course-details-portlet

IDG2342

Design History and Design Theory

Assessments and mandatory activities may be changed until September 20th.

Credits 7.5
Level Intermediate course, level II
Course start Spring 2026
Duration 1 semester
Language of instruction Norwegian
Location Gjøvik
Examination arrangement Written examination amd Essay

About

About the course

Course content

The course provides an introduction to western design history, from the industrial revolution to the late 1900s. It emphasizes how technological, ideological, cultural, and social aspects have helped shape design as a profession and phenomenon.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

The student…

  • has knowledge of the main lines of development in the history and theory of 19th- and 20th-century design
  • has a basic understanding of how design as a profession and phenomenon has emerged as part of broader social development
  • can identify different views on what characterizes designers’ knowledge and way of thinking

Skills:

The student…

  • can reflect on the concept of ‘design’, and how design as activity, product and carrier of meaning is in a continuous process of interpretation
  • has improved her/his writing skills in the genre of academic text
  • has improved her/his ability to locate, gather and synthesise information
  • has improved her/his ability to cite and reference sources and literature appropriately

General competence:

The student…

  • has improved her/his analytical skills and capacity for critical reflection
  • has improved her/his skills in editorial handling of text

Learning methods and activities

Lectures supplemented with group discussion, workshops, and film screenings. Writing an essay with formative assessment

Further on evaluation

The essay and the written exam must both receive a passing grade for the candidate to be awarded a pass for the course. If the written exam or essay are not passed, the candidate must retake this during the re-sit examination (autumn). Improving the grade by taking the whole course voluntarily again is possible, but then the candidate must both rewrite the essay and retake the written exam.

Specific conditions

Required previous knowledge

The course is limited to students in Bachelor in Graphic Design and Bachelor in Technology Design and Management

Course materials

Marcus, George H. Introduction to Modern Design: Its History from the Eighteenth Century to the Present. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2019.

Compendium (Will be made available at the beginning of the course)

Supporting literature:

Adrian Forty. Objects of Desire: Design and Society since 1750. London: Thames & Hudson, 1986

Raizman, David. History of modern design: graphics and products since the industrial revolution. 2. utg. London: Laurence King, 2010

Helvert, Marjanne van (red.). The Responsible Object: A History of Design Ideology for the Future. Amsterdam: Valiz, 2016

Lawson, Bryan. What designers know. Oxford: Architectural Press, 2004

Petroski, Henry. The evolution of useful things. New York: Knopf, 1992

Sparke, Penny. As Long As It’s Pink: The sexul politics of taste. San Francisco: Pandora/Harper Collins, 1995

Wildhagen, Fredrik og Mannila, Leena. Formgitt i Norge. Oslo: Unipub, 2012.

Credit reductions

Course code Reduction From
IMT2342 7.5 sp Autumn 2019
This course has academic overlap with the course in the table above. If you take overlapping courses, you will receive a credit reduction in the course where you have the lowest grade. If the grades are the same, the reduction will be applied to the course completed most recently.

Subject areas

  • Design Methodology

Contact information

Course coordinator

Lecturers

Department with academic responsibility

Department of Design

Examination

Examination

Examination arrangement: Written examination amd Essay
Grade: Letter grades

Ordinary examination - Spring 2026

School exam
Weighting 40/100 Examination aids Code E Duration 3 hours Exam system Inspera Assessment Place and room Not specified yet.
Essay
Weighting 60/100 Exam system Inspera Assessment

Re-sit examination - Summer 2026

School exam
Weighting 40/100 Examination aids Code E Duration 3 hours Exam system Inspera Assessment Place and room Not specified yet.