Assistive Technology (AT) product use occurs within a socio-cultural setting.The growth internationally in the AT product market suggests that designers need to be aware of the influences that diverse cultures may have on the societal perception of an AT product through its semantic attributes. The study aimed to evaluate the visual interaction with an AT product by young adults from Pakistan, a collectivist society, and the United Kingdom (UK), an individualist society. A paper-based questionnaire survey was carried out with 281 first-year undergraduate students from the UK and Pakistan to evaluate their perception towards the visual representation of a generic conventional wheelchair image. A semantics differential (SD) scale method was used involving a seven-point bipolar SD scale incorporating sixteen pairs of adjectives defining functional, meaning, and usability attributes of the product. The mean (M) and standard deviation (sd) values were obtained for each pair of adjectives and compared between both groups by employing appropriate parametric tests. The results show that having a diverse cultural background did not appear to have overtly influenced the meanings ascribed to the generic manual wheelchair, which was unexpected. The University 'Internationalist' environment may have influenced the results. Some minor but critical differences were found for some pairs of adjectives (bulky-compact, heavy-light), having p-value less than 0.05 (p<0.05) that related to previous experience of wheelchairs and/or their use. Further studies are planned to investigate and validate outcomes with other student and non-student groups.

This article serves two purposes. First, it explains a review and development process for revising the application of assessment criteria for undergraduate art and design students in the United Kingdom. Second, it makes data generated by the process available for use by others. These data consist of keywords used to locate student learning across the numerical scale of marking typically employed in higher education art and design assessment procedures, and six different ways that this numerical scale has been used. Additionally, student participation in the development process is explained. Discussion about the process acknowledges the emergence of learning, meaning and identity in a social theory of learning, and the importance of assessment literacy in the development of pedagogical intelligence. The article will be of interest to those concerned with the development of assessment criteria in art and design, and how this might be improved through consistent use and formatting of criteria for use in formative and summative feedback mechanisms.

Graphic Design in Urban Environments introduces the idea of a category of designed graphic objects that significantly contribute to the functioning of urban systems. These elements, smaller than buildings, are generally understood by urban designers to comprise such phenomena as sculpture, clock towers, banners, signs, large screens, the portrayal of images on buildings through “smart screens,” and other examples of what urban designers call “urban objects.” The graphic object as it is defined here also refers to a range of familiar things invariably named in the literature as maps, street numbers, route signs, bus placards, signs, architectural communication, commercial vernacular, outdoor publicity, lettering, banners, screens, traffic and direction signs and street furniture. One can also add markings of a sports pitch, lighting, bollards, even red carpets or well dressings. By looking at the environment, and design and deconstructing form and context relationships, the defining properties and configurational patterns that make up graphic objects are shown in this book to link the smallest graphic detail (e.g. the number 16) to larger symbolic statements (e.g. the Empire State Building). From a professional design practice perspective, a cross section through type, typographic, graphic and urban design will provide a framework for considering the design transition between alphabets, writing systems, images (in the broadest sense) and environments.

His research explores questions about the relationship between graphic form and urban context. This challenges ideas about what graphic design is, why it is relevant, what it can be, and how it is understood as a visual form of knowledge production.

Please cite the published version.

The project described in this paper was funded to establish the foundation for a digital archival resource for researchers interested in the way people interact with urban environments through graphic communications. The research was internally funded by Loughborough University as part of its Research Challenge Programme and involved two members of academic staff and two library staff.[1] Two PhD students also participated. The archive consists of a small number of images and will act as a proof of concept, not only for this project but also for current and future funding applications. It is hoped that an extended archive will be useful not only to visual communication researchers, but also historians, architects, town planners and others. This paper will describe the data collection process, the challenges facing the project team in data curation and data documentation, and the creation of the pilot archive. The creation of the archive posed challenges for both the researchers and Library staff. For the researchers: Choosing a small number of images as a discrete collection but which also demonstrated the utility of the project to other disciplinary areas; Acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills to enable good curation and usability of the digital objects, e.g. file formats, metadata creation; Understanding what the technical solution enabled and where compromises would have to be made. For library staff: Demonstrating the utility of the Data Repository; Understanding the intellectual background to the project and the purpose of the Data Archive within the project; Clearly explaining the purpose of metadata and documentation. The Latina Project has demonstrated the value of a true partnership between the academic community and the professional services. All parties involved have learnt from the creation of the pilot archive and their practices have evolved. For example, it has made the researchers think more carefully about data curation questions and the professional services staff identify more closely with the research purposes for data creation. By working together so closely and sharing ideas from our different perspectives we have also identified potential technical developments which could be explored in future projects. All members of the group hope that the relationships built during this project will continue through other projects. [1] Academic staff: Drs Harland and Liguori. Library staff: Gareth Cole and Barbara Whetnall.

This article explores the relationship between graphic objects and urban environments by adopting a critical stance towards the notion of image in the image of the city. It challenges the emphasis on image as a multi-sensory mental construct by revealing it to have different meanings in diverse disciplinary contexts. In exposing how a miscellaneous range of objects cited in the literature lacks cohesion and sense of function, the urban graphic object is introduced and illustrated as a pervasive epistemic phenomenon. Understanding urban graphic objects expands established ideas about legibility and how urban objects have intended and unintended graphic properties. Through considering the function of graphic communication within the function of cities and urban places, the article introduces a framework for considering graphic design as urban design and graphic objects as urban objects.

In this discussion paper, graphic design, graphic science and graphic art are acknowledged, substantiating the need for benefits associated with a wider perspective on how students learn graphics in the United Kingdom. A case is presented for the adoption of a single word descriptor (compared to the many variants that have developed in the higher education sector) by discussing: the historical development of art and design in the United Kingdom; the widespread use of the term graphics; an emphasis on research neglect in a field that has diversified and expanded to become one of the largest groups of students in an enlarged university sector; a lack of national professional representation that has neglected the opportunity to link practice, pedagogy and research in a growing field. The inquiry begins with an overview, of the historical context, before an exploration into the recent expansion of a category of closely related words that originate from the same etymological source. Finally, consideration is given to the scope of influences that may form the basis of research into graphic method as a logical development of first-order design principles. The paper calls for renewed efforts, by graphics educators in the UK, to establish their own professional body to consolidate shared interest in graphics pedagogy between disciplinary perspectives.