A History of Design

4 min readOct 25, 2015

Welcome to the SVA MFA IxD History of Design class, 2016 edition.

In this course we will explore the emerging history of interaction design, seeking to deepen our perspectives and look for useful reference points that might help us reframe our thinking about contemporary design problems.

As practitioners of an emerging discipline, interaction designers often lack historical context for what we do. Our practice has polymorphous roots, from the ancient heritage of architecture and the graphic arts to more recent fields of practice like industrial design and software engineering. Making sense of this complex heritage involves exploring overlapping, sometimes orthogonal historical narratives.

In the course, we will explore topics ranging from the pre-history of early societies to the invention of printing, the evolution of twentieth century graphic and industrial design, and the more recent history of computing and hypertext. Along the way, we will look for unifying themes and fresh insights that might help us discover new pathways to professional growth.

Structure

Each week will consist of an in-class lecture, a group discussion, and a reading assignment. There will be occasional written assignments, culminating in a final project due in class on Thursday, December 10.

Group discussions

Each week’s class will begin with a 30–45 minute group discussion based on the prior week’s reading assignment. To help ensure a lively conversation, I’m going to assign 3–4 of you each week to facilitate this discussion. For that week, you should plan to prepare by reading the assigned material closely, taking good notes, and developing a set of questions that you could pose to the class for further discussion.

Final project

There will be a final project consisting of a 1500-word (minimum) paper and accompanying 15-minute in-class presentation, to be delivered during one of the final two class periods (December 10 and 17).

This project should involve original research and analysis on your part (i.e., no leaning on Wikipedia!). Be transparent in your use of sources. Failure to cite others’ work is a serious academic matter. Please familiarize yourself with the Academic Integrity Policy in the SVA Student Handbook.

Both the paper and presentation are due in class on December 10. Half of you will present on the 10th, and the other half on the 17th (you won’t know which half you fall into until class on the 10th, so come ready to go). Late submissions will not be accepted under any circumstances other than serious personal health or family emergencies.

Required text

There is one required text: Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, 5th ed. Other readings will either be made available online or placed on reserve at the SVA library.

Grading

I will assess your work using the following criteria:

25% Writing assignments
25% Class participation
50% Final project

Syllabus

(Subject to change)

Week One: October 29

Introductions — Hermeneutics — Word and Image — Orality and Literacy

Readings for next week:
Meggs, chapters 5–8

Due next week:
Personal history essay (minimum 500 words): What is your “origin story” as an interaction designer? Who or what first inspired you to enter the field? How has your career evolved since then? Whose work inspires you today?

Week Two: November 5

A Pre-history of computing / Proto-hypertext systems

Class discussion:
Discussion leaders:
Uijun Park, Shane Strassberg, Paola Rangel, Kohzy Koh

Due this week:
Personal history essay (500 words)

Due next week:
No written assignments. Start thinking about a topic for your final project.

Week three: November 12

Early Modernism | Industrial Design | Service Design | Experience Design | Final project consultations with Alex

Readings for next week:
Meggs, chapters 9–12

Due this week:
No written assignments. If you need help thinking through your final project topic, Alex will be available for 1:1 consultations after Steve’s lecture.

Due next week:
Final project proposal (500 words)

Week four: November 19

Guest lecture: Steve Heller | Final project consultations with Alex

Readings for next week:
Henry Dreyfuss, Designing for People, chapters 1–3
Don Norman, The Design of Everyday Things, chapters 1 and 7

Due this week:
Final project proposal (minimum 500 words)

Due next week:
Nothing due. Begin work on your final project.

Week five: December 3

Computers — Software — Human-Computer Interaction — Web Design

Class discussion:
Discussion leaders:
Min Lee, Keith Tseng, Elushika Weerakun, David Mahmarian, Julian Gonzalez

Readings for next week:
Jonathan Grudin, The Three Faces of Human-Computer Interaction
Bruce Tognazzini, First Principles of Interaction Design
Jakob Nielsen, Ten Heuristics for User Interface Design

Due next week:
Final projects: A 1500-word (minimum) essay, accompanied by a 15-minute in class-presentation.

Week six: December 10

Final presentations

Class discussion:
Discussion leaders:
David Al-Ibrahim, Saba Singh, Sara Lim, James Vanie, Bowen Li

Readings for next week:
Meggs, Chapter 24
Neal Stephenson, “In the Beginning Was the Command Line”
Norman and Tognazzini, “How Apple Is Giving Design a Bad Name”

Due this week:
Final presentations

Due next week:
No assignment

Week seven: December 17