What do designers need to know?

What do designers need to know?

Many of the first programs in the “useful arts”—graphic design, fashion design, and interior design—began in urban areas in the early twentieth century to give workers in the new industrial economy the chance to rise beyond their specific tasks. Without education in the field, the worker had to fight to compete with others who could do that specific task faster or cheaper. The same situation exists today: designers who can learn to do one thing well and understand the big picture stand a better chance at a design career, as opposed to a one-off design job, especially because skills and job expectations are changing all the time and jobs are increasingly automated.

But what is the history of the field? For graphic and communication design, there is more than one history. For example, a web designer would contextualize her work in the origins of the internet and the different frameworks and ideas that have led to the way the web looks today. A digital product designer might find inspiration in the history and theory of industrial design. An editorial designer might look at printed communication over time, while a designer working in advertising would reference the history of advertising and marketing. What does apply to all types of design, however, is the history of how ideas manifest in form, something that can be understood through study of the history of art, architecture, or the design of objects.