This revised and updated edition addresses the international history and practice of design from the 17th century to the present day. Covering both primary texts by social theorists, designers and design reformers, and secondary texts in the form of key works of design history and design thinking, the Reader provides an essential resource for understanding the history of design, the development of the discipline, and contemporary issues in design history and practice, including decolonization, sustainability, historiography, gender and globalization. Extracts are grouped into thematic sections, each with a contextualizing introduction by the editors, and a guide to further reading. The updated edition of The Design History Reader expands upon its original content and features numerous significant voices from across the globe. Authors include William Morris, Karl Marx, Roland Barthes, Victor Margolin, Penny Sparke, Judy Attfield, Ellen Lupton, and many more.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Preface to the Second Edition Acknowledgements General Introduction, Grace Lees-Maffei Part One: Histories Introduction to Part One SECTION 1: NEW DESIGNERS 1676-1820 Introduction 1. An Indian Basket, Providence, Rhode Island, 1676, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich 2. A Slipware Dish by Samuel Malkin: An Analysis of Vernacular Design, Darron Dean 3. Of The Division of Labour, from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith 4. The Wedgwood Slave Medallion: Values in Eighteenth-century Design, Mary Guyatt 5. Manufacturing, Consumption and Design in Eighteenth-century England, John Styles Guide to Further Reading for Section 1 SECTION 2: DESIGN REFORM 1820-1910 Introduction 6. Science, Industry, and Art, Gottfried Semper 7. The Nature of Gothic, John Ruskin 8. The Ideal Book, William Morris 9. The ‘American System’ and Mass-Production, from Industrial Design, John Heskett 10. The 1900 Paris Exposition, from Art Nouveau in Fin-de-Siècle France, Debora Silverman 11. The Art and Craft of the Machine, Frank Lloyd Wright Guide to Further Reading for Section 2 SECTION 3: MODERNISMS 1908-1950 Introduction 12. Introduction to Modernism in Design, Paul Greenhalgh 13. Ornament and Crime, Adolf Loos 14. Werkbund Theses and Antitheses, Hermann Muthesius and Henry van de Velde 15. The Modern Movement before Nineteen-fourteen, from Pioneers of Modern Design, Nikolaus Pevsner 16. From Workshop to Laboratory, from The Bauhaus Reassessed, Gillian Naylor 17. Ambiguously Modern: Art Deco in Latin America, Rafael Cardoso 18. The Search for an American Design Aesthetic: from Art Deco to Streamlining, Nicolas P. Maffei Guide to Further Reading for Section 3 SECTION 4: WAR, RECOVERY, AND DECOLONIZATION 1943-1970 Introduction 19. Gandhi and Khadi, the Fabric of Indian Independence, Susan S. Bean 20. Progress through Prosthetics, Bess Williamson 21. ‘Here Is the Modern World Itself’: The Festival of Britain’s Representations of the Future Becky Conekin 22. Isotype in Africa: Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, and the Western Region of Nigeria, 1952-8, Eric Kindel 23. The Khrushchev Kitchen: Domesticating the Scientific-Technological Revolution Susan E. Reid 24. All That Glitters is Not Stainless, Peter Reyner Banham Guide to Further Reading for Section 4 SECTION 5: POSTMODERNISMS 1967-2006 Introduction 25. A Significance for A & P Parking Lots, or Learning from Las Vegas, from Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form, Robert Venturi, Denise Scott-Brown and Steven Izenour 26. The Ecstasy of Communication, Jean Baudrillard 27. There is No Kitsch, There is Only Design! Gert Selle 28. Deconstruction and Graphic Design: History Meets Theory, Ellen Lupton and J. Abbott Miller 29. What was Philippe Starck thinking of? Peter Lloyd and Dirk Snelders 30. Fabricating Identities: Survival and the Imagination in Jamaican Dancehall Culture, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf Guide to Further Reading for Section 5 SECTION 6: SUSTAINABLE DESIGN 1960-2020 Introduction 31. Spaceship Earth, from Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, R. Buckminster Fuller 32. Do-It-Yourself Murder: the Social and Moral Responsibility of the Designer, from Design for the Real World, Victor Papanek 33. The Hannover Principles. Design for Sustainability, William McDonough and Michael Braungart 34. Material Doubts and Plastic Fallout, from American