Journal of Design History - current issue

Designing Time: The Design and Use of Nineteenth-Century Transport Timetables

Esbester, M. — 2009-05-22

This article examines how nineteenth-century transport timetables were designed, understood and used. It examines changes in timetable design during the nineteenth century, as railway timetables in particular had to convey more and more complex information. I argue that timetables reflected societal notions of time and helped to construct new understandings of space; yet, the times and spaces they propagated were only some of those circulating in the nineteenth century. I demonstrate that the timetable is an item through which it is possible to show how design—in this instance, of information—pervaded day-to-day life. I show that the design of timetables was fundamental to passengers’ ability (or inability) to find the information they required. The article therefore analyses a range of passenger responses to timetables, from comments about incomprehensibility to attempts to make timetables more relevant to their individual needs. This focus highlights the significance of design in its social context.

Pioneers and Barbarians: The Design and Marketing of Electrical Household Goods as Dutch Americana, 1930-45

de Rijk, T. — 2009-05-22

In the Netherlands, interest in the USA as a historical cultural phenomenon and as a source of examples of product design in particular has been very slight. Dutch publications on the importance of American design and the ideas and professional practice of designers in the world's largest industrial nation of the twentieth century are a fraction of those on European modernist design culture.2 As a result, most overviews of the history of design in the Netherlands contain no mention whatsoever of the substantial American influence on Dutch industrial design during the period of this study.3

This article examines the importance of commercial American design for the Dutch design world during this period. It does so largely by reference to the design of technologically innovative domestic products, in particular electrical household products. The USA was able to build up and export a part of its own cultural identity with these new kinds of goods at the beginning of the twentieth century. This article takes as its case study the design of the products made during the interwar years by Erres, which was from 1930 until 1945 the Netherlands’ largest manufacturer of electrical household goods. Finally, this article analyses the reasons why Dutch design histories have been only superficially interested in Dutch Americana.

'One Must Offer "Something for Everyone" ': Designing Crockery for Consumer Consent in 1950s' Norway

Fallan, K. — 2009-05-22

‘One must offer "something for everyone".’ These words belong to Ragnar Grimsrud, ceramic designer and general manager of the Norwegian earthenware factory Figgjo, when he in 1955 was called upon to offer the manufacturer's view on design management and design strategy in Norway's leading design magazine Bonytt.

That an art school-trained designer fostered on the avant-garde modernism of the interwar period could make such concessions to the perceived public taste must be understood in a broader economic context. In 1950s Norway, after the frantic demand of the first postwar years had cooled off and before international free trade completely changed the playing field, tariff barriers and structural disparities made it difficult to establish viable exports for the manufactured goods industry, resulting in dependence on a small and heterogeneous domestic market.

For an industrial enterprise relying on volume production, this situation posed serious challenges. If Figgjo were to survive, it had to design products that would appeal to the world outside the design community everyday things for common people whose affinity towards and allegiance to modern design was far from given.

This article investigates this flip side to the elitist, refined, craft-based products normally associated with the mythological phenomenon branded ‘Scandinavian Design’ that reached its zenith in the mid-1950s epitomized by the exhibition Design in Scandinavia that toured art museums in the USA and Canada from 1954 to 1957 to great critical acclaim. Although Figgjo was represented at the exhibition, its daily dealings in design strategy and practice had an entirely different focus: Doing business in an increasingly difficult domestic market.

Aluminium and Contemporary Australian Design: Materials History, Cultural and National Identity

Worden, S. — 2009-05-22

This article examines the significance of aluminium for Australian design. It provides an overview of aluminium within the Australian resource economy and then documents the uses of aluminium across a range of design sectors, including engineering design, furniture, product design and crafts production. This engagement with a broad view of design is presented as a validation of the potential of ‘materials’ histories to contribute to an understanding of design across production and consumption.

The period 1990–2007 is examined in detail to show how aluminium was included in discussions of regional and national identity. Also noted is how the cultural values attributed to aluminium are relevant for an understanding of the international promotion of Australian design and crafts and the positioning of Australian designers within the creative industries. Finally, evidence of the appreciation of aluminium for recycling, within the context of sustainability and innovation, provides a broader view of design within consumption and as an outcome of design research. Aluminium has been used to produce objects from the precious to the ubiquitous; ranging in scale from small-scale jewellery to the world's largest yachts.

Architectural and Spatial Design Studies: Inscribing Architecture in Design Studies

Traganou, J. — 2009-05-22

The present article argues for the inscription of architectureas well as studies of design in various spatial scaleswithin the field of design studies. It claims the need for bridging these two areas of inquiry, architecture and design studies, and for creating a new field that intersects architecture scholarship with design studies, but also with a variety of other fields, such as cultural and urban geography, vernacular studies, interior design, spatial anthropology, material culture, and media studies. This field could be tentatively named as architectural and spatial design studies, showing its affiliation with a broader range of spatial disciplines and practices that includebut are not limited toarchitecture, as well as with the field of design studies.

Vienna: City of Modernity, 1890-1914

Wieber, S. — 2009-05-22

The Practice of Modernism, Modern Architects and Urban Transformation, 1954-1972

Dehaene, M. — 2009-05-22

Designing Modern Childhoods. History, Space and the Material Culture of Children

Burke, C. — 2009-05-22

Piet Zwart (1885-1977), Vormingenieur

van Bergeijk, H. — 2009-05-22

Gustav Klimt: Painting, Design and Modern Life

Topp, L. — 2009-05-22

The Design Culture Reader

Sparke, P. — 2009-05-22

British and Irish Home Arts and Industries 1880-1914: Marketing Craft, Making Fashion

Ferry, E. — 2009-05-22

Books received

2009-05-22

Notes on Contributors

2009-05-22