DSS 2025: Failing (Well) in Design Writing

  

 

You can download the Design Studies Symposium 2025 template from the link.

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/1z9rswU9cxSFJw9BQxs9RIz9T5p2R3XY3

 

 

The DSS2025 Theme focuses on alleged “failures” in design research, design writing and publishing, and seeing mishaps as opportunity for growth and learning. Oftentimes, we struggle to define success in design research due to its interdisciplinary, over extending, and layered nature, yet there is much clarity in knowing when something has failed.
 

Rosenbak (2017) has discussed the significance of “the system that produces and allows for these so-called successes and failures”, and we find it significant to highlight this issue, which is of key significance in academia. Design research writing and publishing is both a battlefield and an obligation for graduate students, as they both try to understand the system and pass through the many thresholds of quality publication in the design field.
 

We believe that debating failures of design research as well as writing will enable comparisons of approaches and methods, as well as highlighting tips on how to get past through publishing struggles, with the support of experienced researchers and authors. The aim is for the event to be an effective one for both young and more experienced researchers in the Design Studies field.
 

For the DSS 2025 symposium, we invite graduate students (and their advisors or collaborators), to share their research in the broad framework of design studies. The symposium will house a one-on-one writing workshop as well as Q&A sessions on failures in writing we can all absorb key guidelines from. Keynote speakers in editorial positions will share valuable insights for all authors in Design Studies.
 

One of the important goals is to publish a full-text book, ready for DSS2025, so that research within the design failure theme as well as design studies in general may be documented and shared for future generations of Design Studies researchers. Do join us in DSS2025! Details below.