Designing Dialogues: Visual Integrity and the Negotiation of Authorship

Lisa Winstanley, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

Situated within ongoing debates on visual authorship, authority, and authenticity, this participatory inquiry examines how art and design educators navigate and articulate visual integrity in the age of Generative-AI. A central question guiding the study asks what constitutes reasonable use of Generative-AI in art and design. The research is structured through participatory design workshops with higher education faculty across five countries (Four Asia-Pacific). Moving beyond authorship as an individual attribute, the workshops explore, through dialogic co-reflection, how influence, ownership, and visual integrity are understood and negotiated in arts education and practice. Through visual prompts, GEN-AI ethics activities, system mapping, and scenario-based discussions, participants interrogate how visual integrity is recognised across pedagogical and professional contexts.

Across all workshops, participants expressed critical attitudes towards GEN-AI, articulating discomfort with its implications for authorship, labour, and creative value. However, this resistance was tempered by pragmatic recognition of AI’s inevitability and rather than advocating prohibition, educators emphasised critical judgement, intentionality, and reflexivity. Another recurring theme was the perceived lack of institutional support, with participants describing uncertainty around teaching and assessing AI-mediated work. While shared ethical concerns were evident, significant disagreement emerged regarding what constitutes visual plagiarism across educational and professional contexts.

These interim findings suggest that educators share ethical anxieties but lack shared conceptual frameworks for navigating visual integrity. The study argues that the central shift is epistemic: visual integrity is moving from individual authorship towards process transparency, intent, and accountability, positioning participatory dialogue as a methodological strategy for developing models of ethical creative practice.

Lisa Winstanley is an Associate Professor and Associate Chair of Research at the School of Art, Design & Media at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. With over 20 years’ experience in commercial creative practice and more than a decade of international research and teaching, Lisa leads studies on ethical design practices and visual literacy. She is the founder of the Design Ethics and Visual Integrity Research Lab (DEVIL), where her scholarly work explores visual plagiarism, interdisciplinary social responsibility, and ethical collaboration. Her creative practice has garnered over 80 international awards and has been exhibited in 30 countries.