Abstract
Graphic design history faces interrogation as a narrative seeking less prejudice. Our student audiences are increasingly global and represent cultures that deserve acknowledgement. And curiously, our students came of age when content creation and consumption democratized. Everyone has something to say and platform for broadcasting their message. Smart phones, Wikipedia, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, self-publishing ventures that rendered the authorship hierarchy flat aroused an appetite for storytelling. Can we inspire students to apply their storytelling impulse into a design history narrative? Can we establish methods for inclusion that yield more universal truths? What structure can a more nimble version of history embody? We can build on core aspects of a graphic design history while also embracing more variation in process and outcomes. To illuminate context, educators should indicate the cycle of design from conceptual origin to pragmatic artifact, cultural reception and commercial mainstream. This pattern of thought provides students with a structured method for expansion—equipping students with a curatorial discipline and the criticality needed to identify ‘good design’. With this foundation in place, I work to stimulate student perspectives shaped by individualized cultural backgrounds and lived experiences. My lectures provoked analysis, where students simultaneously learned mine and developed their own unique points of view. Inviting more plurality to the pedagogical process fosters inclusivity as students accept the role as content creators. This flat pedagogy democratizes methods for establishing design history narratives, channels students’ important cultural legacies, invites plurality, and offsets bias.
Presenters
Kristen CooganAssociate Professor, Graphic Design, Boston University, Massachusetts, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Flat Pedagogy, Design History, Plural Narrative, Egalitarian Design History
