Try some of these:
John A Walker Design History and the History of Design, London: Pluto Press
1989. (Good for methodology/historiography)
Ellen Lupton and J Abbott Miller, Design Writing Research, Kiosk 1996. and
Phaidon 1999. (Graphic design oriented)
Malcolm Barnard Fashion as Communication, Routledge, 1996. (fashion oriented
but applies cultural theory very well to designed objects)
Du Gay, P. Hall, S. (et al) Doing Cultural Studies; The Story of the Sony
Walkman, London, Open University, 1997. (Cultural theorists turn their
attention to product design...)
Peter Dormer, The Meanings of Modern Design Thames and Hudson, 1990.
(Personal, occasionally idiosyncratic view, but good for debating)
Lloyd Jones, P. Taste Today; The Role of Appreciation in Consumerism and
Design,
Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1991. (Don't be put off by the title; covers the
gamut of social theory even if rather fleetingly - illustrations a bit
dated).
The Design Issues readers contain some good articles and reprints.
Bit of rag bag, and all quite old now, but we are still waiting for the
definitive book!
Andy
-----Original Message-----
From: Carma R Gorman [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 26 September 2003 19:37
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: design criticism query
Dear list members:
I have been looking--with little success--for a book on design
theory and
criticism that is comparable to Terry Eagleton's *Literary Theory:
An
Introduction,* Peter Barry's *Beginning Theory,* or Vernon Hyde
Minor's *Art
History's History.* Although there are obviously many books
available on
both literary and art criticism, I have not been able to find any
resources
that deal well--or really at all--with forms of criticism that are
pertinent
to functional objects and commodities (such as ergonomics,
efficiency,
etc.). I had hoped to find a book on architectural criticism that
might
tackle some of these issues, but I haven't found exactly what I'm
looking
for there, either.
Can any of you suggest books, or even articles, that sketch out a
basic
taxonomy of design criticism? I was initially looking for something
I could
use as a textbook in a future course on design theory and criticism,
but now
the search has become something of a personal quest for me. So if
you
*haven't* ever run across any books like this, that would also be
something
I'd find helpful to know.
I'll post the results of this query, so feel free to respond either
on- or
off-list (I'm at [log in to unmask]).
Many thanks (and my apologies if you received this query from more
than one
listserv),
Carma
Carma R. Gorman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Art History
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
School of Art and Design, mail code 4301
Carbondale, IL 62901
United States of America
voicemail: 618-453-8634
fax: 618-453-7710
[log in to unmask]
|