The Story of design

Physical dimension

Summary / review / table of contents

The early origins of design :
The prehistoric tools of the Three Ages ;
The ancient world and the birth of mass production ;
China's new emperor and the power of mass production –

Design and craftsmanship from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century :
Medieval inventions and the guild system ;
Renaissance men: the design thinker, the printer, and the goldsmith ;
Functional wares and basic tools ;
The high styles of the eighteenth century: from Chippendale to Adam –

The age of reason and the Industrial Revolution :
The Enlightenment and Neoclassicism ;
William Hogarth and The analysis of beauty ;
Steam power and the engines of change ;
Improved materials and precision tooling ;
The Portsmouth Block Mills ;
Coalbrookdale and Wedgwood ;
Biedermeier and Michael Thonet –

Armory practice and a new system of rationalized production :
Eli Whitney, standardization, and interchangeability ;
The Springfield Armory and the American Civil War ;
Samuel Colt and the art of marketing ;
The American system, from sewing machines to bicycles –

The new Industrial Age and the Great Exhibition :
An exhibition of all nations ;
Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace ;
The High Victorian style and dishonest design –

The winds of reform :
A.W.N. Pugin and the Gothic Revival ;
Pre-Raphaelitism and the decorative arts ;
William Morris and the birth of the Arts and Crafts movement ;
The Aesthetic movement ;
Christopher Dresser: truth, beauty, power –

The new art :
National Romanticism ;
The Arts and Crafts movement in America –

Art nouveau :
The Art Nouveau style ;
Jugendstil ;
The Vienna Secession and the Wiener Werkstätte –

Putting theory into practice, from art manufactures to industrial products :
Adolf Loos, "Ornament and crime" ;
The Deutscher Werkbund ;
Peter Behrens and AEG –

The American system and Fordism ;
Thomas Edison and the birth of the electric age ;
The Wright brothers, Henry Ford and the moving assembly line ;
Design in World War I –

Reductivism, expressionism, and rationalism :
De Stijl ;
Russian Constructivism ;
The Weimar Bauhaus ;
The Dessau Bauhaus and a new objectivity ;
The Weissenhof exhibition –

Art deco and interpretations of Modernism :
The 1925 Paris Exhibition, from Art Deco to modernism ;
The Maison de Verre and tubular metal ;
Scandinavian modernism and Alvar Aalto ;
British modernism and its social agenda ;
Italy: futurism, Novecento, and rationalism –

The Great Depression and the Moderne style :
Art Deco: from boom to bust ;
Moderne in the design decade ;
Restyling, planned obsolesce, and the world of tomorrow –

Design for war :
Military designs of World War II ;
Design on the British home front and organic design in home furnishings ;
The American war effort –

The American dream and good design :
Homemaking and the designed American Dream ;
Good design ;
Anthropometrics and organic design –

Reconstruction and a spirit of optimism :
The reconstruction of Italy and the flowering of Italian design ;
Good Form and the West German economic miracle ;
Japanese postwar design ;
Postwar Britain and the Festival of Britain ;
The Scandinavian approaches –

Pop design and the counterculture :
The plastics age ;
Design goes Pop ;
Space age visions and radical design ;
Eco-awareness and product morality –

Rationalism versus craft :
High-tech, craft revival, and ergonomics ;
Radical design reemerges ;
The electronics age –

Postmodernism and internationalism :
Memphis and postmodernism ;
The Creative Salvage movement ;
Philippe Starck and designer hotels ;
The computer design revolution and teh rise of the brand –

Universal solutions versus creative individuality :
The rise of global design superstardom ;
The Apple factor and Smart Design ;
New Dutch design ;
Design follows fashion and design art ;
3D printing, biomimicry, and upcycling –

Some concluding thoughts.

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