DESGN608 Contemporary Issues

Design History will expose students to an examination of how the histories of graphic design, industrial design, and architectural design intersect as symbiotic histories. For the purposes of this course, design will be defined beyond its objective constraints, and examined as a conceptual or productive process with political, economic, and ethical consequences. Students will investigate twentieth-century design through its modernist and postmodernist frames, including the places where the two have intersected. Course lectures will be supplemented by readings and seminars, introducing students to the various theoretical models (such as structuralism, Marxism, and feminism) that have influenced twentieth century design history.