A language of one’s own: annotations and layering as design material

As designers, we often use annotations to add information and reflection to our work. We would like to suggest that these annotations let personal design languages emerge. We experiment with the materiality of the pictorial format itself to show how such languages emerge from a particular body of work, as it travels from sketches, text, and various material artefacts. This emergent language uses annotations and layers as design materials, providing access to the nuances in the thinking behind our research and making processes. Through this language, the voice of the maker emerges revealing subjective and situated knowledges that would not be available otherwise. We reflect on these insights and share a set of strategies using annotations and layerings for others to use. As a result, we contribute an approach of annotations and layering to engage complexity when making, reflecting, and disseminating design research.