| Summary: | The importance of other modes of expression and representation in the interaction than the “verbal” has been recognised in the field of cognitive design research. With few exceptions, however, the only “nonverbal” modality studied has been graphic, gesture having received little attention.Our long term goal is to determine the contribution of each of the different semiotic systems that people working on a task adopt in their interaction (especially, speech, graphic, and gestural modalities). Here, we focus on gesture in collaborative design. We analysed an architectural design meeting.Our research led us to consider design as the construction of representations. In our previous studies of collaborative design, we distinguished representational and organisational activities. These studies were, however, based primarily on the verbal.In the analysis presented here, we observed that gesture also has these two uses. It contributes to the construction of representations of the artefact and to the organisation of design activities and of interaction among participants.For a number of authors in the field of gesture research, speech and gesture are an integrated system. Our analysis confirms that gestures are mainly co-verbal.In conclusion, we discuss the results with respect to possible implications for different collaborative work situations and to their contribution to gesture studies and to cognitive design research.
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