Writing Design: Words and Objects

by Grace Lees-Maffei (Editor)

Explains how important language is to understanding design, how a range of texts - from design criticism to instructions and labels - shape the appreciation and use of design.

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 17, 2012

About the author

Grace Lees-Maffei is a Professor of Design History and Director of the Professional Doctorate in Heritage (DHeritage) at the University of Hertfordshire. Grace's published work is available in The Design History Reader (Bloomsbury 2026, 2010), Writing Design: Words and Objects (Bloomsbury 2012), Made in Italy: Rethinking a Century of Italian Design (Bloomsbury 2013), Design at Home: Domestic Advice Books in Britain and the USA since 1945 (Routledge 2013), Iconic Designs: 50 Stories about 50 Things (Bloomsbury 2014), Designing Worlds: National Design Histories in an Age of Globalization (Berghahn, 2016), Reading Graphic Design in Cultural Context (Bloomsbury Academic, 2018), Design and Heritage (Routledge 2022) and in journals including Design Issues, Design and Culture, Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, Women's History Review, Modern Italy and the Journal of Design History.
Prof Lees-Maffei is Book Series Editor, with Prof Kjetil Fallan (University of Oslo), for Cultural Histories of Design (Bloomsbury), and Advisory Board member for AIS/Design Storia e Ricerche, Journal of the AIS/Design (Associazione italiana degli storici del design).