In celebration of Visible Language's fifty years of publication, and as its second editor, I examine some journals that have shaped my thinking over many years. I provide a personal journey through some of these journals, some of which have ceased publication long ago. Considering a special issue, an author who influenced me, or the visual stimulation a journal provided, the value of journals becomes apparent. In some cases, a journal anticipates a future that doesn't unfold for decades; while in other cases, an author flags a design or cultural issue with which we still wrestle. An underlying theme is technology and the state of design today. The journals consulted are Design Quarterly, Dot Zero, Icographic, Information Design Journal, Design Issues, Octavo, International Journal of Design, and She Ji.
Author Biography
Sharon Helmer Poggenpohl
Sharon Helmer Poggenpohl has taught in notable design programs: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, and the Rhode Island School of Design. Her focus over a long career has been post-graduate design education, both master and Ph.D., as well as design research. Taking a human-centered position with regard to design, she teaches to help students humanize technology, to learn to work creatively and collaboratively with each other, and to prepare them to contribute to building a body of design knowledge. For twenty-six years, she edited and published the international scholarly journal Visible Language. She co-edited with Keiichi Sato Design Integrations, Research and Collaboration (Intellect Books, 2009). Currently, she is working on a book tentatively titled Design Theory-to-go, while teaching occasionally in Hong Kong.
Because Visible Language is the oldest design journal, we support scholars by making PDFs of all back issues available. The full catalog of back issues is now available!
