DESIGN HISTORIES
Many stories to understand Industrial Design past and present through diverse lenses and perspectives beyond the traditional canons
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DESIGN HISTORIES
LAEL 1038-01
Spring 2025
LOCATION
FRIDAY - DESIGN CENTER - ROOM 212
TIME
9:40 AM to 12:40 PM
Section 1: Fridays, 9:40 AM - 11:05 AM
Section 2: Fridays, 11:15 AM - 12:40 PM
DESCRIPTION
Through the involvement of a diverse group of guest lecturers, this class aims to provide students with solid foundations to understand the origins and development of the field of product design. With the goal of expanding beyond a mere European and North American viewpoint, different speakers will engage the class throughout the semester—telling different design histories, and broadening students' perspectives on designed objects, initiatives, and the design profession at large. Moreover, looking beyond Industrial revolution and mass production as the only key-point in defining product design, the class will focus on how products overlap with society/social history and how designers are part of an intricate system of economy, culture, and progress.
INSTRUCTOR
Persephone Allen
pallen@risd.edu
Office: Remote
Office Hours: Bolt Cafe, RISD Museum on Thursdays at 2PM & by appointment
TAs
Section 1: Upasana Pandey, upandey@risd.edu
Section 2: Sheetal Agrawal, sagrawal@risd.edu
OBJECTIVES
Provide students with a broader array of design examples from the past and present history of product design;
Go beyond the canonical Industrial design history education, and open windows to a range of “design histories,” each one rooted in different geographical and cultural contexts, belonging to a specific racial, gender discourse and/or focusing on specific relevant subjects;
Provide case studies around which discussions and debates will unfold, enabling critical thinking and fostering conversations around the design profession, design’s stakeholders, and their relation with the historic narrative;
Expand its framework through the involvement of external lecturers and to implement those contents with inputs and research contributions, which follow the interest of the students.
OUTCOMES
By the end of this course, students will learn
About different design projects and product belonging to multiple cultural contexts
How to critically approach historical contents
How to discuss and debate around specific design case studies
How to expand and build upon the content received in class
How to develop and present a research project
How to listen actively and create sketchnotes as visual representation of acquired informations
How to look at a design history timeline beyond the traditional patriarchal European and North American lens
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