Building on the foundations of 🔗 the first part of this seminar, this course continues the work of questioning how graphic design histories are produced, circulated, and upheld. Instead of treating Western, white, patriarchal, and institutionally dominant accounts—which form the so-called canon—as neutral or inevitable, we will take them as starting points for critique, examining how they frame what counts as ‘(graphic) design,’ who is included, and what remains marginal or unrecorded.

This second part shifts our attention toward contemporary debates and to practices emerging outside the Euro-American design discourse. Through readings and conversations, we will look at concepts such as decolonial thinking, Eurocentrism, capitalism, and intersectionality, to help us understand how power operates within graphic design and design history today.

Class sessions will weave together theoretical grounding with practical observation: identifying the assumptions behind current design narratives, considering alternative perspectives, and reflecting on how our own educational and professional environments shape the way we read, judge, and make work. The seminar encourages students to approach graphic design not only as a set of techniques but as a cultural field that can (and must) be critically questioned and reimagined.

By the end of the seminar, students will have:

• Developed an understanding of contemporary debates in graphic design theory, particularly those that address colonialism/decolonialism, Eurocentrism, capitalism, and intersectionality.
• Learned to identify power structures embedded in present-day graphic design discourse and in the ways design histories are constructed.
• Strengthened their ability to analyze and evaluate design artifacts (their own and others’) through a critical lens.
• Expanded their awareness of non-Western design practices and histories, and how these challenge established narratives in graphic design education and practice.
• Gained experience reading current theoretical texts and connecting them directly to their design practice and research interests.
• Built critical thinking skills that will support future studio work, thesis projects, and more reflective engagement with the field of graphic design and its histories.