ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2027

Pictorials

Call for submissions

Important Dates

Pictorials Abstract and TitleJanuary 11th, 2027
Pictorials SubmissionJanuary 18th, 2027
NotificationsMarch 19th, 2027
Camera-ReadyApril 28th, 2027
DIS 2027 ConferenceJune 28th – July 2nd, 2027
Deadlines specified as Anywhere on Earth time

What are Pictorials?

Pictorials are archival research publications with the same weight as full papers. This format first appeared in the proceedings of the ACM DIS2014 conference to honour and recognise particular ways of documenting knowledge that might not fit conventional output formats.

Pictorials are papers in which the visual components (e.g., diagrams, sketches, illustrations, renderings, photographs, annotated photographs, and collages) play a major role in conveying the ideas and contributions of a study, in addition to the accompanying text. Pictorials leverage the power of visual communication through effective use of visual language and high-quality images to convey practical or theoretical contributions, or balance both.

Pictorials published at DIS2027 are ACM archival publications and will be made available through the ACM in the Digital Library. As with the papers track, peer review will be double-blind and will be at the same level of contribution as technical program papers.

Pictorials are not:

  • Short papers: If the contribution is incipient in any way, your research will likely be much better received in the work-in-progress track.
  • Work in progress: Pictorials should offer a complete, well-articulated contribution in which the communication of knowledge benefits from designerly visual means.

Examples of Pictorials

The following are examples of well-formed Pictorials:

Getting started

In pictorials, visual components (e.g. diagrams, sketches, illustrations, renderings, photographs, annotated photographs, and collages) play a major role in conveying ideas and contributions, alongside the accompanying text. Pictorials are meant to contribute to knowledge in their own right, not merely to document already-known concepts, methods, and processes. Visual components can be contributions to design knowledge in and of themselves, as a form of making, but should be accompanied by a narrative that situates the work within the current research landscape.

Preparing a pictorial takes time and effort. Unlike papers, the process is not about formatting text at the end according to a template, but shaping the publication as a visual narrative from the start. To avoid the risk of falling into the paper track, we recommend starting early with the pictorial format rather than waiting until all the text is written.

Given the 12-page limit, pictorials cannot include the same level of detail as papers. Not all potentially relevant related work can be presented, empirical details will be somewhat limited, and only the insights most core to the contribution need to be reported. We therefore recommend choosing a clear focus and considering the following:

  • Contribution and scope. What is/are the key contribution(s)? Does the pictorial capture the essential aspects of the design research? If the narrative cannot be fully expressed within 12 pages, consider submitting to the traditional paper track instead — images and other pictorial elements can still be well presented there.
  • Images. Are all images essential and contributing to the narrative, or are some merely decorative? Do images and text work together, or do they repeat the same content?
  • Could annotations replace long explanations?
  • Text and references. Are images and text tightly interwoven? Which references are essential, and which can be omitted without weakening the contribution?
  • Rigour and methodology. Is the methodology communicated clearly through visuals and text? Can unnecessary detail be reduced without raising doubts about rigour?
  • Layout and narrative. Does the placement of images and text compose a coherent narrative? Could rearranging the layout reduce redundancy? Are typography, colour, and composition used to emphasise key points?

In a nutshell, a pictorial should tell a clear visual story, with all visual and textual elements (images, colours, typography, layout, and words) working together to communicate it effectively.

Checklist:

  • Does the work require a pictorial format, or would it benefit from a traditional paper submission?
  • Is the contribution original and complete? If not, consider a WIP submission instead.
  • Are images/diagrams emphasised over text as the primary means of communicating the
  • research contribution, and do they play a meaningful rather than merely decorative role?
  • Are the implications for the DIS research community clear?
  • Does the placement of images and text compose a coherent narrative?

Preparing Your Pictorial

Pictorials must be submitted using the DIS Pictorials templates (below) and not exceed 12 pages, excluding references. On the first page of the submission please follow the template’s parts (but not necessarily the format, see above) and include the submission’s title, author(s) and their affiliation(s) (leave blank for dual anonymous review), and a written abstract of no more than 150 words succinctly describing the background and context of the pictorial as well as its contribution to the DIS community. It is encouraged to use the format creatively, including the first page. While the template’s first page contains only text, it is encouraged to add visuals and use the space creatively, as you would on the remaining pages. It is allowed to change the title’s font and position. Further written parts known from other conference formats (such as Introduction, Conclusion, Discussion, Acknowledgements, and References) are optional. The main part of the submission should be an annotated visual composition.

