2021 Conference

Submit Presentation Proposal for 2021 Conference Register for 2021 Conference

To support the range of options, and flexibility needed in our current climate, we will offer a blended conference experience. You do not need to commit either to a place-based or virtual presentation at the time of submission. You can present both ways, or change your mode of the presentation if your preferences change. The choice to participate virtually could also be a moral decision – for the planet, for security, or when the financial burden of travel is too great. We seek to foster spaces that align with principles of social justice and community development -- particularly in difficult times.

We also want to be ready for the possibility of place-based postponement due to COVID-19. If we are forced to postpone, the online engagement will still go ahead, and your registration will allow you to join the conference in person in a later year.

This way we build for our Research Network Members flexible, and at the same time resilient, spaces for communication, engagement, and participation.

The Design Principles & Practices Research Network offers an interdisciplinary forum to explore the meaning and purpose of design. In professional and disciplinary terms, the network traverses a broad sweep to construct a trans-disciplinary dialogue, which encompasses a wide array of design paradigms and practices. We move between theoretical reflection on the nature of design and case studies of design practice, and from research-based perspectives to the experience-based perspectives of design insiders. Our aim is to build an epistemic community where we can make linkages across disciplinary, geographic, and cultural boundaries. As a Research Network, we are defined by our scope and concerns and motivated to build strategies for action framed by our shared themes and tensions.

The Fifteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices features research addressing the following annual themes:

2021 Special Focus: Towards a (Design) New Deal
Theme 1: Design Education
Theme 2: Design in Society
Theme 3: Designed Objects
Theme 4: Visual Design
Theme 5: Design Management and Professional Practice
Theme 6: Architectonic, Spatial, and Environmental Design

2021 Special Focus Scope & Concerns Themes & Tensions Program

The Fifteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices will feature plenary sessions by some of the world’s leading thinkers and innovators in the field.