Training in Graphic Design and Social Sustainability: A SEM-PLS Study on Professional Influence on Students

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Thank you for the opportunity to review this paper. It is an interesting topic and aligns well with my research interests.

This paper considers approaches to sustainability in graphic design education, with a particular interest in social sustainability and inclusion. A participant study is carried out and the data analysed with reference to statistical approaches.

Although the authors acknowledge that the study focuses on a specific geographic region in their discussion of limitations, it's very good to read a paper that has recruited participants for a range of institutions and not simply within a single institution. This is a strength of the paper. 

The paper is clearly written and demonstrates a systematic approach to both the contextualisation of the research and the research design. The focus and scope is clear and logically presented.

The literature review is relevant. However, it might be worth considering how approaches to inclusion. equality and other social issues might exist within graphic design education but might be treated separately to sustainability (hence the seeming environmental bias the authors discuss).

Similarly, it would be good to develop more criticality in the within the contextual review at the outset of the paper and the discussion of the implications for the research. For example, how graphic design is defined in relation to other disciplines might influence the emphasis given in design pedagogy. The perception of what the role of the designer is might determine what the responsibilities of the role are deemed to be. Might there be a need to engage pedagogically (perhaps with other disciplines) to help design students recognise how graphic design operates within a broader socio-economic system? What are the challenges to adopting the approach the authors advocate? 

The paper is sound and worth publishing. However, I encourage the authors to extend the criticality of the discussion to help encourage debate within our discipline and to extend the paper to consider how/why pedagogy practice might evolve or might be challenging to evolve.

Author Response

Please see attached with answers and new version of manuscript

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I had difficulty understanding the hypotheses. It would be good to provide some examples or be clear regarding directionality and differentiation between sustainability orientation and orientation to sustainability. One is about social sustainability, but it is not clear when they are described in the hypotheses section.

From reading the questionnaire provided at the end of the document it becomes clear this study documents the perception, exposure, and understanding of sustainability by graphic design students. This study did not provide any measure or evidence of how practice includes social sustainability issues and it did not review or surveyed professionals. This needs to be clarified early in the paper in order to avoid concluding this is an assessment of the actual graphic design practice. Similarly the study presents students' perception and understanding of their exposure to sustainability and social sustainability in their education. The study does not provide evidence or analyze curricula, activities, projects, or other verifiable sources of the delivery of sustainability concepts in the educational offer.

In parts 2 and 3 of the "instrument", questions ask if sustainability or social sustainability is part of their educational offer. There are no questions to verify or try to understand what the respondents mean when they talk about sustainability or social sustainability. This study assumes the students have a clear concept of these terms, which may not be easy to defend. I suggest a brief discussion of how the "instrument" was assembled. There is not enough of this in the body of the paper. 

 

Author Response

Please see attached with answers and new version of manuscript

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf