Prof. Rafael Lacruz-Rengel

• Semiotics of objects.

• Design Theory.

• Sociocultural aspects of design.

• November 2007- Advertising rhetoric and meaning construction in the design of  tooth-brushes. 5º Venezuelan Conference of Semiotics, Faculty of Science, University of Los Andes, Merida, Venezuela.

• October 2007- Data bases to “design” products: The last frontier of CAD software for industrial design, 2º Venezuelan Meeting on History and Design Studies, Faculty of Art, University of Los Andes, Merida, Venezuela.

• July 2007- Overcoming differences among subjects and objects: An alternative framework for the historical periodization of  industrial design,  3º  South American Conference of History, Faculty of Humanities, University of Los Andes, Merida, Venezuela

• June 2006- Industrial Design in the construction of the image of our everyday objects, 1º Festival of the Image, Metropolitan School of Art, Merida, Venezuela.

• December 2005- The role of paradigms in the understanding of the  epistemological roots of design, 1º Venezuelan Meeting on History and Design Studies, Center for Latin American Studies Rómulo Gallegos, Caracas, Venezuela.

• October 2005- Local representations and  imaginaries in the teaching of design objects: About the problem of reference, 4º Venezuelan Conference of Semiotics and  6º Latin American Conference of Semiotics, University of Zulia, Maracaibo, Venezuela.  

1. December 2008- “Research and modeling of mental processes in the synthesis of design proposals”PORTAFOLIO (Journal of the Faculty of Architecture & Design, University of Zulia, Venezuela ), Vol. 2, Nº 18, pp. 118 – 128. (Published in Spanish).
2. December 2006- “The role of paradigms in the epistemological understanding of design”, PORTAFOLIO (Journal of the Faculty of Architecture & Design, University of Zulia , Venezuela ), Vol. 2, Nº 14, pp. 32 – 43. (Published in Spanish).
3. July 2004- “Morphological and psychological aspects of tooth-brush design” (joined article with Juan Carlos Márquez), PORTAFOLIO (Journal of the Faculty of Architecture and Design, University of Zulia, Venezuela),    Vol. 1, Nº 9, pp. 16A - 24A (Published in Spanish).
4. October 2003 - “Obliteration versus re-semantization of references in electrical appliances”, VISIO (Journal of the International Association for Visual Semiotics), Vol. 8, Nº  3-4, Autumn-Winter, pp.  265 -  273 (Published in English).
5. November 2002- “Implications of technological development in the aesthetics of our everyday objects”, ESTÉTICA (Journal of Aesthetics published by   University of Los Andes, Venezuela), No.6, pp. 333 – 340 (Published in Spanish).
6. May 2001- “Demystifying the notion of Archetype in Design” EDIFICAR (Journal of Faculty of Architecture and Design, University of Los Andes, Venezuela), No. 8, pp. 8 – 15 (Published in Spanish).