Abstract
This letter aims to highlight some of the definitional challenges in graphic design research. The authors suggest using a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), a psychometric tool traditionally employed in psychology, as a prompt for facilitating discussions around the definition of graphic design. By anchoring the scale's endpoints with the divisive concepts of "form" and "function," the proposal seeks to contextualise these diverse opinions within the historical and current complexities involved in defining graphic design. According to the literature, ambiguous viewpoints often emerge from the nature of the discipline and its evolving practices, perspectives which are frequently influenced by socio-cultural, political, and technological contexts. This letter invites feedback from the design community on whether tools like VAS could bridge these contrasting viewpoints, enable more targeted debates and accelerate progress within the initial stages of graphic design research projects, ultimately aiming to question its potential for reducing research standstills.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.058
Citation
Iacob, A.,and Baig, M.(2025) Scale Up: enabling definitional discussion in graphic design using a visual analogue scale (VAS), in Clemente, V., Gomes, G., Reis, M., Félix, S., Ala, S., Jones, D. (eds.), Learn X Design 2025, 22-24 September 2025, Aveiro, Portugal. https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.058
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Letter
Scale Up: enabling definitional discussion in graphic design using a visual analogue scale (VAS)
This letter aims to highlight some of the definitional challenges in graphic design research. The authors suggest using a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), a psychometric tool traditionally employed in psychology, as a prompt for facilitating discussions around the definition of graphic design. By anchoring the scale's endpoints with the divisive concepts of "form" and "function," the proposal seeks to contextualise these diverse opinions within the historical and current complexities involved in defining graphic design. According to the literature, ambiguous viewpoints often emerge from the nature of the discipline and its evolving practices, perspectives which are frequently influenced by socio-cultural, political, and technological contexts. This letter invites feedback from the design community on whether tools like VAS could bridge these contrasting viewpoints, enable more targeted debates and accelerate progress within the initial stages of graphic design research projects, ultimately aiming to question its potential for reducing research standstills.