Misrepresentation and visual quotation in design and art: a pragmatic approach.

Designers include quotations in their visual work but these are, in the experience of the author, rarely acknowledged or rigorously referenced. Furthermore the creative outcome will often be shown to the public unlike written assessed work which, generally, remains within the institution concerned. Four reasons for the inclusion of quotes may be identified: • To offer general orientation, and mood setting for the reader. • To provide the material that will, itself, be subject to comment and/or criticism. • To acknowledge the work of authorities in the subject that either support the viewpoint of the author or upon which a new argument or concept is to be grounded. • Adornment applied to a work to enhance beauty and perhaps imply erudition. In the case of product design there is often deception when, for example, a composite image is created of an appearance model which is then shown against a photo-realistic background implying that the artefact exists and is in use. This illustrated session will explore examples of quoted work and propose a pragmatic approach which may be adopted by course teams and institutions to establish a code of practice to be applied to the presentation of visual material submitted for assessment. Guidance will be offered as to how decoding and accurate interpretation of a composite image may be facilitated. Six Statutory Instruments relating to copyright have recently been published and are due to come into force in early June. The changes proposed, as they relate to images made by Design Students, will be considered.