There is an immediate need to clarify and develop the role of graphic design research for the theoretical underpinning of graphic design education. Prominent researchers have pointed the way to where graphic design research can be found ‘if you know where to look’. However, a report that accompanied the 2014 UK Research Excellence Framework (REF2014) described ‘the intellectual and theoretical underpinning of graphic and communication design’ as ‘generically weak’. We report on progress about a project designed to identify and map graphic design outputs from REF2014, involving both a data analysis of the ‘Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory’ submissions, and focus group research with graphic design academics about the state of research in the field. The aim has been to identify the research themes and types of outputs submitted by the graphic design community in the REF audit. In this paper, we present the first collective response to this state of affairs from a community of graphic design educators concerned about research into, through and for graphic design.