Jacquie Naismith

Jacquie Naismith

Senior lecturer, Ngā Pae Māhutonga Wellington School of Design

Jacquie Naismith is a design theorist, writer and maker. She engages in interdisciplinary design research with a particular focus on design as agent of social and technological innovation and change. Her current research focuses on the social role of design in the formation of recreational places. Her concern is with the symbolic relationships between the visual representation of places, their built and natural environments, and the meaning of leisure places for those who use them.

Jacquie Naismith primarily teaches into the Postgraduate Diploma of Design, the Master of Design and critical and contextual studies. 

  • Expertise

    Design theory (social semiotics and phenomenology); architecture and design histories; the mediation and consumption of design; urban and recreational place formation; public and private space; design and subjectivity (with a focus on gender and class) design research methodologies; postgraduate supervision.

  • Research Highlights

    Naismith JJ, O'Sullivan A. Wild, Cultivated and Cooked: metaphor and essence in letterpress practice, in Intersections and Counterpoints (Morgan, L (ed) Monash Art and Design Series, Monash University 2013

    Naismith, J.J. ‘Learning from close analysis: understanding visual communication design as a social semiotic practice’, paper presented at the 1st International Conference of Visual Communication and Semiotics: From theory to practice, Lemesos, Cyprus, 25 Nov 2011 - 27 Nov 2011

    Naismith J.J. O'Sullivan A. Letter-space: Typographic translations of urban space, Typographic Translations of Urban Place30(1):133-143 2011

    Naismith, J.J. ‘A world in miniature: travel networks and the mediation of New Zealand as a holiday destination in the 1950s’, paper presented at the Annual International Design History Society Conference, University College Falmouth, Tremough Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, 03 Sep 2008 - 06 Sep 2008.

  • Qualifications

    Diploma of Teaching (Auckland)
    BA (University of Auckland)
    MA (Distinction) (Victoria University Wellington)
    PhD (Massey University)

  • Professional Affiliations

    Design Research Society
    International Association for Research in Architectural Humanities
    Design Studies Forum
    Designers Institute New Zealand (DINZ)