Lubomir said

> I mentioned several times that designers are designers. You can't
> change them. Even when they engage in research, they do it like design.
> Which is not research.
In my experience as an information designer and researcher, this is neither
true nor particularly helpful. I think you need to be quite specific Lubomir
about who you are talking about.

Karel van der Waarde, one of the editors of Information Design Journal,
supplied the InfoDesign-Café list with the following contents listing for
the Information Design Journal. I include it here to illustrate the depth
and range of research conducted by people who in many cases are practicing
information designers. When I referred in an earlier post to PROVEN methods
etcŠ. I was drawing partly on the output of this Journal. On the basis of
this I would be prepared to argue any day that there are designers who do
research, they do it like designers, and they do very good research.

Let's move on.

Information design journal.
Building a knowledge-base for the practice of information design.

Volume 1 number 1 1979.
- Linda Reynolds. Teletext and viewdata - a new challenge for the
  designer
- Ken Garland. Some general characteristics present in diagrams
  denoting activity, event and relationship.
- Bryan Smith. Design history and the visual language of design.
- Patricia Wright. The quality control of document design.
- Robert Waller. Functional information design: research and
  practice.
- Clive Ashwin. The ingredients of style in contemporary
  illustration: a case study.

Volume 1 number 2 1979.
- David Sless. Image design and modification: an experimental
  project in transforming.
- Wesley W. Sharrock & Digby C. Anderson. Directional hospital
  signs as sociological data.
- Gerald Macdonald. Iconic design for educational publishing.
- George Klare. Writing to inform: making it readable.
- Victor Margolin: The visual rhetoric of propaganda.
- Bruce Brown. The graphics triangle.

Voume 1 number 3 1979.
- Ian McLaren. A comparison of the graphic qualities of Prestel,
  Antiope and Telidon.
- Jay Doblin. Information and design - the essential relation.
- Susan Marcus. Diagramming complex systems.
- Stephen Barrett. London's flood peril - is the public well
  warned?
- Peter Simlinger. Designing public information symbols.
- John Dawson. Measures of aesthetic sensitivity as predictors to
  performance n the visual arts.
- Leonard Penrice. The background to perspective.
- Evelyn Goldsmith. Comprehensibility of illustration - an
  analytical model.

Volume 1 number 4 1980.
- Neil Wiseman. Computer designed letters.
- John Mountford. Wrting system as a concept in linguistics.
- Albert D. Biderman. The graph as a victim of adverse
  discrimination and segregation.
- Nigel Cross. An introduction to design methods.
- Vera Coghill. Can childern read familiar words in unfamiliar
  type?
- Clive Richards & Ronald Johnson. Graphic codes for flow charts.
- Elizabeth Orna. Information science and information design: have
  they anything to communicate to one another?


Volume 2 number 1 1981.
- Raymond S. Nickerson. Understanding signs: some examples of
  knowlegde dependent language processing.
- Gary M. Schumacher. Schemata in text processing and design.
- Martin Cutts & Chrissie Maher. Simplifying DHSS forms and
  letters.
- Diane Firth. An investigation of the success of redesigned
  supplementary benefit documents.
- Richard Southall. Character generator systems for broadcast
  television.

Volume 2 number 2 1981.
- Nigel Blake. Rhetoric and the problem of honest design.
- Paul Lefrere. The impact and implications of teh new
  communications technology.
- Robert Waller. Norman Potter's What is a designer - a review.
- Michael Burke & Ian MacLaren. London's public transport diagrams
  visual comparisons of some graphic conventions.
- Paul Stiff. Systematic book design: two books by Stanley Rice.
- Robin Kinross. On the influence of Isotype.

Volume 2 number 3 & 4 1981.
- Patricia Wright. Informed design for forms.
- Andrew M. Rose. Problems in public documents.
- Carol J. Janik, Joyce Hannah Swaney, Sandra J. Bond & John R.
  Hayes. Informed consent: reality or illusion?
- Michael Clive & Francine Russo. The plain English movement in
  America: a view from the front.
- Joyce Epstein. Informing the elderly.
- Janice C. Redish, Daniel B. Felker & Andrew M. Rose. Evaluating
  the effects of document design principles.
- Dona Shilling. Plain English document design.
- George R. Klare. Readability indices: do they inform or
  misinform?
- Thomas M. Duffy. Organising and utiliaing document design
  options.

