Design history

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Contents 1 Definition 2 Design History as a component of British practice-based courses 2.1 Debates over the merits of different approaches to teaching design history on practice-based courses 3 Courses in Design History 4 Articles 5 References

[edit] Definition

Design history is the study of objects of design in their historical and stylistic contexts.

[edit] Design History as a component of British practice-based courses

Design history also exists as a component of many practice-based courses (i.e. BA (Hons) in Graphic Design, BA (Hons) in Fashion). Recent years have seen this aspect of design history developing as a discipline in its own right, something that has proved to be controversial within the field.

The teaching and study of design history within art and design programmes in Britain is one of the results of the National Advisory Council on Art Education in the 1960s. Among its aims was making art and design education a legitimate academic activity, to which ends an historical perspective was introduced. This necessitated the employment or ‘buying in’ of specialists from art history disciplines, leading to a particular style of delivery: “Art historians taught in the only way that art historians knew how to teach; they switched off the lights, turned on the slide projector, showed slides of art and design objects, discussed and evaluated them and asked (art and design) students to write essays – according to the scholarly conventions of academia” ^[1]. This use of techniques and staff from one discipline to teach students from another has largely continued unchanged to this day.

The most obvious effect of the traditional approach to history is that students see it as a timeline, and design is seen as a sequence in which X begat Y and Y begat Z. This has pedagogical implications in that the realisation that assessment requires a fact-based regurgitation of received knowledge leads students to ignore discussions of the situations surrounding a design’s creation and reception and to focus instead on simple facts such as who designed what and when.

This ‘heroic/aesthetic’ view – the idea that there are a few great designers who should be studied and revered unquestioningly – arguably instils an unrealistic view of the profession. This is something that is not helped by media representations of the industry, or by the industry itself, which tends to promote the idea of a few key ‘artists’ in an attempt to gain both social and academic legitimacy. This is most commonly seen in the earliest stages of a student’s development in the adoption of a ‘favourite’ designer ready for the inevitable university entrance interview question.

Ironically, although the design industry has been complicit in promoting the heroic view of history, the establishment by the UK government of Creative & Cultural Skills has led to calls for design courses to be made less 'academic' and more attuned to the 'needs' of the industry. Design history, as a component of design courses, is under increasing threat in the UK at least and it has been argued that its survival depends on an increased focus on the study of the processes and effects of design rather than the lives of designers themselves.

Ultimately it appears that design history for practice-based courses is rapidly becoming a branch of social and cultural studies, leaving behind its art history roots. This has led to a great deal of debate as the two approaches forge distinct pedagogical approaches and philosophies.

[edit] Debates over the merits of different approaches to teaching design history on practice-based courses

The debate over the best way to approach the teaching of design history to practice-based students is often heated, but it is notable that the biggest push to adopt a 'realistic' approach (i.e. non-hero-based, analysing the production and consumption of design that would otherwise be viewed as ephemeral) comes from teachers delivering these programmes, while critics are predominantly those who teach 'pure' design history courses.

The biggest criticism of the 'realistic' approach appears to be that it imposes anonymity on designers, while the counter argument is that the vast majority of designers are anonymous, and that it is the uses and users of design that are more important. The research literature suggests that, contrary to critics' predictions of the death of design history, this realistic approach is beneficial. Baldwin and McLean at the University of Brighton (now at the University of Dundee and Edinburgh College of Art respectively) reported attendance figures for courses using this model rising dramatically^[2], and improved interest in the subject, as did Raein at Central St. Martin's. This compares with the often-reported low attendance and low grades of practice-based students facing the 'death by slideshow' model.

[edit] Courses in Design History

MA History of Design at the Royal College of Art and the Victoria & Albert Museum

BA History of Art, Design and Film at Kingston University London

MA History of Art and Design at Kingston University London

BA History of Design, Culture and Society at University of Brighton

MA History of Design and Material Culture at University of Brighton

PgDip/MA 20th Century Art & Design: Histories & Theories at University College Falmouth

[edit] Articles

• A. Forty. 'Design History: A Politique and a Pedagogy.' Architectural Association. Vol. 5, No. 4. Oct/Dec 1973. p. 48-9.

• J. Blake. 'The Context of Design History.' Design History: Fad or Function. London: Design Council, 1978. p. 56-9.

• C. Dilnot. 'The State of Design History: Part One, Mapping the Field.' Design Issues. Vol. 1, No. 1. Spring 1984. p.4-23.

• C. Dilnot. 'The State of Design History: Part Two, Mapping the Field.' Design Issues. Vol. 1, No. 2. Fall 1984. p.3-20.

• J. Attfield. 'Defining the object and the subject.' Times Higher Education Supplement. No. 1. Feb 1985. p.26.

[edit] References