AbstractThis dialogue is part of a cross‐platform collaboration with Visible Language, the oldest peer‐reviewed design journal. Animated by questions about visual methods, genre, form, and analysis—how they differ or converge between design and anthropology, what each field has to offer the other—it contextualizes current issues in academic journal publishing from the perspective of visual studies, social science, and design, fields that do not drive contemporary transformations in journal publishing. It considers the academic journal as a form, editorial labor and politics, reaching audiences beyond the paywall, and measuring the value of scholarship, journals, and visual research.