Art Association Affiliated Society. Founded as Design Forum in 1983 and renamed in 2004, Design Studies Forum seeks to nurture and encourage the study of design history, criticism, and theory and to foster better communication among the academic and design communities. The Forum’s 400+ members include practicing designers, design historians, critics, and museum professionals.

Starting on January 1, 2009, dues-paying memberships will be established for the Design Studies Forum. Dues will be $60.00 US and will include several special benefits. Members will receive the journal Design and Culture as well as full access to this website, including the comprehensive lists of design publications, design organizations, graduate degree programs, grants and fellowships, museums, and online image databases.

Learn more about Design Studies Forum membership.

The Journal

Design and Culture
Design Studies Forum's new peer-reviewed journal

Design and Culture is a new interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal and the official publication of the Design Studies Forum. It is published by Berg Publishers.

Edited by Elizabeth Guffey (State University of New York, Purchase, United States) and Associate Editors Guy Julier (Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, England), Pekka Korvenmaa, (University of Art and Design, Helsinki, Finland), and Matt Soar (Concordia University, Montreal, Canada), Design and Culture will publish three issues annually beginning in the spring of 2009.

Design and Culture explores the dynamic, contingent relationships between design and its many cultural contexts. Encompassing the numerous professional, quasi-professional, and amateur fields of design, the journal identifies and explores cultures of design and designs of culture, investigating the tensions often encountered between critical, analytical, and intellectual activity and traditional studio-based endeavors.

The journal aims to broaden the discourse of design by examining its relation to other academic disciplines, including anthropology, cultural studies, economics, geography, marketing, management, material culture, politics, and visual culture. It also seeks congruence between traditional divisions within design practice, such as graphic, product, industrial, and environmental design. In so doing, the journal's editorial board proposes to strengthen, clarify, and promote the study of design cultures, including history, criticism, and design practice, in the contemporary academy.

Design and Culture invites interpretive critiques, review essays, interviews, book reviews, case studies, and field reports that address designed objects, systems, and practices and their contexts, texts, and reception.

Submissions
Guidelines for contributors and instructions for submitting manuscripts are available at www.designandculture.org.

Books for review and suggestions for books to review may be sent to:

Professor Carma Gorman
Lead Book Review Editor
Design and Culture
School of Art and Design
Allyn Building 113, mail code 4301
1100 South Normal Avenue
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Carbondale, IL 62901-4301
USA
cgorman@siu.edu

Membership

Membership in Design Studies Forum is currently free. If you would like to be placed on the electronic mailing list, please send an email with the words “join DSF” in the subject line to Carma Gorman at desforum@siu.edu.
Beginning in January, 2009, a dues-paying membership will be established. A number of benefits will come with membership, including access to the new Design studies Forum journal, Design and Culture.

Mailing List

Announcements of exhibitions, employment opportunities, symposia, calls for participation, and the like are regularly sent to members.

Mailing list postings may be sent to desforum@siu.edu. Send announcements as list-ready messages in plain text. Please do not send attachments. Because the list manager screens postings for appropriate content and format, there may be a slight delay in the posting of your announcement.

Officers

President Elizabeth Guffey, State University of New York at Purchase
Vice President Sarah Teasley, Northwestern University
Secretary Rebecca Targ, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

WEB RESOURCES
member login required after January 1, 2009

ADD YOUR CONTENT

The Design Studies Forum is currently gathering content for an expanded & revamped website to better meet the needs of our growing field.

Topics will include a listing of online image databases, a syllabus exchange, annotated bibliographies on design themes, and grants/ fellowships listings. Look for more resources coming soon.

For further information or suggestions, please contact bryana@designandculture.org