RMIT Design Archives Journal - Call for Papers

RMIT Design Archives Journal 17.1, 2027 | Designing services, strategies & systems.

The Design Institute of Australia’s ‘Write DESIGNER’ campaign, which preceded the 2026 Census, encouraged all working designers to identify their occupation. This was part of a longer term campaign to build the case for Service Designer and Strategic Designer to be formally recognised within Australia’s occupation classification framework. Subsequently, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has officially included Service Designer in the draft Occupation Standard Classification for Australia (OSCA) ahead of its March 2027 release, and DIA continues its advocacy for Strategic Designer among other design-specific classifications.

A similar initiative was undertaken in New Zealand in 2017 through the Value of Design to New Zealand Report which defined one design sector, comprising of nine design disciplines and 264 design processes. Service Design and Strategy were two of the nine design disciplines named in that report.

Given that policy is informed by such census data (except in New Zealand where the five yearly census in 2028 has been cancelled), it is vital that these occupation classifications keep pace with developments in the industry. This is especially so when one of the earliest references to Service Design is a 1984 article in the Harvard Business Review, ServDes the Service Design & Innovation conference was conceived in 2007 and its 7th conference (and first outside of Europe) was held in Melbourne in 2020-21, in part due to the success of Service Design Melbourne, which was founded in 2010 by Yoko Akama and Dianne Moy.

Strategic Design can similarly be traced back to the 1980s in the academic literature and in practice, and the University of Otago’s Design Studies Department introduced an Honours course in Strategic Design in its program in 2006.

Call for papers

We invite you to contribute to this special issue of the RMIT Design Archives Journal that will examine the histories of Service Design, Strategic Design and Systemic Design.

Themes may include:

Design policy
Design strategy
Information infrastructures
Strategic design
Service design
Systemic design

We welcome a variety of written papers in response to the Call, including:

Full papers (3000 – 5000 words) presenting original research.
Case Studies (3000 words) that describe how a particular designer or design practice, group, project, event, or situation has been studied and analysed.
Conversations (length dependant on case) oLering insights through written discussions between students, educators, or researchers around a particular Archive/designer etc.
Visual Submissions (maximum 2000 words) making use of primarily visual content and structures, including: visual cases; storytelling and narratives; past projects involving the RMIT Design Archives.

How to submit your abstract

Email a 300-word abstract to the RDA editor with the following details:

Your name/s
Email address
Telephone number
Type of paper (full paper, case study, conversation or visual submission).

Deadline: Monday 9 November 2026

rdajeditor@rmit.edu.au

Resources

Related archives:

Architecture: Edmond and Corrigan, Peter Elliott, Graeme Gunn, Joyce & Nankivell
Communication Design: Alex Stitt, David Lancashire, Ernest Fooks, Gus Van Der Hyde, Laurie Carew, Max Robinson, Pieter Huveneers
Fashion Design: Fashion Design Council, Jenny Bannister, Prue Action, Rae Ganim.

Download a printable copy of this information: RDA Journal Call for Papers (PDF, 256 KB).

Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

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