History of history and canons of design

✍ Scribed by Cornelis J Baljon

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 64 KB
• Volume: 23
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0142-694X
• DOI: 10.1016/s0142-694x(01)00042-4

✦ Synopsis

A question that deserves an honorable place among the concerns of design philosophy is how the study of history informs current design. A conception of history as merely a designer's pattern book is as inadequate as that of history as the empirical dimension of design theory. History, not theory, for most designers is the primary frame of reference. And so it should be. Theory, it will be argued, more positively affects current design through history than the other way around. Conceptualization of values that guide or ought to guide historic explorations is crucially important. In conjunction with history of design history it is capable of rendering canons of design more transparent, and hence manageable. k