D04 - HISTORY OF DESIGN

courses

ID:

D04

Duration (hours):

60

CFU:

SSD:

STORIA DELL'ARCHITETTURA

Located in:

PESCARA

Url:

Course Details:

DESIGN/CORSO GENERICO Year: 1

Year:

2025

Course Catalogue:

https://unich.coursecatalogue.cineca.it/af/2025?co...

Date/time interval

Secondo Semestre (23/02/2026 - 22/05/2026)

Course Objectives

1: Learn how to look at designed products with an unbiased eye.

2: Contextualize products and their design processes in historical, social, economic context and through their corresponding aesthetic and material values.

3: Analyze the sources on industrial design and problematize their current definitions, standards, and categories.

4: Open the discourse about design history beyond periodicity and the analysis of masterpieces to include everyday objects and their effect in daily life.

5: Reconsider the contribution of design to the development of modern living standards and the transformation of our experience of space.

6: Develop the ability to write a historical-scientific paper through a preliminary research on bibliographic and archival sources.

Course Prerequisites

No prerequisites are required.

Teaching Methods

Lectures will be held in presence with Powerpoint presentations, discussions, and interactive tools.

Assessment Methods

The final exam is an oral presentation based on the course lectures and presentations, on required readings, on visual/graphic research projects assigned during the term. During the course, there will be an optional mid-term written examination.

The midterm test is a text and/or a visual/graphic research project based on a specific topic that should be arranged well in advance with the instructor.

Topics that were not included in class should be arranged well in advance with the instructor.

Texts

Course Handbook:

Dardi Domitilla, Pasca Vanni, «Manuale di storia del design», Silvana Editoriale, Cinisello Balsamo 2019.

Suggested readings:

Bassi Alberto, «Design. Progettare gli oggetti quotidiani», Il Mulino, Bologna 2013.

Bulegato Fiorella, Dellapiana Elena, «Il design degli architetti italiani 1920–2000», Electa, Milan 2014.

Dallapiana Elena, «Il design e l’invenzione del Made in Italy», Einaudi, Turin 2022.

De Fusco Renato, «Storia del Design», Laterza, Bari 2002.

Vitta Maurizio, «Il progetto della bellezza: il design fra arte e tecnica dal 1851 a oggi», Einaudi, Turin 2011.

Extra readings and further material will be provided by the instructor.

The history of design in Italy, Europe and the America from the late eighteenth century to the present with specific insights and focus on relevant topics. The aim of this course is to provide students with theoretical and methodological skills to interpret and critical judge the culture of industrial design.

Course Language

Italian

More information

Questions and requests regarding the course should be forwarded to:

federico.bulfonegransinigh@unich.it

Information about classroom location, meeting days, and times are available on the website of the Design Degree Courses.