Editing Communication design (section)

{{Short description|Academic discipline}}
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'''Communication design''' is a mixed discipline between [[design]] and information-development concerned with how [[Media (communication)|media]] communicate with people. A communication design approach is concerned with developing the [[message]] and [[aesthetic]]s in media. It also creates new media channels to ensure the message reaches the target audience. Due to overlapping skills, some designers use [[graphic design]] and communication design interchangeably.

Communication design can also refer to a systems-based approach, in which the totality of media and messages within a culture or organization are designed as a single integrated process rather than a series of discrete efforts. This is done through communication channels that aim to inform and attract the attention of the target audience. Design skills must be used to create content suitable for different cultures and to maintain a pleasurable visual design. These are crucial pieces of a successful media communications kit.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |url=http://www.cgiar.org/www-archive/www.cgiar.org/communicationstoolkit/pdf/Developing%20a%20Communication%20Plan.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2014-10-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413032136/http://www.cgiar.org/www-archive/www.cgiar.org/communicationstoolkit/pdf/Developing%20a%20Communication%20Plan.pdf |archive-date=2015-04-13 }}</ref>

Within the Communication discipline, the emerging framework for Communication as Design focuses on redesigning interactivity and shaping communication [[affordance]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Aakhus|first=Mark|date=2007-03-01|title=Communication as Design|journal=Communication Monographs|volume=74|issue=1|pages=112–117|doi=10.1080/03637750701196383|s2cid=143543646|issn=0363-7751}}</ref> Software and applications create opportunities for and place constraints on communication. Recently, Guth and Brabham examined the way that ideas compete within a [[crowdsourcing]] platform, providing a model for the relationships among design ideas, communication, and platform.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Guth|first1=Kristen L.|last2=Brabham|first2=Daren C.|date=2017-08-04|title=Finding the diamond in the rough: Exploring communication and platform in crowdsourcing performance|journal=Communication Monographs|volume=84|issue=4|pages=510–533|doi=10.1080/03637751.2017.1359748|s2cid=54045924|issn=0363-7751}}</ref> The same authors have interviewed technology company founders about the democratic ideals they build into the design of [[e-government]] applications and technologies.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Brabham|first1=Daren C.|last2=Guth|first2=Kristen L.|date=2017-08-01|title=The Deliberative Politics of the Consultative Layer: Participation Hopes and Communication as Design Values of Civic Tech Founders|journal=Journal of Communication|language=en|volume=67|issue=4|pages=445–475|doi=10.1111/jcom.12316|issn=1460-2466}}</ref> Interest in the Communication as Design framework continues growing among researchers.