College Composition and Communication Jun 2014

What Can Design Thinking Offer Writing Studies?

James P. Purdy

Abstract

Through sharing results of an analysis of design language use in several writing studies journals, this article explores why we invoke design in published scholarship. After defining the approach to composing known as design thinking, it then moves to a comparison of design thinking and the writing process and looks at an example application of design thinking in the field. I argue that design thinking not only offers a useful approach for tackling multimodal/multimedia composing tasks, but also situates the goal of writing studies as textual action and asks us to reconsider writing’s home in the university.

Journal
College Composition and Communication
Published
2014-06-01
DOI
10.58680/ccc201425449
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
multimodality
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (25)

  1. Jiang et al. (2026)
    User experience in composition: Rethinking the past and mapping the future of w…
    Computers and Composition
  2. Quigley et al. (2026)
    Kiosk! An interactive touchscreen project for multimodal UX composition learners
    Computers and Composition
  3. Andrews (2025)
    Designing Business Communications in a Disrupted Workplace
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  4. Jiang (2024)
    When generative artificial intelligence meets multimodal composition: Rethinkin…
    Computers and Composition
  5. Thominet (2024)
    The Design of Grading
    Pedagogy
Show all 25 →
  1. Colby (2023)
    Embodying empathy: using game design as a maker pedagogy to teach design thinking
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Ponce (2023)
    The Twain Shall Meet
    Pedagogy
  3. Pellegrini (2022)
    Composing Like an Entrepreneur: The Pedagogical Implications of Design Thinking…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Pellegrini (2022)
    Review of "Design Thinking in Technical Communication: Solving Problems through…
    Communication Design Quarterly
  5. Tham (2022)
    Pasts and Futures of Design Thinking: Implications for Technical Communication
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  6. Doody et al. (2022)
    “Everything Is in the Lab Book”: Multimodal Writing, Activity, and Genre Analys…
    Written Communication
  7. Butler et al. (2021)
    Sound, captions, action: Voices in video composition projects
    Computers and Composition
  8. Kurlinkus (2021)
    Nostalgic Design: Making Memories in the Rhetoric Classroom
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  9. Weedon et al. (2021)
    Embodied Genres, Typified Performances, and the Engineering Design Process
    Written Communication
  10. Tham et al. (2020)
    Toward a Radical Collaboratory Model for Graduate Research Education: A Collabo…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  11. Wible (2020)
    Using Design Thinking to Teach Creative Problem Solving in Writing Courses
    College Composition and Communication
  12. Daniel-Wariya et al. (2020)
    The Possibilities of Uncertainty
    Pedagogy
  13. Pope-Ruark et al. (2019)
    Introduction to Special Issue: Design-Thinking Approaches in Technical and Prof…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  14. Greenwood et al. (2019)
    Dissensus, Resistance, and Ideology: Design Thinking as a Rhetorical Methodology
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  15. Gallagher et al. (2019)
    Empty Templates: The Ethical Habits of Empty State Pages
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  16. Weedon (2019)
    The Role of Rhetoric in Engineering Judgment
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  17. Pennington (2017)
    Literacy, Culture, and Creativity in a Digital Era
    Pedagogy
  18. VanKooten et al. (2016)
    Messy Problem-Exploring through Video in First-Year Writing: Assessing What Counts
    Computers and Composition
  19. Pflugfelder (2015)
    Rhetoric’s New Materialism: From Micro-Rhetoric to Microbrew
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  20. Leverenz (2014)
    Design Thinking and the Wicked Problem of Teaching Writing
    Computers and Composition

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