Templates

  • DIS2027 Pictorials InDesign Template
  • DIS2027 Pictorials Word Template
  • DIS2027 Pictorials Powerpoint Template
    (coming autumn 2026)

We strongly advise you to use the InDesign template to compose your Pictorial. If you do not have access to InDesign, please use the Word or PowerPoint templates. Accessibility – directly from InDesign or PowerPoint Pictorial authors using InDesign, read this guide [ https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/creating-accessible-pdfs.html ] to add alt text using InDesign and to generate an accessible PDF from InDesign. Follow these accessibility instructions [https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-accessible-pdfs-064625e0-56ea-4e16-ad71-3aa33bb4b7ed ] if you created your pictorial in PowerPoint. They are similar to creating accessible PDFs from Word by instructing users to run the accessibility checker and fix errors in the source file (e.g., PowerPoint), and generating the PDF.Consider this review [https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643834.3660747 ] of alt-text patterns in Pictorials for further guidance.

Submitting your Pictorial

Please submit Pictorials through the Precision Conference Submission Portal: https://new.precisionconference.com/submissions

DIS 2027 Pictorials has two submission deadlines. The first deadline, January 11th, 2027, requires you to submit a title, an abstract of less than 150 words, and metadata, including authors and keywords for your pictorial. This is absolutely necessary to submit your full pictorial on the 18th. The second deadline, January 18th, 2027, is for the final version of your pictorial.

Then, you will be able to update your previously submitted title and abstract. However, you cannot submit a full pictorial on the 18th without having submitted the title/abstract on the 11th.

Please ensure that you and your co-authors obtain an ORCID, so you can complete the publishing process for your accepted paper. ACM has been involved with ORCID since the start, and we have recently committed to collecting ORCIDs from all our published authors. We are committed to improving author discoverability, ensuring proper attribution and contributing to ongoing community efforts around name normalisation; your ORCID will help in these efforts.

PCS allows file sizes up to about 150 MB, but we suggest keeping reviewers in mind and experimenting with a lower resolution to make the submission considerably smaller.

Policies

By submitting your article to an ACM Publication, you are hereby acknowledging that you and your co-authors are subject to all ACM Publications Policies [https://www.acm.org/publications/policies ]. Alleged violations of this policy or any ACM Publications Policy will be investigated by ACM and may result in a full retraction of your paper, in addition to other potential penalties, as per ACM Publications Policy.

Anonymization Policy

All pictorials must be anonymised for review. Author and affiliation sections and credits must be left blank. Authors of accepted submissions will add this information in preparation for the “camera-ready” version.

We are using the ACM CHI Anonymisation Policy for reviewing. But we use a relaxed model: Authors are expected to remove author and institutional identities from the title and header areas of the pictorial, as noted in the submission instructions (Note: changing the text colour of the author information is not sufficient). Make sure that no description that can easily reveal authors’ names and/or affiliations is included in the submission (e.g., too detailed descriptions of where user studies were conducted). Authors should also remove any information in the acknowledgements section that reveals authors or the institution (e.g., specific supporting grant information). Also, please make sure that identifying information does not appear in the document’s metadata (e.g., the ‘Authors’ field in your word processor’s ‘Save As’ dialogue box).In addition, we require that the acknowledgments section be left blank, as it could also easily identify the authors and/or their institution.

Please note that images need to be anonymised for review, for example, by blurring or covering parts that could reveal authors’ or institutions’ identities (e.g., faces, logos).

Further suppression of identity in the body of the pictorial is left to the authors’ discretion.

When citations to previous work is key to the contribution, authors can include some details of their published work with references anonymised. When possible, authors should cite their own work in the third person, e.g., avoid “As described in our previous work [10], …” and use instead “As described by Jones et al. [10], …”

To ensure the fairness of the review process, DIS uses dual-anonymous reviews, in which external reviewers don’t know the authors’ identities and authors don’t know the reviewers’ identities. In the past few years, some authors have chosen to publish their DIS submissions in public archives prior to or during the review process. These public archives have surpassed in reach and publicity what used to happen with tech reports published in institutional repositories.

