Thinking through Graphic Design History

Graphic design has a paradoxical relationship to history. While it claims to promote originality and innovationâ"ideas that emphasize the new and uniqueâ"design practice is often deeply embedded in previous ideals. Too often, design students encounter the past in brief visual impressions which seduce them to imitate form rather than engage with historical contexts. Even though it claims objectivity and comprehensiveness, graphic design history focuses largely on Eurocentric achievements and abstract notions of âgood taste.â

Yet the past swells with untapped potential. Graphic design history can serve the field of today and tomorrow, but its narratives require updates. History, like design, is always changing - and like design, history is driven by the needs of the present. This book offers ways to engage history, even while transforming it, to inform ethical and intelligent practices. Through this critical guide, Aggie Toppins draws on feminist, decolonial, materialist, and postmodern theories to articulate the links between historiography and historical referenceâ"all in accessible language for a college reader. With thoughtful analyses, stimulating creative prompts, interviews with designers from all over the world, and diverse, inspiring case studies that include authorial projects as well as material interventions and community-based projects, this book challenges our traditional understanding of graphic design history.