Why study design history and the work of others?
Designers learn from those before them. Looking at past and present designers helps you:
- Analyse products: who made it, when, why, from what, for whom?
- Get inspired without copying: borrow a principle (simple form, a material, a way of joining) and use it in a new way.
- Understand change: new materials, new machines and new ideas about society all change what designers make.
A simple way to analyse any design: ACCESS FM (Aesthetics, Cost, Customer, Environment, Size, Safety, Function, Materials).
Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau (about 1860–1910)
Arts and Crafts
The Industrial Revolution made goods cheaply in factories, but often badly. William Morris (Britain) and others wanted honest, well-made, hand-crafted objects. Features: natural materials (oak, wool), visible joints, simple shapes, patterns of plants and birds. Drawback: hand-made goods were expensive, so mostly rich people could buy them.
Art Nouveau ("new art")
Flowing, whiplash curves taken from stems, leaves and flowers. Used in furniture, posters, jewellery, glass and buildings: Charles Rennie Mackintosh (Glasgow, tall high-backed chairs), Hector Guimard (Paris Métro entrances), Antoni Gaudí (Barcelona). New iron and glass let designers bend material into organic forms.
Bauhaus, Modernism and mid-century design (1919–1965)
Bauhaus and Modernism
The Bauhaus school in Germany (1919–1933) joined art, craft and industry. Ideas: "form follows function" (the use decides the shape), no extra decoration, geometric shapes, primary colours, and design for mass production. Marcel Breuer bent steel tube (as in bicycles) into light chairs. Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe designed clean modern buildings and furniture.
Art Deco (1920s–1930s)
A glamorous parallel style: bold geometry, zigzags, sunbursts and shiny materials (chrome, Bakelite plastic). Mumbai's Marine Drive has one of the world's largest groups of Art Deco buildings.
Mid-century modern (1945–1965)
After the Second World War, new materials from war research (moulded plywood, fibreglass, plastics) allowed light, cheap, comfortable furniture for many homes. Charles and Ray Eames (USA), Arne Jacobsen (Denmark) and Dieter Rams (Germany, "less but better", Braun products) are key names.
Postmodernism, Memphis and design today
Postmodernism and Memphis (1980s)
Some designers felt Modernism had become boring. The Memphis Group in Milan, led by Ettore Sottsass (1981), used loud colours, plastic laminates, clashing patterns and playful shapes. Postmodern design says objects can be fun and carry meaning, not only function. Philippe Starck made everyday objects like a juicer into talking points.
Design today
- Sustainability: recycled and recyclable materials, repairable products, less waste (circular economy).
- Digital design and making: CAD, 3D printing, laser cutting, and generative design where a computer proposes many forms.
- Inclusive design: products that work for people of all ages and abilities.
Why designs change
Three big drivers: technology and materials (steel tube, plastics, 3D printing), society and culture (more people wanting affordable goods, new values like ecology), and reactions to the style before (Postmodernism reacting to Modernism).
Key formulas and definitions
- Arts and Crafts (≈1860–1910) = hand-made, natural materials, against cheap factory goods
- Art Nouveau (≈1890–1910) = flowing curves from nature
- Bauhaus / Modernism (1919 →) = form follows function, mass production, no extra decoration
- Art Deco (1920s–30s) = bold geometry, glamour, chrome
- Mid-century modern (≈1945–1965) = moulded plywood and plastic, affordable
- Postmodernism / Memphis (1980s) = colour, fun, rule-breaking
- Design changes because of: technology and materials + society and culture + reaction to earlier styles
Worked examples
1. A chair has a solid oak frame with visible joints and a carved leaf pattern. Which movement does it suggest and why?
Arts and Crafts: natural wood, honest visible construction and plant patterns, made by hand.
2. A lamp is made of a steel tube and a plain white glass globe, with no decoration. Which design idea does it show?
Modernism / Bauhaus, "form follows function": every part has a job, no extra decoration, and it can be mass-produced.
3. Why could the Eames design light moulded plywood chairs in the 1940s but Morris could not in the 1860s?
New technology: methods for bending and gluing thin layers of plywood under heat and pressure came from wartime research. Materials and machines change what designers can make.
4. A bookshelf has bright clashing colours, crooked shelves and looks like a toy. Name the movement and its main idea.
Memphis / Postmodernism (1980s): breaking Modernist rules, design can be playful and carry meaning, not just function.
Common mistakes
- Mixing up Art Nouveau (curvy, from nature, ~1900) and Art Deco (geometric, glamorous, ~1925).
- Thinking 'form follows function' means ugly. It means the shape comes from the use; many Modernist designs are very beautiful.
- Copying a designer's product instead of borrowing a principle and using it in your own way.
- Learning only dates. Examiners want reasons: what changed (materials, technology, society) and why.