Volume 3, number 1 1981.
- Michael Twyman. The graphic presentation of language.
- Pauline Madge.Design analysis and design history: a review of
  Industrial Design by John heskett
- Camille L. Rowe. The connotative dimensions of selected display
  typefaces.
- David Bartram. The perception of semantic quality in type:
  differences between designers and non-designers.
- James Hartley. Information Mapping: a critique.
- Andrew M. Tomcik. Design and the university: The pragmatic and
  the pure.

Volume 3 number 2. 1982.
- Christopher Matthews, Monte Jacobson & Robin Jones. Common
  sense, skill and research in forms design.
- Luc Vanmalderen & Claude M. Bégué. How to build a specific code.
- Susan Walker. Describing verbal graphic language: practicalities
  and implications.
- John Mountford. 'Text', 'book', 'writing', and the medial aspect
  of language.
- Margot L. Zimmerman & Gordon W. Perkin. Instructin people
  through pictures: print materials for people who do not read.

Volume 3 number 3. 1983.
- Paul Lefrere. Information design and information technology.
- David Entwistle. The use of graphics in computing: a personal
  view from the inside.
- D.A. Inglis. New developments in typesetting and their
  implications for graphic and instructional designers.
- Martin Maguire. ISLA - an experimental local information system
  for the general public.
- Alfred Bork. A preliminary taxonomy of ways of displaying text
  on screens.
- William Simcox. A framework for the inclusion of hman factors in
  the desgin of videotex systems.
- Ian McLaren. Videotex - glimpses of some facets.
- Harold Thimbleby. Designing word processors: principle and
  prejudice.

Volume 4. number 1. 1984
- Fred Zimmer. Design in Pakistan
- Carel Jansen & Michaël Steehouder. Improving the text of a
  public leaflet.
- Danko Plevnik. The implicity of simplicity: toward the theory of
  individual information.
- James W. Reidhaar. An overview of non-tabular methods for
  statistical presentation of data before this century.
- Robert Waller. Designing a government form: a case study.
- David H. Jonassen & Parmalee Hawk. Using graphic organizers in
  instruction.
- A.W. McHoul. Being seen to read the signs.

Volume 4, number 2. 1984.
- Keyan G. Tomaselli & Ruth Tomaselli. Media graphics as an
  interventionist strategy.
- Peter Godwin. Manuals for health workers: some problems of
  information design.
- Davida Charney. Redesigning and testing a work order form.
- Robin Kinross. Emil Ruder's Typography and Swiss typography.

Volume 4. number 3. 1986
- David Sless. Reading semiotics.
- Robin Kinross. Semiotics and designing.
- Roger Smith. Terminological inexactitudes: image functions in
  graphic communication.
- Stephen T. Kerr. Learning to use electronic text: an agenda for
  research in typography, graphics, and interpanel navigation.
- Penny Barker, Max Hailstone & Murray Simmonds. An experimental
  study of some effects of figure-ground contrast on the use of
  street maps.
- Paul Stiff. Typographic technicalities: Browns index.

Volume 5, number1, 1986
- Mike Horne, Jonathan Roberts, Douglas Rose. Getting there:
  London Transport's endeavour to improve bus passenger
  information literature for central London 1979 - 1985
- Peter Walker, Sylvia Smith, Alan Livingston. Predicting the
  appropriateness of a typeface on the basis of its multi-modal
  features.
- David M. Frohlich. On the organisation of form-filling
  behaviour.
- Elizabeth Orna. Information management by design: improving
  information retrieval on Prestel.

Volume 5, number 2, 1987
- Mike Horne, Jonathan Roberts, Douglas Rose. Getting there:
  London Transport's endeavour to improve bus passenger
  information literature for central London 1979 - 1985. Part 2:
  studied reactions.
- David M. Frohlich. On the re-organisation of form-filling
  behaviour in an electronic medium.
- Michaël Steehouder, Carel Jansen. From bureaucratic language to
  instructional texts: how to design an effective problem-solving
  tool for citizens.
- Jeremy Mulvey. Pictures with words: a critique of Alan-Marie
  Bassy's approach.
- K.A. Carter, N.E. Wiseman. Designing in fives.