The consequence is that well-informed external reviewers may know, without searching, the full identity and institutional affiliation of the authors of a submission they are reviewing. While reviewers should not actively seek information about author identity, complete anonymisation is difficult and can be further hindered by the publication and promotion of work during the DIS review process. While publication in public archives is becoming standard across many fields, authors should be aware that unconscious biases can affect the nature of reviews when identities are known. DIS does not discourage non-archival publication of work prior to or during the review process, but recognises that complete anonymisation becomes more difficult in that context.

Policy on Use of Large Language Models

Text generated from a large-scale language model (LLM), such as ChatGPT, must be clearly marked where such tools are used for purposes beyond editing the author’s own text. Please carefully review the ACM Policy on Authorship (updated September 16, 2025) before you use these tools. The SIGCHI blog post describes approaches to acknowledging the use of such tools, and we refer to it for guidance. While we do not anticipate using tools on a large scale to detect LLM-generated text, we will investigate submissions brought to our attention and desk-reject papers where LLM use is not clearly marked.

Policy on Research Involving Human Participants and Subjects

Any research in submitted manuscripts that involves human subjects must comply with the ethics review requirements applicable to the authors’ research environment. As research environments vary considerably in their requirements, authors are asked to submit a short note to reviewers that provides this context. Please also see the 2021 ACM Publications policy on research involving humans [https://www.acm.org/publications/policies/research-involving-human-participants-and-subjects ] before submitting.

In DIS 2027, Pictorials undergo a rigorous double-blind peer-review process similar to that for Full Papers. The review process is managed by the Pictorials Chairs and the Pictorials Associate Chairs (ACs). Confidentiality of submissions is maintained throughout the review process.

Acceptance Rate, Relation to Other Submissions, and Copyrighted Materials Pictorials are expected to be original work created specifically for the Pictorials track. Expect the track to be competitive and submit your best work. Expect an acceptance rate of around 25%.

Please do not submit work you have submitted elsewhere with a few images added. Doing so may violate dual submission rules. You may submit previously published work to which you have added significant visual content, provided only that such work is clearly and prominently attributed as such in a footnote to the title with a clear description of what the Pictorial uniquely contributes or adds to the previous work. In this last case, at least 30% of the material must be new, per ACM rules.

You must be the author and copyright holder of all materials you submit, particularly all visual materials. Submitted work must comply with ACM policies, which state that you must be the owner of your images and/or obtain written approvals for included third-party materials. If authors are using third-party images as a key source for their pictorials, they should note in their submission to reviewers their plans for obtaining copyright.

Upon Acceptance of Your Pictorial

Authors will be notified of conditional acceptance or rejection of their Pictorial on or before the notification date of March 19th, 2027. Meta reviews will describe any further changes that the authors are expected to make to the Pictorial prior to its publication. These should be made as part of a “camera ready submission” into PCS by the deadline of April 28, 2027. Final changes will be checked by members of the program committee prior to making a final acceptance of the Pictorial. If authors are unable to meet the requirements for changes, the program chairs will be notified and may reject the Pictorial.

All accepted submissions require a signed form assigning copyright or licence to the ACM, or an upfront fee to ACM to enable Open Access. Responsibility for obtaining permissions to use video, audio, or pictures of identifiable people or proprietary content rests with the author, not the ACM or the DIS conference.

Additionally, each accepted submission requires payment of the full conference registration fee, unless the person presenting the Pictorial is a first-author student, in which case a student registration fee must be paid.All published Pictorials will appear online in the ACM Digital Library and be distributed digitally to conference delegates as part of the conference proceedings.

At the conference, authors of accepted Pictorials must present their Pictorials and answer questions from the audience. Presenters of Papers and Pictorials will have a presentation slot of approximately 20 minutes, though this may be altered prior to the conference based on scheduling needs. Pictorials whose authors are not at the conference or in its hybrid version to present may be removed from the ACM Digital Library and the conference proceedings.

DIS 2027 Pictorial Program Committee

  • Mafalda Gamboa, Chalmers Institute of Technology, Sweden.
  • Iohanna Nicenboim, Interdisciplinary Transformation University, Austria; Delft University of Technology, Netherlands.
  • Claudia Núñez-Pacheco, Malmö University, Sweden.

pictorials@dis2026.acm.org

Associate Chairs

To be announced