BIRD Relaunch – Board of International Research in Design

Over the past 15 years, the Board of International Research in Design (BIRD) has attracted attention with numerous books in the field of design theory and research (half of it in german). Some of them have become real classics (e.g. “Design Research Now”, “Mapping Design Research”, “Designerly Ways of Knowing”). The spectrum of topics covered by BIRD publications ranges from design history, design rhetoric, non-intentional design, design politics, or gender design, to transformation design, experiential knowledge and process aesthetics. BIRD thus lives up to its claim, to adress a broad range of approaches for design research.

Since the summer of 2022, the BIRD not only comes with a new website and updated Advisory Board, but also a number of new books that will be published over the next months (e.g. “The Thing between me and you” by Hans-Jörg Pochmann, the double volume “Design/Theory” with essays by Hans-Ulrich Reck collected from four decades, Judith Dörrenbächers on animistic practices for critical design (“Distanz durch Nähe”), or a book an tacit knowing by Stefanie Egger (“Stummes Wissen”).

After symposia in Braunschweig, Hildesheim, Basel and Hamburg, the 5th NERD Conference for New Experimental Research in Design will be held at Berlin University of the Arts on 4-5 May 2023. Submission Deadline: 01. November, 2022 (–> CfP). “The particular epistemic and innovative potentials of Design Research are meanwhile well recognised within the wider academic sphere and are in constantly growing demand by industries, societies and politics alike. Especially in unraveling times of crisis like these, new perspectives, ways of thinking and forms of action are indispensable in order to negotiate possible pathways and futures. Yet, design research is also a field and practice that, due to its in-between nature, lacks the clear boundaries. Recognising this inherent openness as one of its key qualities, the New Experimental Research in Design (in short: NERD) conference aims at providing a genuinely diverse and open platform for discussing, reflecting on and exposing to a wider public the manifold ways in which design’s unique perspective and proficiencies can insightfully be applied as a research competence”.

Despite all activity and change at BIRD, there are still aspects of continuity. The design concept by Christian Riis Ruggaber, Formal, and the characteristic visual identity developed by studio CRR will be preserved. The graphic development for the entire identity was based on a concise grid system following a simple chronological sequence that defined formats and typographic patterns. This system was complimented by the addition of the BIRD iconographic.

The BIRD series is published by Birkhäuser, active primarily in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, and design, distributed by De Gruyter.