Editorial Mandate

Current is a multi-platform design journal that exists to showcase creative, practice-based and applied research. It functions as a site for design researchers, design academics, students, professional designers, entrepreneurs, and the business community to reflect on contemporary design thinking—products and processes. Through a variety of forms and formats—interviews, case-studies, critical essays, reviews and photo documentation, we challenge researchers to represent their processes as iterative cycles of research and to skillfully navigate information-led/practice-led methodologies. Current is continually evolving exposition on the people and processes involved in design research. It is a platform for the cross-disciplinary, cross-sector professional communities of people with educational and professional interests in the currency of design thinking.

Current has the following goals that reflect its unique location in one of Canada’s most dynamic Art + Design universities:

* To illustrate the context that shapes practice-based research and research-based practice
* To illustrate new processes and design thinking from project-based collaborations with a diverse range of educational partners
* To inform about current and future directions in teaching, research, and learning in post-secondary education
* To showcase generative tools for co-designing and their benefits at the “fuzzy front end”
* To establish a transparent legacy of learning for undergraduate and graduate students, alumni, faculty, staff and administration through publication in print, online and as an e-pub
* To demonstrate to the business community the economic value of managing design as a resource

Current’s affiliation with Emily Carr University of Art & Design is vital to the journal’s function as a site for on going dialogue between researchers in and across a variety of local, national, and international contexts—academic and professional. The university context is crucial to how we understand and illustrate a practice-based design ethos in relation to an evolving ecology. Our learning community is a research space rich in critical and collaborative inquiry and reflective self-practice. Research at Emily Carr University is modeled on context-informed practice in a teaching/research nexus that is responsive to human and ecological needs.

Current draws its power from a community of educators, practitioners, students, and staff engaged in new models and networks of innovation with educational partners from diverse sectors. We are explorers of the values and richness of human knowledge and agents of change and cross-disciplinary integration. A community of thinkers and makers, we seek to engage with complex ideas, situations and in so doing to speak to teams of experts, as well as to the very people who use our research outcomes.

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Contribute to Current

We are looking for feature writers, artists, photographers, interviewers, interviewees, case studies, academic design theory, book/DVD reviews, business analyses and event listings. The following are detailed descriptions of the different submission types. We are always open to other ideas as well:

EVENTS: Events is a listing of exhibits, conferences, guest speakers, critique dates, competitions and other events relevant to the Current community. An event entry is a summary of

INTERVIEW: Interviews are vignettes of people in the design and research community. Interviews begin with a pilot guide that outlines the questions to be asked of the interviewee. A pilot guide typically has no more than 10 questions. Suggestions for interviews should include a quick bio of the interviewee, and a one-sentence pitch for why the design research community would be interested in her/him. An interview, when edited is a 1500 word entry. Current staff can help you with developing an interview guide.

PROCESS: A process article is a short (500 word) pieces anchored by sketches, drawings, snapshots, etc. from the author(s) that help to illuminate the core themes of the work.

MEDIA REVIEW (BOOK, DVD, and FILM): Media review articles are short (500 word) pieces anchored by sketches, drawings, snapshots, etc. from the author(s) that help to illuminate the core themes of the work. Authors wanting to do a media review should contact the Current staff for the review template which outlines a very succinct structure.

RESEARCH: Research features a wide array of full-length (+/-1800 word) articles pertaining to one of Current’s themes [sustainability, co-creation, generativity, well-being, interactivity, systems, livability, sociability, or creativity]. Case studies, intellectual explorations, and practice papers are welcome. Submit a one- paragraph abstract.

PROFILE: Profiles cover people, places, and processes of interest to the larger design research community. They are not promotion pieces. Profiles can be full length (~1500 word) or short-length (~750 word) articles. Submit a one-paragraph abstract.

Current is a project of the Faculty of Design & Dynamic Media and the Office of Research and Industry Liaison at Emily Carr University. It is written, edited, illustrated, and photographed by a collective of faculty, research assistants, staff and students.