Most people encountered design in what we could consider its traditional formats; an object, a space, a garment. To design is to look at the world anew. Statements such as fashion designer Paul Smith’s come to mind, “you can find inspiration in everything.” This urges us to widen our focus and adjust the lens with which we see the world. Yet, the more we—as researchers and practitioners—open our eyes to the world, searching for inspiration, the more we come to find that what needed widening was our definition of design.

To design studies scholars the question is no longer what can inspire design, but what is design? Where is design? What boundaries must we push to answer these questions?

The papers, podcasts, and videos in the fifth volume of Plot(s) delve into these questions as they practice design research through a wide lens. These works explore the process as design and new processes to consider in design. They look at how webcomics can push viewer limits of speculative design and how machine learning art can break boundaries of design; how we may want to recognize emoji as a language altering tool and how everyday acts challenge the meaning of design itself.

A phrase which would traditionally be assigned to this train of thought is “design in unlikely places.” But, if nothing else, I hope these papers challenge that belief. Design is not in unlikely places. Design, as these authors know well, is in everything. We simply need to see it.

Plot(s) is a student-run academic publication published by Parsons School of Design at The New School in New York City. For the first time, the online edition of Plot(s) V includes multi-media submissions exploring the realm of design research through video and audio podcasting. The essays in Plot(s) are peer-reviewed by alumni from the MA Design Studies program and edited by graduate students. With this volume, Plot(s) hopes to challenge, play with, and embrace all that is design, and invite others to practice expanding their perception of design.