Objectives and outcomes
Students learn about the key features of the history of design and improve their knowledge of modern art. The
aim is to learn about its development and understand the tendencies in the
context of graphic and industrial design. The aim of the course is to prepare students for abstract and
critical thinking, and thus improve the knowledge in the field of design. Students learn the history of design. They
deepen their knowledge of modern art, and especially of the relationship between design (as a design
practice for industrial production) and avant-garde and neo-avant-garde movements. They learn to
critically compare modern tendencies of graphic and multimedia design. They are introduced to media
theory, that is, they learn to analyse the relationship between design, science, politics and economics.
Lectures
The beginnings of modernity. Impressionism. Art Nouveau. Fauvism. Cubism. Expressionism. Futurism.
Constructivism. De Stijl. Bauhaus. New objectivity. Metaphysical school. Dadaism. Surrealism. Abstract
expressionism. Pop art. Minimal art. Conceptual art. Colour-field painting. Optical painting. Neo-
expressionism. Design as a paradigm of modernity. Design as a design practice for industrial production.
History of design (case studies – El Lissitzky, Alexander Rodchenko, Lucian Bernhard, Theo Van
Doesburg, Walter Gropius, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Herbert Bayer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Jan
Tschichold, Joseph Albers, Armin Hofmann, Joseph Müller-Brockman, Walter Herdeg, Alvin Lustig, Hans
Hillmann, Giorgetto Giugiaro, Otl Aicher, Paul Rand, Lou Dorfsman, Yusaku Kamekura, Ikko Tanaka,
Shigeo Fukuda, Alvar Aalto, Florence Knoll, Milton Glaser, Massimo Vignelli, Paula Scher, Barbara
Kruger, Christoph Niemann). Design and avant-garde. Design and fashion. Introduction to design
theory.
Practical classes
Discussion about the topics presented in lectures. Writing exercises.