The cooperative use of material resources and contextual features in graphic design work

Abstract

We present an ethnomethodological analysis of an ethnographic study of graphic designers to show how their design activities were organised. We focus on how the creative process is shaped through the instrumental and discursive use of material and digital resources. We concentrate on how contextually relevant but ‘off-stage’ features of the design space such as clients, consumers, similar products, trends and so on are talked about in order to provide the context for understanding and assessing the potential quality and impact of the design. We also examine the situated use of aesthetic terms as a means through which the practitioners relate various features of the look and feel of the design to these elements of constructed context.