Leadership

Submissions Due: February 26

Designers (indeed, artists and creatives in general) have a propensity to be at the leading edge of ‎cultural change.  Design is a profession for leaders and recent events have highlighted the need for us ‎to lead, prompting us to step up and lead in ways we never anticipated. This past year has also made ‎visible gaps in leadership that need to be filled.‎

This issue of the Exchange is a dialogue about leadership: how are we as designers leading and poised ‎to lead?

  • What is leadership in the field of interior design? ‎
  • What are essential leadership skills for designers? ‎
  • Who leads when? ‎
  • What avenues are there to lead? ‎
    • Leading in the profession – as CEOs, as mentors, as colleagues in allied fields ‎
    • Leading in the academy – in leadership at the college/university level, in a program team  ‎
    • Leading as educators ‎
    • Leading as practitioners ‎
    • Leading cross-generationally ‎
    • Leading as role models for new practitioners; for students ‎
  • How do interior designers lead in design thinking? ‎
  • What do we bring to the table as designers in collaboration with other fields? Is it transferable ‎beyond design thinking? ‎
  • What types of design projects/opportunities exist where designers are leading?
    • For social change ‎
    • For emerging issues—sustainability, diversity, technology ‎
  • How are we ensuring future success by expanding the pool of Black and Latino leadership?‎
  • How is the profession supporting and helping designers become leaders? ‎

The IDEC Exchange seeks innovative and critically focused statements, design, and research that ‎engage these questions through rich and rigorous investigation. The Exchange also seeks letters ‎responding to previous IDEC Exchange content or highlighting a timely and engaging topic. ‎

Each submission should make a clear claim for how leadership in interior design—as a profession or ‎an academic field—has impacted or has potential to impact the field. The claim should be linked to an ‎equally clear example from research scholarship, teaching or practice.‎

Submissions may be:‎

  • Letters
  • Original essays addressing the issue theme;
  • Original images addressing the issue theme;
  • Interviews addressing the issue theme or a timely and engaging topic; or
  • Another format discussed in advance with the Editor-in-Chief.

Please note the intended category of your submission in your word document (i.e. letter, essay, visual essay, etc). Submissions must follow the guidelines below. Submissions that do not following the guidelines will not be considered for publication.

Requirements:

  • Letters may be up to 350-words maximum without images.
    • Other submissions may be up to 550-words maximum with one image OR 350-words maximum with three or more images.
    • Use the following file naming guidelines: lastname_title.doc (if more than one author, please use one name only for the file).
    • Submissions should be in Word (.doc, .docx) format. PDFs will not be accepted.
  • Images: 5×7, 300dpi, jpg format.
    • Each image should be accompanied by a caption (including reference; original work should indicate creator credit).
    • Captions should be provided in a separate document.
    • Use the following naming guidelines: lastname_01.jpg, lastname_02.jpg, etc.
    • Images should be in .jpg format. PDFs will not be accepted.
    • Authors are responsible for securing copyright clearance from image creators.

Submit Form Now

Questions should be directed to:

Dana E. Vaux, Ph.D.
Editor-in-Chief, IDEC Exchange
Assistant Professor
University of Nebraska – Kearney
vauxde@unk.edu