[UPDATED SEPT 2018]
Let’s talk history, more specific history of design. Many of us work in the creative field but rarely do we spend a moment to think about how it all evolved into what we call design industry today. While knowing design’s past it’s also important to understand what design actually is.
But what is the History of Design?
Simply put, it is the study of objects of design in their historical and stylistic contexts.
With a broad definition, the contexts of design history include the social, the cultural, the economic, the political, the technical and the aesthetic. History of design has as its objects of study all designed objects including those of fashion, crafts, interiors, textiles, graphic design, industrial design and product design.
You can find many online resources about the history of design, as well as design history timeline with all the various periods of design on the internet. Therefore I will focus on a video series put together by Open University for their Design in a Nutshell project which includes six videos from Gothic Revival to Postmodernism.
Yes, it is NOT graphic or web design but very much the foundation of what shaped the before-mentioned disciplines of design. Watch the videos below and see for yourself what really influences your own design style.
1. Gothic Revival
2. Arts and Crafts
3. Bauhaus
4. Modernism
5. American Industrial Design
6. Postmodernism
After gaining a better understanding of the history & styles of design, in my next article I will take a in-depth look at the History of Graphic & Web Design.
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