History of design in the context of educating designers

Abstract

Does teaching history of design in designer training schools have any sense? This paper argues that if we do not treat history of design as a hermetic academic discipline, it has a potential to significantly complement the process of designer training. With regard to history of design, aside from selected achievements of eminent creators, we need to consider a broader context of the processes of designer thinking and problem-solving. We also need to take into account the media which convey those solutions to producers, consultations and meeting diverse requirements in order to create optimal solutions in specific conditions as regards interdisciplinary relations. History of design tries to present design in historical context, when and where it was created and produced, and also from the perspective of its later development up to the point when history starts to be analyzed. As far as contextualization of designer solutions goes, history coincides with present time. That is why teaching history of design at designer training schools should be deemed well-founded.