kristen coogan

The Design History Reader offers a fresh perspective on design history. Rather than following the Western chronological model highlighting canonical heavyweights, this book approaches history through a thematic lens.

The eight chapters are organized around core concepts that span geography and temporality: Herstory, Heroic Craft, Democracy on Demand, Appreciation vs. Appropriation, The Dark Fantasy, Visual Sovereignty, Spectacular Gimmicks, and The Black Experience. This reorganization democratizes the design canon, moving away from a Western-centric view to encompass diverse global contributions.

Traditional binaries like good/bad, high/low, expensive/cheap, rare/ubiquitous, and professional/amateur are being replaced with new criteria for evaluation, such as dominant/minority, digitized/crafted, authentic/mass-produced, and global/local. These shifts challenge preconceived notions of professionalism and 'good design.' In this new framework, good design becomes more inclusive, and artifacts across the spectrum of design history are being reconsidered and their value amplified.

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The Design History Reader was celebrated through a series of public book launch events that brought together designers, educators, students, and cultural practitioners to reflect on the role of history in contemporary design practice.

At Artbook @ MoMA PS1, the Reader was presented as part of the institution’s renowned design and publishing program. Situated within an international context of experimental publishing, the event highlighted the book alongside independent and academic design publications, foregrounding its hybrid position as textbook, archive, and pedagogical platform.

The project was further celebrated at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Boston through a public conversation and presentation with Doug Scott. This event situated the Design History Reader within ongoing debates around design history, pedagogy, and visual culture, emphasizing the book as a living teaching tool shaped by collective authorship, critical inquiry, and classroom experience.

Together, these events marked the Design History Reader’s entry into broader public and institutional conversations, affirming the importance of accessible, critical, and inclusive approaches to design history today.

The Design History Reader has been presented at major international art book fairs, including Offprint London, Offprint Paris, and Miss Read: The Berlin Art Book Fair, situating the publication within a global network of independent publishers, artists, and design scholars. Across these platforms, the Reader has engaged diverse audiences in conversations about plural design histories, pedagogy, and experimental forms of publishing.

The book is available in museum shops worldwide, including the Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the Tate Modern, further embedding it within leading institutions dedicated to contemporary art and visual culture.

In Europe, the Reader has been the focus of invited launch events that fostered in-depth dialogue and community exchange. At San Serriffe Art Bookstore (Amsterdam), the launch brought together designers, educators, and students for a public presentation and discussion exploring the book’s collaborative structure, its reframing of canonical narratives, and its role as a pedagogical tool shaped by classroom practice. The event emphasized the relationship between independent publishing and critical design discourse within the Dutch and broader European context.

The Reader was also featured at an invited launch event during the Design History Society conference in Ankara, Turkey. Presented within an academic and international scholarly setting, the discussion foregrounded the book’s contribution to expanding design history beyond linear and Eurocentric models, highlighting its methodological framework, global authorship, and commitment to inclusive historiography.

Together, these European events affirm the Design History Reader as an active participant in international conversations around design education, publishing, and the future of design history.

This panel presentation focused on the origin and development of the Design History Reader, a book generated through a pluralistic approach to teaching design history.

Presentation

Launched the Design History Reader (prototype) with a presentation at the AIGA Design Educators Conference as part of the Design Literacies panel.

Conference Website

The Design History Reader is an anthology developed through a pluralistic approach to design history at Boston University. My plural teaching style democratizes the classroom and relocates authority in historical narratives. It helps students place their lived experiences and unique cultural backgrounds within the ‘canon’ — empowering them to tell stories that deserve attention.

The stories they tell comprise the Design History Reader. The Reader is organized into chapters defining themes that emerged over four years of collective student engagement in this research. The eight core concepts represent a contemporary telling of design history and present a new way for students, educators and designers to engage with a historical narrative.

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Presented at the 2022 AIGA Design Educators Conference in Seattle, Washington, this presentation introduced a revised pedagogy for teaching graphic design history. The updated approach emphasizes the student’s role as a citizen scholar, leading to the integration of more women, people of color, and underrepresented narratives into the curriculum.

Conference Proceedings

A Plural Pedagogy for Graphic Design History Presentation and launch of the Design History Reader prototype, an emerging anthology showcasing the student voice as citizen scholar.

SAME / DIFFERENCE Conference Website

Conference Proceedings