Twentieth Century Design
Overview
This unit engages students in 20th Century design history, focusing on key designers, innovations and movements, within global and local frameworks. It explores the historical development of design as a creative, cultural and professional practice, referencing the visual, material and spatial languages of graphics, products, interiors and multi-media. It investigates how design has been historically practised and theorised and how this informs design today. The economic and cultural role of design is explored, in relation with modern technology, materials, production and consumerism and the arts. A contemporary lens is used to consider the relevance of the past to the present.
Requisites
09-February-2025
01-June-2025
02-November-2025
08-February-2026
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
- Discuss ideas about design and society in large and small group situations
- Identify historically significant designers, design movements, objects, theories, practices, considering their social, cultural and economic importance, and their implications for the 21st century
- Critically analyse a range of historical issues and present responses through a range of discursive modes
- Critique key design concepts and developments, both historical and contemporary, using a body of primary and secondary resources, including online materials, objects and environments
- Integrate theoretical and historical concepts in a manner that is relevant and applicable to design studio practice
- Analyse design objects, places and environments, critically and visually at local, national, and international levels
Teaching methods
Hawthorn
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| On-campus Studio | 3.00 | 12 weeks | 36 |
| Unspecified Activities Independent Learning | 8.50 | 12 weeks | 102 |
| Online Lecture | 1.00 | 12 weeks | 12 |
| TOTAL | 150 |
Swinburne Online
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online Lecture | 1.00 | 12 weeks | 12 |
| Online Learning activities | 1.00 | 3 weeks | 3 |
| Unspecified Activities Various | 3.00 | 12 weeks | 36 |
| Unspecified Activities Independent Learning | 8.25 | 12 weeks | 99 |
| TOTAL | 150 |
Assessment
| Type | Task | Weighting | ULO's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Major Research Assignment | Individual | 0% | 4,6 |
| Online Quiz | Individual | 0% | 2,6 |
| Online Studio Learning | Individual | 0% | 1,2,3,5 |
Content
- Modernism / post-modernism / contemporary design
- Design as political and social action
- Design, technology, progress and change
- Design principles and theories
- Significant figures - their design, ideas and influence
- Design, ideas and cultural production
- Internationalism / regionalism / globalism
Study resources
Reading materials
A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.