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This paper outlines a research project focused on the design of academic journals across print and digital environments. We approach this endeavor through user-centered and evidence-based research of graphic design, material culture, and visual rhetoric. By examining the traditions of journal publishing, we consider the origins of these conventions and speculate on how new forms of scholarly research will require new forms of publication. The paper concludes with an inventory of our current design research activities. These are aimed at understanding and challenging the relationship between design and prestige in academic journals, and the conventions of academic culture in general.