Volume 5, number 3, 1989
- Patricia Wright, Ann Lickorish, Audrey Hull. Numerical evidence
  in commercial fraud trials.
- James Hartley. Text design and the setting in Braille (with a
  footnote on Moon.).
- Myriam Daru. The culture of quantitatitve graphicacy.
- Rejane Spitz. Cultural differences and visual acuity testing.
- Wim Adams. An ergonomical approach to Bertin's method of
  graphically displaying multivariate data.
- Alison Black. From desktop publishing to computer assisted
  typography.

Volume 6. number 1, 1990
- Albert Biderman. The Playfair enigma: the development of the
  schematic representation of statistics.
- Patricia Costigan-Eaves. Some observations on the design of
  William Playfair's line graphics.
- Deborah Keller-Cohen, Bruce Meader, David Mann. Redesigning a
  telephone bill.
- Patricia Wright, Ann Lickorish, Audrey Hull. The importance of
  iterative procedures in the design of location maps for the
  built environment.
- Christof Brugger. Advances in the international standardization
  of public information symbols.
- Geoffrey Cuming. Liturgical typography: a plea for sense lining.
- Paul Stiff. Small worlds: the fourth information design
  conference.

Volume 6. number 2, 1990
- Phil Fisher, David Sless. Information design methods and
  productivity in the insurance industry.
- Edwin Coleman. Paragraphy
- Robert Rankin. A taxonomy of graph types.
- Jeremy Foster. Standardizing public information symbols:
  proposals for a simpler procedure.
- David Rennie. How much to write: 10/100/1000

Volume 6. number 3, 1991
- Todd Cavalier, Ravinder Chandhok. Graphic design for a
  collaborative workstation: columns for commenting and
  annotation.
- Dwayne Overmyer. On situating documents: notes towards a
  descriptive and analytical framework.
- James Hartley. Presenting visual information orally
- Robin Kinross. Richness against flatness: Edward Tufte's
  Envisioning Information.
- Philip Cleaver. Compendia of confusion: type tutorials for
  desktop publishing.
- Information Design: an informal review of the past decade.
  Contributors: Patricia Wright, Alison Black, Robin Kinross,
  Robert Waller, Jorge Frascara, Michael Turton, Albert Biderman,
  George R. Klare, Reed Agnew, Sharon Poggenpohl, Ken Morris,
  Ulrich wodicka & Lise Potvin, Dwayne Overmyer, David Sless, Mark
  Barratt.

Volume 7, number 1, 1993.
- Richard K. Lowe. Diagrammatic information: techniques for
  exploring its mental representation and processing.
- Ernst Z. Rothkopf, Mary E. Koether, Marjorie J. Billington.
  Persistence in memory of the surface organization of simple maps
  as performance aids.
- Robin Kinross. Conversation with Eric Spiekermann.
- Paul Stiff. Graphic design, MetaDesign, and information design.
- Ken Garland. Lead, kindly light: a user's view of the design and
  production of illustrated walker's guides
- Jorge Frascara, Bonnie Sadler Takach. The design of tactile map
  symbols for visually impaired people
- Peter Campbell. The Oxford English dictionary on CD-ROM.
- Information Design: an informal review. Contributors: Fred Eade,
  Chris Ludlow, Andrew Boag.

Volume 7, number 2, 1993.
- Jane Fulton Suri. User trials for information graphics:
  replacing designers' assumptions with feedback from users.
- Robin Kinross. Paul Mijksenaar: a conversation and a lecture.
- Martin Cutts. Unspeakable acts.
- Robyn Penman. Unspeakable acts and other deeds: a critique of
  plain legal language.
- Robin Jacques. Experiencing design in the information age.
- John Chris Jones. Designing as living.

Volume 7, number 3, 1994.
- Jeremy J. Foster. Evaluating the effectiveness of public
  information symbols.
- Austin Adams, Mary Montague. Testing warning signs: conspicuity
  and discrimination
- Vivien Beattie, Michael John Jones. Information design and
  manipulation: financial graphs in corporate annual reports.
- Paul Stiff. Structuralists, stylists and forgotten readers.
- Robin Kinross. Unjustified text and the zero hour.

