Reading Design
In this class students will learn how to research design (and by extension, almost anything). Yet the subtext is to learn how to approach research without initially, at least, turning to Internet search engines. Their assignment is to develop areas of study based on both personal and scholarly interests, either through historical design artifacts or found common and uncommon objects. Analysis based on first-hand interplay is essential. Subjects will be found through exploring archives, libraries, antique fairs, attics, and other venues. However, at no time shall a search engine be used to either locate or research primary and secondary material (unless otherwise noted).
Criteria: For our purposes an “object” will be broadly defined as “design(ed)” insofar as it is created and produced with a particular purpose and function. Alternatively it can also be a “vernacular” or naif entity, not necessarily designed by savvy professionals (or professionals at all) yet having a particular purpose or function. Art for art’s sake is to be avoided, unless the student can make a convincing argument for its functionality in a larger context. These objects will become the basis for the student’s research narrative—a story that includes origins, applications, consequences, etc.
Typical Guest Speakers Include:
Sam Tanenhaus, editor of New York Times Book Review and Week in Review and author of Whittaker Chambers: A Biography (Modern Library).
Stuart Ewen, author of PR! A Social History of Spin, All Consuming Images: the Politics of Style In Contemporary Culture, Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and Social Roots of Consumer Culture, and Typecasting: On the Arts & Science of Human Inequality.
Stephen Duncombe, professor at NYU, and author of Dream: Re-Imagining Progressive Politics in an Age of Fantasy, Notes from Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture, and Cultural Resistance Reader.
Steven Guarnaccia, illustrator, ephemera collector and chair of Illustration, Parsons School of Design
Beth Kleber, archivist School of Visual Arts Milton Glaser Archive.
Cathy Leff, Director of the Wolfsonian Museum, Miami, Florida
Glenn Horowitz, Antiquarian Book Dealer, Glenn Horowitz Bookseller
Elaine Lustig Cohen, Designer, Book Dealer, Artist, Archivist
Jeff Roth, New York Times Researcher/Morgue clerk
Eric Himmel, Editor-in-chief, Harry N. Abrams
Paul Shaw, Type archeologist and design historian
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