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.

2025 Special Focus—Thinking, Learning, Doing: Plural Ways of Design

• 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