Volume 8, number 1, 1995
- Tim Lang. the contradictions of food labelling policy.
- Peggy Re. Design review. The FDA's graphic standard for
  nutritional labelling.
- Mike Rayner. Food labelling and information design.
- Paul Stiff. Design methods, cultural diversity, and the limits
  of designing.
- Duncan Berry. Speakable Australian acts.
- Paul Stiff. Public graphics: the Lunteren symposium
- Abstracts of papers from the Lunteren symposium
- Pat Wright. Evaluation, design, and research: empirical
  contributions to the beginnings and ends of the design process

Volume 8, number 2, 1996
- Alison Black and Jacob Buur. Making solid user interfaces work.
- Linda Reynolds. The functional use of colour on visual display
  units: air traffic control displays.
- Paul Stiff. The end of the line: a survey of unjustified
  typography.
- Malcolm Clark. Structural defects: form and contents in text
  production.
- Jon Oberlander. Grice for graphics: pragmatic implicature in
  network diagrams.
- Paul Nini. What graphic designers say they do.
- Yateen Joshi. Graphic representation of railway timetables.

Volume 8, number 3, 1996.
(Special issue on education).
- Peter Burnhill. Outside the whale
- Robin Kinross. The nuts of 'em: Anthony Froshaug as a teacher
- David Sless. Early travels through information design.
- Richard K. Lowe. Pictorial information design for schools
- Michael Twyman. Lectures Manuscrites: school books designed to
  give childer experience in reading handwriting.
- Lydia Plowman. Designing interactive media for schools.
- Sharon Poggenpohl & others. The alphabet highway: literacy in a
  digital context.

Volume 9, number 1.
- David Sless. Building the bridge across years and disciplines.
- Replies to David Sless: Karen Schriver, Patricia Wright, Robert
  Horn, Conrad Taylor, Michael Turton: and a rejoinder from David
  Sless.
- Susan King Roth. Disenfranchised by design: voting systems and
  the election process.
- Martin Cutts. Unspeakable Acts revisited
- Michael Macdonald-Ross. Books and libraries: the threat from
  NICT
- Christopher Burke. From functionalism to information design: a
  review of Jan Tshichold's The new typography.
- Ian Mumford. I am here - where are you? Reviews of Denis Wood
  with John Fels, The power of maps and Clifford H. Wood & C.
  Peter Keller (eds.), Cartographical design: theoretical and
  practical perspectives.

Volume 9, number 2+3.
- Clive Richards: Getting the picture: diagram design and the
  information revolution
- Gerry Leonidas: In search of the digital Cresci: Don Knuth's
  Digital typography
- Jorge Frascara: Information design and cultural difference
- Colette Miller and David Lewis: Wayfinding in complex healthcare
  sites
- Nadjet Bouayad-Agha, Donia Scott and Richard Power: Integrating
  content and style in documents: a case study of patient
  information leaflets
- Michael Macdonald-Ross and Robert Waller: The transformer
  revisited
- R.H.R. Harper: Getting to grips with information: using
  sociological case materials to aid the design of document
  technologies

Volume 10, number 1
- Jacques Bertin: Matrix theory of graphics
- Myriam Daru: Jacques Bertin and the graphic essence of data
- Alan MacEachren: An evolving cognitive-semiotic approach to
  geographic visualization and knowledge construction
- Wolf Guenther Koch: Jaques Bertin's theory of graphics and its
  development and influence on multimedia cartography
- Xavier Garnerin: Applied graphic semiology: the map of the Lyon
  public transport network
- Alard Weisscher: Applying computer game techniques to process
  visualization
- M. Sheelagh T. Carpendale: Examining comprehension issues in
  elastic presentation space
- Per Mollerup: The way in to the way out: signage design at
  Copenhagen Airports

Volume 10, number 2
- Icons: Support or substitute?
  P. Westendorp & K. van der Waarde
- Images as the text: Pictographs and pictographic logic
  J. Drucker & J. McGann
- Development and testing of the IIID safety symbols system
  N. Olgyay
- Graphical symbols for consumer products in an international
  context. F. Brigham
- Predictors of pictorial symbol comprehension
  S. Young & M. Wogalter
- The view from the drawing board or, what I have learned from
  Otto Neurath and Gerd Arntz (and jazz)
  N. Holmes
- Processing text and pictures in procedural instructions
  F. Ganier
- An exploratory study of reading procedural pictorial sequences
  C. Spinillo & M.C. Dyson
- Iconicity, diagrammatics and aesthetic preferences: a semiotic
  perspective on visual literacy and information design
  A. Kazmierczak
- Sabre booking system
  A. Marcus

David

-- 
Professor David Sless
BA MSc FRSA
Co-Chair Information Design Association
Senior Research Fellow Coventry University
Director
Communication Research Institute of Australia
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