The Message journal is a peer-reviewed academic journal that consists of blind reviewed academic papers and occasional commissioned essays. It is dedicated to the development and discussion of contemporary and historical visual communication research, particularly with an emphasis on Graphic Communication Design practice, outputs and artefacts.

The aim of the Message journal is to explore and challenge the boundaries of visual communication within art and design through an experimental and developmental ethos, challenging the practitioner, the development and use of technology, as well as questioning visual communication values such as social, ethical and sustainable practices.

The journal was established by founding members of the Message research group at the University of Plymouth.

Call for papers - Message 4: Graphic Communication Design Research Journal
What are the politics of your design and what is the design of your politics?

In this issue we aim to provoke a dialectic in order to question, interrogate and if possible, suggest alternatives to the raison d'être and practice of our discipline within broader social, economic and political contexts.

We would like to challenge the fundamental role and agency of Graphic Communication Design by asking:

How do (or indeed should) Graphic Communication Designers

• engage with and change the broader social, economic, and political circumstances?

• address cultural colonisation, systemisation and appropriation?

• counter misdirection and falsehoods through illuminating meaning, knowledge and facts?

We are looking for Abstracts (300-500 words) by 22 March and submission (4000–6000 words) by 31 July 2019

Papers and reports based on practice are encouraged.

Please do circulate this to anyone you think might be interested.

Read more here