Project Title: Designing Disinformation: Investigating the Role of Communication Design in Sensational American Newspapers and News Websites, 1890-2020
HEI: The University of Edinburgh
School: School of Design, Edinburgh College of Art
Supervisors and HEIs:
Dr Craig Martin, Reader in Design Cultures, School of Design, University of Edinburgh.
Dr Oliver Escobar, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh.
Dr Dominic Hinde, Lecturer in Sociology, Media and Communications, Glasgow University Media Group, University of Glasgow.
About Anna’s Research

With threats to the integrity of democracy due to online disinformation, this project explores the role of communication design in shaping how disinformation is produced and mediated in the United States. Beginning with late nineteenth-century forms of sensationalist news design, the project will investigate the evolution and impact of these early forms on disinformation today, exploring the shifting agency of editorial designers and communication design itself. Ultimately, the project aims to establish ethical responsibilities of editorial designers and determine where design might be incorporated into ethics policies and media regulations combatting disinformation to safeguard the discursive fabric of democratic societies.
CONNECT WITH ANNA
E-mail: anna.talley@ed.ac.uk
Twitter: @annaktalley
Instagram: @anna.k.talley