At Design Academy Eindhoven, design and design research projects do not end the moment they have produced results. The results have to be communicated in order for them to be shared with others. Spreading the knowledge that is created, be it in the form of ideas, images or objects, is an important aspect of the design and design research processes. Without this dissemination, the knowledge that is generated will not be received and discussed or debated by colleagues, clients, users or, in some cases, a wider audience of readers, listeners and viewers.
The dissemination of results, and in many cases also of information about a project’s background and the method used to achieve those results, is often the last stage of a project. The importance of this final stage, however, should not be underestimated since decisions about a project’s dissemination affect the way its results are positioned and understood (for instance, see Walter Benjamin (1970) on art in the age of mechanical reproduction and Susan Sontag (1977) on photography). An exhibition of design, for instance, may attract a different audience from a design research conference.
Questions to be answered are, for instance, whether a project’s results will be disseminated physically or digitally, whether they will be presented during a one-off event or by way of a more permanent display, and whether promotional activities will take place in the form of a website, a blog, a newspaper or a magazine article. Decisions about dissemination also influence how a project is preserved – for instance, is it described in a book, and can this book be found in a library? Choices about the medium and context of dissemination are an integral part of the project and should be taken into account in the early stages of the project.