* Visible Language * (Call for papers)
Special Issue: Visual metaphors in user support
Guest editors: Karel van der Waarde & Piet Westendorp
Complex technological products have invaded our daily lives,
especially micro-electronics and computer science applications.
Increasing world travel, automated selection (ATMs, e-tickets,
etc.) and service complexity create a more taxing reading
environment as the reading is intimately tied to personal
goal-directed action. To make things understandable and usable,
designers have developed graphical user interfaces and various
forms of user assistance. Maps, signage and instructions take
on many kinds of visual form. A specific group of pictorial
elements that helps us understand our world and use technology
are the icons and symbols that we see on displays and screens.
These support both general public use (traffic signs, user
interface icons, wayfinding systems, user instructions) and
specialist use (electrical engineering, chemical formulas,
mathematical operations).
Such icons, pictograms, symbols and small instructional drawings
may be realistic depictions of the objects or elements that they
refer to, or may be more symbolic representations. An intriguing
group is the 'visual metaphor.' These are visual statements based
on some kind of analogy where two things are compared to each
other: a visual that literally denotes one thing but is used
figuratively for another. Metaphors describe one thing in terms
of another that enables us to grasp abstracts concepts. Visuals
that show an object such as a wastebasket or an arrow, but refer
to something else, the action of disposing or movement in a
certain direction, are examples. These visual metaphors appear
to be a somewhat higher form of representation that requires
learning and context for understanding; this is what makes them
especially interesting. What do they refer to? How are they
introduced? How are they interpreted? Both development and
design as well as perception and interpretation are desirable
approaches in this call for papers.
We invite researchers and practitioners to submit a proposal
for a paper for this special issue.
DEADLINES:
January 1, 2007: Abstract, maximum of 200 words,
preferably including some images
January 30, 2007: Response to abstracts
March 1, 2007: Paper due
April 1, 2007: Referee response
May 30, 2007: Final papers
CONTACT:
Dr. Piet Westendorp: <[log in to unmask]>
Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
Dr. Karel van der Waarde: <[log in to unmask]>
Avans University, Breda, The Netherlands
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