I recently ran across this diagram. It is originally from the 1970’s, and as far as cognitive science is concerned, it is not nearly as relevant as it once was. Two things jump out at me when I see this diagram. The first is, it is fascinating to see a field represented in this sum-of-its-parts kind of way. The second is that you could substitute “graphic design” for “cognitive science” and the diagram still works. I see it as useful as a jumping off point to consider how graphic design is connected to other disciplines. What other frameworks might be used to position design amongst other professions and develop new areas to make connections?
Most academic taxonomies of disciplines are not universal, and there is plasticity in how disciplines are categorized from institution to institution that disqualifies this direction as a useful tool. In researching possible options I found Biglans’ taxonomy of academic disciplines:
Anthony Biglan makes connections through associations unrelated to the specific content of the discipline. For example, art is not connected to design because they are both concerned with aesthetics. Instead, Biglan is interested in broader ideas. His categories include “hard” and “soft,” with hard being a fixed process and soft being fluid. He goes further and delineates between “pure” and “applied.” Applied is as defined, you actually do the thing, while pure is more concerned with theory. Under this rubric, graphic design falls under the dimensions of soft and applied.
The go-to disciplines which graphic design research and theory draw on all fall on the “soft” side of the matrix and much of graphic design discourse revolves in some way around subjectivity. A question Biglans’ model brings to mind is can graphic design make connections to the opposite side of the matrix? Can graphic design connect to the hard and pure, be more empirical and less subjective and what does being harder add to design theory? The hard and pure dimensions are where neuroscience, cognitive science and neuroaesthetics live. Neuroaesthetics or empirical aesthetics seem one of the better avenues of exploration for finding hard connections to graphic design as it is concerned with perceptions of art and aesthetic judgments. Developing unexplored connections might help reinforce graphic designs’ position as a discipline and moves a step closer to a theory of design.