The Design Studies Forum has started a new journal called Design and Culture, dedicated to investigating the way that design impacts and is impacted by culture, nurturing the study of design history and criticism, and encouraging better communication between the professional and academic design communities. The journal is published three times annually by Berg Publishers in March, July and November. The first issue was released in March, and the contents of this inaugural issue have been posted online at no charge. As the editor, Elizabeth Guffey, makes clear in the introduction, the intent of the journal is to support the emerging field of design studies. To us, this means that its stance and perspective is neither excessively art-historical nor, on the other hand, deeply steeped in design professionalism. Instead, it seems that the journal attempts to support the critical practice of contemporary design by, as Guffey mentioned in an email conversation, "bridging discourse between 'makers' and 'thinkers'". Other things on the journal's agenda include: maintaining an international outlook, applying critical ideas from other fields (like anthropology and sociology), and discussing design without categorizing it into disciplinary bits and pieces like graphic design, product design, conceptual design, and etc.

The content of the first issue is broadly situated, addressing large cultural phenomena as well as highly design-specific topics. For example, The Music CD and its Ends, by Will Straw, discusses the cultural changes that have surrounded the fall of the music CD. The piece begins with a description of the changes in the way that bootleg music CDs were sold in Mexico City between 2003 and 2005. In 2003, bootlegs were sold as painstakingly well-copied objects, in direct competition with legitimate entertainment vendors. By 2005, these bootlegs were MP3 CDs containing entire repertoires of individual artists. Straw makes the case that the portability and lightness of the CD contributed to its casual and interpretive use, but also to its quick loss of value and ensuing obsolescence. On the other end of the spectrum, Alice Twemlow's article, entitled I Can't Talk to You if You Say That: An Ideological Collision at the International Design Conference at Aspen, 1970 recounts, in detail, the unraveling of said conference, where protests and demonstrations by students and radical environmental groups (like Ant Farm) catalyzed the beginning of a paradigm shift in design practice and discourse. Hyper-specific to the cultural history of design, these details are quite revealing, as the ideological conflicts described in the article are not so dissimilar from contemporary tensions.

In addition to the main body of articles, the journal maintains several columns and a growing reviews section: In Memoriam is a series of obituaries for obsolete designs, Reconsidering revisits classic pieces of design writing and examines their contemporary relevance, and, finally, Dialogues features interviews with theoretical thinkers both inside and outside of the field. As mentioned, the current issue is available online from Berg Publishers, and the second issue, called "Design on Film" will be released in July.

As design becomes increasingly recognized as a credible approach to a variety of problems (like promoting good ecological practices, improving life, or increasing business), it is important to maintain a critical voice about its role in culture. Design is not just a tool, it's also a cultural activity. There is narrative around design -- it is intimately linked to a number of cultural forces: industry, politics, aesthetics, and society. How does this change design, and what is the power of design to impact our everyday experience of these larger narratives? This seems to be the set of questions that Design and Culture has set out to address.