Pictorials are papers in which the visual components (e.g. diagrams, sketches, illustrations, renderings, photographs, annotated photographs, and collages) play a primary role in conveying ideas and research contributions in addition to the accompanying text. Pictorials leverage the power of visual communication with the effective use of visual languages and high-quality images. They may have a practical or theoretical nature or both.

Through Pictorials, researchers, practitioners, industry professionals, artists, designers, and students from various disciplines, including engineering, interaction design, computer science, product design, media studies, and the arts are encouraged to express and unpack their design practices and projects in visually rich ways.

As such, pictorials are equivalent contributions to Full Papers in every way (e.g. production standards, archival qualities, reviewing standards, presentation times, institutional reporting).

Pictorials are meant to contribute to knowledge in themselves rather than merely document concepts, methods, and processes that we already know. Visual components can be contributions to design knowledge in and of themselves, as a form of making, but they should also be accompanied by a narrative that helps the audience understand what the knowledge contribution is. It is this scaffolding that transforms a Pictorial into research and guarantees that it can be treated as an argument in research discourse. At the same time, the textual narrative should be just that – a scaffolding to support the contribution of the visual content.

Like full papers, the content of your pictorial is expected to be your own original work for the most part. While it is perfectly fine to include some visual materials created by others with attributions and permissions, such materials must be clearly marked as reference rather than main argument. Just as you would not write a text-oriented paper that is mostly quotes to others, your pictorial must not rely overly on visual materials created by others. On the other hand, your pictorial is expected to reference and build on the work of others with the same scholarly integrity as a full paper.

Some important points to consider when preparing your pictorials:

• Does your work require a Pictorial format, or would it be clearer in a more conventional textual form?
• Is the contribution that is presented original and complete? If not, you may want to consider a WIP submission instead.
• Is the production value for the images and/or diagrams of high quality?
• Are images/diagrams emphasized over text as the primary means of communicating the research contribution?
• Does every image used in the Pictorial play a meaningful role and clearly present the idea on its own or with the support of text?
• Does the placement of images and text compose a good narrative?