A critical review of design history: From the individual artist to the social agent

Abstract

Our vision of the future depends on the one we have about the past. In this paper, the prevailing stances in the study of design history are analysed to clarify their influence on the shaping of our concept about design: what it is and could be. The traditional thread in the study of design history has its roots in Pevsner’s work, who purports a vision of design as heir to the architectural tradition, and in Geidion’s texts, that emphasize the notion of technological evolution. As a result, the vision of design that is taught (therefore directing most of our professional practice) favours the notion of this profession as “art” and the figure of individual designers as cultural heroes, leaving out other postures that could be more akin to our needs and possibilities. Therefore a critical reflection about design history is fundamental in order to imagine different futures and other models of professional practice. From this analysis, the proposal to explore other perspectives than those of the dominant approaches emerges, in order to stimulate the required reflection that could help formulate innovative scenarios and thus shape future products and services.

Keywords: Design history, Art history, Design education.