Publications
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2025
Designing with Abstractions: CSS and the Case of Masonry Layouts
Design, Arts, Medias, « Design et abstractions »
Julie Blanc (2025). « Designing with Abstractions: CSS and the Case of Masonry Layouts ». Design, Arts, Medias, « Design et abstractions ».
This article examines debates surrounding CSS Masonry layout integration, analysing how 'abstraction is collectively negotiated' within W3C standardisation processes. The study treats CSS both as a formal system and design object, shaped by technical, conceptual, and interface-centred considerations among browser vendors, engineers, and the design community.
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2025
Research ‹through› and ‹for› design: a cross-interview on three design research PhDs
Sciences du Design, n° 20(2)
Julie Blanc, Marion Voillot, Élise Rigot (2025). « Research ‹through› and ‹for› design: a cross-interview on three design research PhDs ». Sciences du Design, n° 20(2).
This article takes the form of a cross-interview about the situated experience of three design researchers who recently defended their doctoral theses in different institutional structures and disciplinary cultures (ergonomics, cognitive sciences, and design). This contribution is an opportunity to question what it means for design practitioners to engage in an academic research process. It offers an experiential perspective for the broader design research community, and in particular for future doctoral candidates and their supervisors. To address these questions, the interview is divided into four parts: (1) methodology, (2) the place of practice, (3) interdisciplinarity, and (4) the reception of the thesis. In the discussion and conclusion, the authors analyse the points of convergence and divergence in their research approaches.
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2024
Collaborating at scale in graphic design communities of practice
Our Collaborative Tools
Julie Blanc (2024). « Collaborating at scale in graphic design communities of practice ». Our Collaborative Tools.
How do communities of practice in graphic design organize large-scale collaboration, particularly around open source projects like Paged.js and PrePostPrint?
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2023
Composing with web technologies: instrumental genesis and collective learning
TransFormations – Recherches en Éducation et Formation des Adultes, n° 25
Julie Blanc, Anne Bationo-Tillon (2023). « Composing with web technologies: instrumental genesis and collective learning ». TransFormations – Recherches en Éducation et Formation des Adultes, n° 25.
This article explores how graphic designers collectively appropriate web technologies in the editorial field, through the notion of instrumental genesis and communities of practice.
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2022
If Jan Tschichold had known CSS: a plea for layout as a program
Design Arts Médias, « Systèmes : logiques, graphies, matérialités »
Julie Blanc (2022). « If Jan Tschichold had known CSS: a plea for layout as a program ». Design Arts Médias, « Systèmes : logiques, graphies, matérialités ».
Drawing on Jan Tschichold's typographic principles, this article argues for conceiving layout as a program: a system of rules formalizable in CSS that articulates editorial constraints and design gestures.
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2022
Code 〈–〉 Graphic Design. Ten years of relationship
Graphisme en France, n° 28
Julie Blanc, Nolwenn Maudet (2022). « Code 〈–〉 Graphic Design. Ten years of relationship ». Graphisme en France, n° 28.
A look back at ten years of graphic designers who code: how code has transformed graphic design practice, and what relationships are established between digital tools and creation.
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2018
Technologies of digital publishing
Sciences du Design, n° 8, pp. 11–17
Julie Blanc, Lucile Haute (2018). « Technologies of digital publishing ». Sciences du Design, n° 8, pp. 11–17.
Introduction to the thematic issue on digital publishing technologies: an overview of the technical, aesthetic and economic issues that run through contemporary digital publishing practices.
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2018
Publishing design research: (out-)of-norms, (counter-)formats, (anti-)standards
Réel | Virtuel, n° 6 « Les normes du numérique »
Julie Blanc, Lucile Haute (2018). « Publishing design research: (out-)of-norms, (counter-)formats, (anti-)standards ». Réel | Virtuel, n° 6 « Les normes du numérique ».
This article questions the norms that govern academic publishing in design: what formats, what standards, what editorial constraints — and how some design publishing practices seek to circumvent or reinvent them.
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2017
Web standards and academic publishing
Code X – 01 : PrePostPrint, HYX
Julie Blanc, Lucile Haute (2017). « Web standards and academic publishing ». Code X – 01 : PrePostPrint, HYX.
Reflection on the adoption of web standards (HTML, CSS) in the context of academic publishing and what these tools enable in terms of accessibility, longevity and editorial forms.