Plastic, Jeffrey L. Meikle 35. Redefining Rubbish: Commodity Disposal and Sourcing, from Second-Hand Cultures, Nicky Gregson and Louise Crewe 36. Green Marketing on the Go: A Cup of Coffee Opening Up Vistas on a Train Journey, Karin Wagner 37. Environmental Histories of Design: Towards a New Research Agenda, Kjetil Fallan and Finn Arne Jørgensen Guide to Further Reading for Section 6 Part Two: Methods and Themes Introduction to Part Two SECTION 7: FOUNDATIONS, DEBATES, HISTORIOGRAPHY, 1980-1995 Introduction 38. Taking Stock in Design History, Fran Hannah and Tim Putnam 39. The State of Design History, Part I: Mapping the Field, Clive Dilnot 40. Design History and the History of Design, John A. Walker 41. Design History or Design Studies: Subject Matter and Methods, Victor Margolin 42. Resisting Colonization: Design History Has Its Own Identity, Jonathan M. Woodham Guide to Further Reading for Section 7 SECTION 8: MODES OF PRODUCTION Introduction 43. Faith, Form and Finish: Shaker Furniture in Context, Jean M. Burks 44. How the Refrigerator Got Its Hum, Ruth Schwartz Cowan 45. ‘Mass Customization’ and ‘Flexible/Agile Manufacturing’, from Designing Things: A Critical Introduction to the Culture of Objects, Prasad Boradkar 46. Imagined Machines, from Delete: A Design History of Computer Vapourware, Paul Atkinson. 47. Susan Kare: Design Icon, Eric S. Hintz 48. DS Touch Screen Goddess, from New Mythologies in Design and Culture: Reading Signs and Symbols in the Visual Landscape, Rebecca Houze Guide to Further Reading for Section 8 SECTION 9: PRACTICES OF CONSUMPTION Introduction 49. The Fetishism of the Commodity and its Secret, from Capital. A Critique of Political Economy, Karl Marx 50. Conspicuous Consumption, from The Theory of the Leisure Class, Thorstein Veblen 51. Myth Today and The New Citroën, from Mythologies, Roland Barthes 52. Introduction and The Sense of Distinction, from Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, Pierre Bourdieu 53. ‘Parties Are the Answer’: The Ascent of the Tupperware Party, Alison Clarke 54. The Revolution Will Be Marketed: American Corporations and Black Consumers during the 1960s, Robert E. Weems, Jr. 55. Object as Image: The Italian Scooter Cycle, Dick Hebdige 56. Integrative Practice: Oral History, Dress and Disability Studies, Liz Linthicum Guide to Further Reading for Section 9 SECTION 10: CHANNELS OF MEDIATION Introduction 57. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Walter Benjamin 58. Advertising, Mother of Graphic Design, Steven Heller 59. ‘Decorators May Be Compared to Doctors’ An Analysis of Rhoda and Agnes Garrett’s Suggestions For House Decoration In Painting, Woodwork And Furniture (1876), Emma Ferry 60. The Production-Consumption-Mediation Paradigm, Grace Lees-Maffei 61. A Design for the Real World? (1968-1974), from Designing Disability: Symbols, Space, and Society, Elizabeth Guffey Guide to Further Reading for Section 10 SECTION 11: NEGOTIATING GENDER, SEXUALITY AND DESIGN Introduction 62. FORM/female FOLLOWS FUNCTION/male: Feminist Critiques of Design, Judy Attfield 63. The Architect’s Wife, Introduction to As Long As Its Pink, Penny Sparke 64. Self-Made Motormen: The Material Construction of Working-class Masculine Identities through Car Modification, Andrew Bengry-Howell and Christine Griffin 65. Screening Sexuality: Eileen Gray and Romaine Brooks, from Eileen Gray and the Design of Sapphic Modernity, Jasmine Rault 66. ‘The Pink Elephant in the Room: What Ever Happened to Queer Theory in the Study of Interior Design 25 Years on?’ John Potvin Guide to Further Reading for Section 11 SECTION 12: LOCAL/REGIONAL/NATIONAL/GLOBAL: DECOLONIZING DESIGN Introduction 67. Towards Global Design History, Sarah Teasley, Giorgio Riello, and Glenn Adamson 68. Furniture Design and Colonialism: Negotiating Relationships between Britain and Australia, 1880-1901, Tracey Avery 69. “From Baby’s First Bath:” Kao Soap and Modern Japanese Commercial Design, Gennifer Weisenfeld 70. Land Rover and Colonial-Style Adventure, Jeanne Van Eeden 71. Swoosh Identity: Recontextualizations in Haiti and Romania, Paul B. Bick and Sorina Chiper72. Charles and Ray Eames in India, Saloni Mathur 73. The Decolonized Quadruple Bottom Line: A Framework for Developing Indigenous Innovation, Fonda Walters and John Takamura 74. ‘The Portable Flush Toilet: From Camping Accessory to Protest Totem’, Nadine Botha. Guide to Further Reading for Section 12 Bibliography Index