Writing Design: Object, Process, Discourse, Translation. The Design History 
Society Annual Conference, Hosted by the tVAD Research Group at the 
University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK, 3-5 September 2009.
How do we find out about design, as both practice and object, including the 
processes of designing, crafting and manufacture, marketing and 
consumption? Students, scholars, critics and commentators use words, 
whether written or spoken, both to research design through observation, 
participation, interview and oral history, object analysis and documentary and 
visual interpretation, and in preparing resultant outcomes. Writing Design 
invites papers, panels and posters (see below) in which participants reflect on 
their sources, historiography and methodology, research, dissemination and 
teaching processes to examine the issues mobilised by articulating design and 
material culture with language and the ways in which writing about objects 
has conditioned our understanding of design. Keynote speakers are Jeffrey L. 
Meikle, Professor of American Studies and Art History at the University of 
Texas and Dr Paul Jobling, Senior Lecturer, History of Art and Design at the 
University of Brighton. Writing Design is inclusive in its interests, and will 
attract designers, design historians, practitioners of design studies, material 
culture studies, popular culture studies and literary studies among others. The 
following list of indicative themes is not intended to be prescriptive:
. What is at stake in the translation of objects into words, written or spoken, 
for research, communication and understanding?
. How does the design of words and writing impact upon their interpretation, 
within studies of typography and book design and more broadly?
. How can the haptic and tacit knowledge be discussed and written about?
. What has been the value of designers' writings?
. How have designers attempted to shape their personae/biographies?
. What does writing on design, from popular and specialist design journalism 
and trade journals to academic studies, tell us?
. How have design and designers been represented in literature and mass 
media such as magazines and television?
. How have discourses of lifestyle expertise shaped taste and consumption?
. How do we, as students, scholars and practitioners of design, write 
ourselves into an evolving historiography?
. How have archival holdings, documentary sources and curatorial practices 
shaped our understanding of design?
. How have curators in design exhibitions, museums and galleries used 
selection and synthesis, labels and catalogues, objects, words and images to 
tell stories and histories about design?
. How do we understand design practice in a period when documentary and 
object analysis are the primary sources through which we know design, using 
probate records, diaries, broadsheets, designer's archives etc.?
. What impact has an existing design historical bias towards Western 
industrialised nations had on the understanding of design?
. How have interview and oral history practices functioned to enlarge 
understanding of design?
. What pedagogical issues are raised by learning about designed objects 
through lectures, seminars and written assignments?
. What is the role and value of the written assignment in design education?

Writing Design aims to showcase papers which will enhance the practice of 
design history in the future and to publish double-blind peer-reviewed 
outcomes from the conference. Therefore all proposals must represent original 
research, not previously published. Proposals from postgraduate researchers 
are encouraged and the Design History Society offers bursaries to support 
student members' conference attendance. Proposals are invited in three 
formats, each containing an anonymised abstract and accompanied by a 
separate 50-word biography:
(a) Papers: A 400-word abstract proposing a presentation of 25 minutes.
(b) Panels: Three 400-word abstracts plus a rationale for the panel (max 300 
words, stating common research questions, links between the papers and 
contribution to the conference theme).
(c) Posters: A 400-word abstract, for presentation as an illustrated A1 poster 
(594 x 841mm).
All proposals will be subject to double-blind peer review, based on contribution 
to the conference theme and clarity of question, context, method and 
outcome. Proposals must be without formatting and sent in the body of an 
email, or as a Word document, to Jessica Kelly, [log in to unmask] by 5 pm 
GMT Monday 12th January 2009. Proposals which are late or do not fit these 
formats will be returned. The results of peer review will be issued in March and 
full papers are required for circulation to panel participants by August 3rd 2009.

The co-convenors are Dr Grace Lees-Maffei and Jessica Kelly. Based in the 
Faculty for the Creative and Cultural Industries at the University of 
Hertfordshire, the tVAD research group examines relationships between text, 
narrative and image. See 
http://sitem.herts.ac.uk/artdes_research/tvad/event030909.html for more 
information about tVAD and the excellent air, road and rail transport links UH 
enjoys, being only 20 minutes from central London. We look forward to 
welcoming you to Writing Design!