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FSI-YDDAcad. year: 2026/2027
The content of the subject focuses on the development of industrial and product design in the 20th century, primarily in relation to technical fields, on the design aspects of engineering work in selected fields (primarily means of transport, machines, electrical appliances, etc.), as well as more loosely related stylistic and conceptual developments in architecture and applied arts from approximately the second quarter of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century.
Language of instruction
Number of ECTS credits
Mode of study
Guarantor
Department
Entry knowledge
The course assumes that most students have a technical background; a basic understanding of design history.
Rules for evaluation and completion of the course
The exam tests overall orientation and knowledge of design development in the context of developments in art, technology, and industry. The exam takes the form of a test (written section and visual recognition section).
According to the article No. 13 of Study and Examination Rules of Brno University of Technology ECTS evaluation degree scale is used. The course is evaluated with the following grades: ECTS EVALUATION DEGREES / PTS. RATING / NUMERIC RATING: A / 100 - 90 / 1 / Excellent; B /89 - 80 / 1,5 / Very good; C / 79 - 70 / 2 / Good; D / 69 - 60 / Satisfactory; E / 59 - 50 / Sufficient; F / 49 - 0 / 4 / Failed.The attendance in lectures is recommended.
Aims
The aim of the subject is to acquire knowledge in the field of design history and theory in the context of the history of technology and industry, as well as related knowledge in the fields of applied arts and architecture. This knowledge will help students navigate the connections between design and related fields in the 19th and 20th centuries and current developments in industrial and product design.
Students will gain:- A basic understanding of the development of design from its beginnings to the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries in relation to architecture and applied arts, as well as the development of technologies.- Knowledge of the main styles, approaches, and personalities.- The ability to apply stylistic principles to contemporary work.
Study aids
Prerequisites and corequisites
Basic literature
Recommended reading
Classification of course in study plans
Lecture
Teacher / Lecturer
Syllabus
- Introduction to (industrial) design, the concept of design and its development. Sources (roots) of design, changes in the role and status of design during the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st century.
- Stylistic and conceptual development of design from the 19th century to the early 1930s. Engineering aesthetics vs. historicizing styles. The dilemma of craft and industrial production aesthetics and the beginnings of design support. Arts and Crafts. Precursors of (modern) design.
- The influence of early modernist and interwar avant-garde figures on the emerging discipline of (industrial) design. The beginnings of corporate identity Deutscher Werkbund. Bauhaus. Art Deco.
- The technical development of the shape of means of transport and related technology from the early 19th century to the mid-1930s – railway locomotives, automobiles, aircraft. Aerodynamic trends in the development of means of transport.
- Design in the USA from the late 1920s to the beginning of World War II. Design as a tool for increasing product sales, developing corporate identity, new materials and styles. Leading figures in American design in the second quarter of the 20th century. Promotion of design in the USA.
- Progressive developments in design in a broader context (technology, architecture, sculpture, ideology, military industry) from the early 1930s to the end of World War II. New self-supporting constructions and structures. A shift away from functionalism, broadening of the concept of function, introduction of ergonomic aspects. The concept of design as the "humanization of technology." The School of Arts in Zlín. The beginnings of organic design. The influence of design on architecture. Design and World War II.
- World events in design after World War II. The development of design as a distinct discipline with its own methodology. The first specialized design institutions. American, Italian, and Scandinavian design of the 1940s-1960s. Hoschchule für Gestaltung in Ulm, the design phenomenon of Braun and Olivetti, the internationalization of design.
- Global developments in design in the last quarter of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. The influence of new intellectual and philosophical trends, the intermingling of design, architecture, applied and conceptual art. Futurological trends in design, radical design, anti-design. Postmodernism, high-tech and user-friendly design.
- World automotive design in the second half of the 20th century and its personalities. The development of American styling and Italian "bodywork architecture." The design of selected Western European car manufacturers and their personalities.
- Design in the Czech lands in the period 1945-1970 (with reference to the previous period), its significance for industry and key figures.
- A new generation of industrial designers during the period of normalization and transformation. The beginnings of the student design phenomenon. The significance and key figures of the Brno design scene.
- Excursion – guided tour of the +- Zlín exhibition with an emphasis on design and the Baťa phenomenon. School of Art in Zlín, SUPŠ and VŠUP- machine and tool design studio.
- Depending on time: excursion – visit to selected exhibitions at the Technical Museum and the design exhibition at the Moravian Gallery in Brno, examples of Brno architecture from the 19th and 20th centuries.