Graphic Design: History and Practice

Up until today, the historical narrative of graphic design has been developed to a great extent by design practitioners themselves. Mainly focused on individual professionals, artifacts, and good design examples, the narratives elaborated by designers have eventually established a territory of references that, at least since the 1990s, some have come to regard as too limited. Over time, some historians and some designers too have claimed the need to expand the field of investigation and the need to widen the interpretive framework. Some historians in particular have claimed the importance of drawing from diverse approaches and disciplines, such as material culture and visual culture, cultural and social history, anthropological studies, economic history or consumption studies etc. On the other hand, one of the main objections that design practitioners usually move to pure historians is that, because their knowledge is not rooted in practice. This kind of tension between historians and practitioners can also be found in schools where graphic design is taught. On the one hand, graphic design educators usually introduce design students to a number of historical references that can sustain them in their designing activities. On the other hand, design historians who teach in design schools are usually confronted with the need to to establish a fruitful dialogue with students who aspire to become designers, and not historians. However, it is also notable that – especially at the level of Master's degree programmes – nowadays there is a growing interest on the part of students and young graphic designer in history and criticism.