Course Code: BDES 1500
Academic Year: 2025-2026
This course surveys major themes in the history of design and technology throughout the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, and applies this knowledge through creative project-based work and class discussion. Lessons and coursework encourage students to challenge dominant narratives and critically engage in a study of the historical canon and how major figures, events, movements and functional objects are determined. Students consider the social, cultural, political and economic contexts which have influenced design and innovation practices, and which continue to shape trends in contemporary design culture.