Local, Regional, National, Global and Feedback:
Several Issues To Be Faced With Constructing Regional Narratives
University of Barcelona
This paper aims to clarify the methodological problems faced by a local historian when he or she attempts to describe design from his or her own viewpoint. It will set out the theoretical and general questions that arise when the many different aspects of the creative design process are documented. To document an item means to provide information about the designer's biography, the manufacturing company's history and policies, the marketing strategy, the zeitgeist shared by designers and consumers at a particular concrete historical moment, the technological context and means of production, and the prevailing design trends. We also need to explain the design concept, or problem, in design terms in order to understand what sort of solution the design is intended to offer and, even more complex, we must also justify the value system within which the historian selects and evaluates a particular design object.
The author is grateful to Professor Christopher Bailey for advice on the English version of this article.