The need to think and act globally, the fact that our world is more interconnected than what we would like to think and the fact makes me want to say that we need to relook at the way we teach and impart design education.
Have you ever wondered why as designers we know so much about Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Max Ernst and Josef Hoffmann, the Bauhaus, Dadaism and the Art Deco movement and so little about the Sassanian bas-reliefs, the Japanese woodcuts of Utamaro or history of Indian match box art, no matter which part of the world you are educated in or belong to? Have you ever wondered what was happening in Japan, when Alphonse Mucha was painting his posters in The Czech Republic of the time?
As of late, in the West ‘Decolonization’ is a word increasingly heard when we talk about design education. Yet in most art and design publications and courses continue to look at design historically from the white male perspective, which sets the tone for what is considered to be ‘good’ design aesthetically. There is hardly if any inclusion or discussion of non-western design, and if we see it being included at all it is in the realm of what is considered craft. Also, when we talk about decolonization in the North American context, its mainly to do with the inclusion of indigenous knowledge, which is historically crucial, relevant and pertinent locally, no doubt, but what is missing is how we include design knowledge and relevance from a more global perspective.
One is the lack of documentation and resources. Secondly, we teach how we have been taught and the baton is passed on. Colonial histories, privilege and singular perspectives have a role to play on how history is taught and received from the other side.
Victor Margolin’s ‘World History of Design’, is one such publication that is unique for its inclusivity, which talks about design that’s beyond Western design trajectory.
Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, which is considered to be a bible for designers and design students alike, is coming out with its 7th Edition [due to come out January 2024] also includes previously unheard voices and practices from a spectrum of races, ethnicities, and genders, with an expanded coverage of design in Asia and the Middle East. Now that’s something that will be worth waiting for as long as it captures the zeitgeist in addition to simply the work from the region.
It is good to see the acknowledgement in terms of regions and ethnicities being covered. But what needs to happen is the way we teach and conduct ourselves in the classroom.
Some things we can do to make our education more inclusive:
- Simply, be more inclusive in the examples we show in our lectures and presentations to motivate students. Every piece of deign has a syntactic, semantic and pragmatic influence. Let that sink in.
- Have a more all-encompassing discussion in reference to the genre and categorizations of design. e.g if we are discussing posters, let’s also look at the work of contemporary Iranian graphic designers, talk about the fascinating history of Shanghai cigarette posters or the role of posters in Japan’s visual culture since the Second World War.
- Expect students to conduct research beyond the Western design history and movement. Of late, one strategy that has worked in my design 101 classroom is opening up the world map on ‘Padlet’ and asking students to plug in design inspiration from around the world.
- History should not be looked at just a ‘time-line’ and as linear information, but about how it connects; people, regions, politics, society and the world at large.
- Above all, as educators we need to have stories to tell, stories that will inspire and connect and are meaningful to the students. While teaching we tend to reveal our own biases and that sets the tone for the students in how they absorb information and convert that to their own knowledge.
What I have started doing to some extent, and plan to expand on, is not just create a linear timeline with the movements, regions and cultures represented, but then to start making connections between the same and drawing out thought patterns and identifying themes from it.
