---
title: Design History
description: Design history examines the evolution of visual communication, movements, and technologies from antiquity to the digital age. You will analyze how historical contexts, cultural shifts, and influential designers shaped contemporary graphic design practices and aesthetics.
category: arts-design
subcategory: graphic-design
difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced
url: /subject/design-history
---

# Design History

Design history examines the evolution of visual communication, movements, and technologies from antiquity to the digital age. You will analyze how historical contexts, cultural shifts, and influential designers shaped contemporary graphic design practices and aesthetics.

## Available Resources

2 Books • 1 Courses • 3 Websites

## Websites

### 1. Eye on Design

AIGA's online design magazine publishing reported essays, interviews, and historical features on graphic design, typography, and visual culture. Readers gain context on how designers, movements, and past visual work shape current practice across print, identity, and digital media.

**Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/

**Tags:** graphic-design, design-history, typography, visual-culture, design-criticism

### 2. designhistorysociety.org

Design History Society's website serves as a hub for scholars and students of design history, with information about membership, events and conferences, publications (such as the Design History journal), news, and teaching/research resources.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://designhistorysociety.org

**Tags:** websites, arts-design, graphic-design

### 3. eyemagazine.com

Eye Magazine is a premier online publication on graphic design and typography, offering essays, features, interviews, and reviews that delve into design history, theory, and practice. The site covers designers, movements, type history, and visual culture through in-depth articles and critical analysis.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://eyemagazine.com

**Tags:** websites, arts-design, graphic-design

## Books

### 1. Graphic Design: A New History

**Author:** Stephen J. Eskilson

Survey of graphic design history from the nineteenth century to the digital age, placing posters, typography, and corporate identity within their political, social, and technological contexts. Readers will understand how movements such as Art Nouveau, Constructivism, and Modernism shaped visual communication.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid

**Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1856695115?tag=edmonddante07-20

**Tags:** books, arts-design, graphic-design

### 2. Meggs' History of Graphic Design

**Author:** Philip B. Meggs, Alston W. Purvis

Standard reference history of visual communication, from prehistoric symbols and early writing through printing, the Arts and Crafts movement, Modernism, and digital design. Readers gain a chronological framework for identifying major designers, typefaces, and movements and explaining their lasting influence.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid

**Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0471699020?tag=edmonddante07-20

**Tags:** books, arts-design, graphic-design

## Courses

### 1. History of Graphic Design

CalArts course taught by Louise Sandhaus and Lorraine Wild tracing graphic design from the Industrial Revolution to the present. Learners examine key movements, designers, and technologies, then apply those historical ideas in short design exercises of their own.

**Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/graphic-design-history

**Tags:** courses, arts-design, graphic-design

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