Visible Language Evolves

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A table displays a few covers of past issues of the journal Visible Language.
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Published: 2025-04-27
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34314/08v67r84
Keywords:
design research, editorial design, research publications

Main Article Content

Sharon Helmer Poggenpohl

Abstract

The editorial goals of three editors for Visible Language are discussed sequentially, showing the development of the journal over 58 years of continuous publication. Particular attention is paid to research in communication design, a goal of the current editor. Several suggestions regarding the interdisciplinary nature of the journal and its future are discussed.

Article Details

Issue

Vol. 59 No. 1 (2025): Visible Language Consortium (April 2025)

Section

Invited Article
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Author Biography

Sharon Helmer Poggenpohl

Sharon Helmer Poggenpohl taught in three remarkably different and notable design programs: the Institute of Design (ID) at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, the Graphic Design Program at the Rhode Island School of Design, and Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Design Program. Working with graduate students with Keiichi Sato, she coordinated ID’s PhD program in design. She was a proponent of human-centered design as well as collaborative and inter­disciplinary team work. A generalist, she is a critical voice regarding design education and its future. She received two teaching awards, the Education Award from the Society of Typographic Arts and the Master Teacher Award from the Graphic Design Education Association. For 26 years, she edited and published Visible Language, an international, interdisciplinary journal that covered visual communication research and experimentation. She encouraged research and publication to deepen scholarship in design. A recent book review was “A Book to Think With,” covering Geoff Kaplan’s After the Bauhaus, Before the Internet, based on the Yale conference of the same name (in Visible Language 57.2). “Waste and Agency in the Digital Era: Who’s in Charge?” appeared in She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation, 6(3). She self-published Design Theory to Go, Connecting 24 Brief Theories to Practice. With Keiichi Sato, she co-edited Design Integrations; Research and Collaboration with Intellect.

References