Did that design work? It's an evaluation question yet there appears to be little evaluative graphic design research to answer it. None of the 40 research methods covered in Brenda Laurel's book Design Research Methods and Perspectives described evaluative methods (Laurel, 2003). Yet designers should know, and clients will eventually demand to know, did that design work? This paper reports on methods used for two related evaluative design research studies conducted at the University of

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... . While the results of the studies were often definitive, the research methods were not. In response to issues uncovered during the execution of the research protocols, an additional study was conducted to explore not the subject of the original research, but the research methods used for it. The methodology of those studies is discussed here as a means of advancing evaluative research methods for graphic design, and improving the quality of design work.