This paper reviews Twentieth-Century Design by Jonathan M. Woodham. He is a professor in the History of Design Department at the University of Brighton in Britain Woodham is also the director of the Design History Research Centre at the university and a chairman of the Design History Society. His other publications include Twentieth-Century Ornament: Decoration from 1900 to 1990, and articles in The Journal of Design History (OUP), and Design Issues (MIT).
My Opinion of Twentieth Century Design
Although title of the book is “Twentieth-Century Design” the book mostly focuses on interior design in twentieth century. It utilizes a great many pictures and graphics to describe interior design. Woodham gives a lot of information about U.S. and European museums, exhibits, fairs, conventions, design schools and design organizations. There was very little information about product design itself. It was hard for me to keep my focus on the content because there was too much of detailed information on the academic side of twentieth-century design. Such as who is who in the field and which design school did they graduated from.
Nevertheless, I would recommend this book to anyone who interested in history of interior design.
Twentieth Century Design’s Thesis
The writer “seek[s] to reveal the limitations of studying design in overly neat decades or movements by addressing a range of themes such as ‘national identity,’ ‘heritage and nostalgia,’ and ‘post modernism’.” (p. 9)
Summary of Content
Though Woodham’s argument spans ten chapters. I will summarize the most important out of them. Woodham starts out by explaining the meaning of “Taylorism” [(a system which sought to achieve industrial efficiency on the factory floor [p. 12)] and “Fordism” (Henry Ford`s innovation of the moving assembly line for the Model T Ford automobile in 1913 [p. 12]) as a gateway into twentieth-century design. It states that because of companies like Sears Roebuck and August Stukenbrok (in Germany) mail order catalogues spread consumerism around the world (p. 17).
In the second chapter, “Design and Modernism,” Woodham explains that the Modern Movement developed in two main phases. The first originated in the theories and the practice of the late nineteen century, years before the outbreak of war in 1914; second phase—known as the “International Style— ran from 1920s to through 1960s (pg.35). The “Commerce, Consumerism and Design” chapter points out that American industry later started to pay attention to consumer psychology instead just making products aesthetically pleasing. Mass media began to be utilized as stimuli for consumption. American industry discovered the term “planned obsolescence” (meaning the product life cycle).
The “Design and National Identity” chapter talks about the symbols that often used in English and German media such as a British boy with a cricket bat in his hand; a German boy uniformed in militaristic Hitler youth apparel. Other chapters in the book take a detailed look into developing business organizational techniques and more efficient modes of production. The housing boom, urbanization, the Mc Donald’s success story, and mobilization also mentioned. Products such as Coca Cola and McDonald’s fast food supplemented the idea of corporate projection and identity creation. The “Pop to Post Modernism” chapter discusses redesigning products in a futuristic way and combining them with attractive colors, a shift back from the “Commerce, Consumerism and Design” period. The last chapter talks about design and social responsibility. E.g. consumer protection agency`s role in designing products and their relation to social responsibility. Also the present movement towards green, environmental friendly design is mentioned in this chapter.
Analysis and Evaluation
This is not a well written book because the author fails to support his thesis statement. According to the introduction, Woodham is planning to “reveal the limitations of studying design” through his argument. There is no single section or chapter in the book that functions as an example of this limitation of studying design. Instead the author talks about design schools of thought and societies in different countries, and doesn’t make the necessary relations from these discrete investigations back to his original point. He devotes a lot of time to context, like the two world wars, but doesn’t go into enough depth about the difficulties in studying design during the war era.
Conclusion
I would not say that this was one of the best books I read about design. I thought that there is too much information that is not strictly relevant to Woodham’s thesis cluttering his argument. It would be a better work if the author lightens up on the back ground information used to support his points and focuses on the alternative perspectives he is trying to impress on the reader with direct dialogue.
