Graphic method as visual method

Art and design is a relative newcomer to the academy although it has a formal tradition older than many academic subjects taught at University (ADM-HEA and NESTA, 2007: 7). However, much of this is unreported and under theorised. It is argued by Bruce Brown that the ‘disciplines of art, design and media embody some of the most innovative and effective teaching and learning practices in the sector that are still in the process of articulation’ (Drew et al., 2008: 8). This proposal aims to articulate, as visual method, some approaches used in a core art and design subject: graphic design. It considers how the basic properties of ‘graphic messages – words, pictures and diagrams’ (Stiff, 2009: 4) are synthesised, and offer potential for visual research. This has been explored in part by James Elkins in his book The Domain of Images (1999), when examines the usefulness of images as part of an approach to rational inquiry. He draws attention to what in 1900 was referred to as ‘pictorial method’ (ibid, 1999: 39, citing Cambrosio, Jacobi, and Keating). In this proposal, an approach called graphic method will be presented and linked to sociological approaches in adaptive theory (Layder, 1998: 18–20).