Aims & Scope

Aims

Design History (DH) aims to provide a rigorous, inclusive, and interdisciplinary scholarly platform for the exploration of design’s historical dimensions, innovative theories grounded in design practice, and their continuing relevance to contemporary discourse. By fostering cross-disciplinary research, disseminating original scholarship, and engaging a diverse global audience, DH seeks to advance understanding of how design objects, practices, and ideas have evolved within their historical, cultural, and stylistic contexts.

Scope

DH covers a wide scope within design history and related interdisciplinary fields, including but not limited to:

• Architectural design history and theory
• Fashion and textile history
• Craft traditions and material culture
• Interior design and spatial history
• Graphic design and visual communication history
• Industrial design and product design history
• Digital design cultures and computational design
• Design service and assessment
• Social innovation theory and practice
• Design as a driving strategy for social and cultural construction
• Sustainable design and environmental design histories
• Cross-cultural design exchanges and global design networks
• Decolonial approaches to design history
• Gender in design practice and history
• Design education and pedagogy in historical perspective
• Curatorial practice and design exhibitions

Emphasis is placed on original research, methodological rigor, and international relevance. Submissions should demonstrate clear research questions, appropriate methods, and contributions to the scholarly discourse.

The journal does not consider purely descriptive manuscripts, lacks academic rigor, or falls outside the defined scope.

Interdisciplinary and Methodological Emphasis

DH embraces the interdisciplinary nature of design history, recognizing that effective scholarship often emerges from the convergence of diverse perspectives. The journal welcomes contributions from design historians, art historians, architects, sociologists, anthropologists, cultural studies scholars, engineers, educators, and practitioners. DH particularly values:

• Research employing innovative approaches to archival work, digital humanities methodologies, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
• Comparative studies, transnational analyses, and cross-cultural investigations that draw on fields such as anthropology, sociology, philosophy, and material culture studies.
• Scholarship that challenges Eurocentric perspectives by incorporating design traditions from Africa, Asia, Latin America, indigenous communities, and other underrepresented contexts.
• Studies examining how design ideas travel across borders, adapt to local contexts, and create hybrid forms.
• Research drawing on primary sources in multiple languages, ensuring scholarly access to design histories documented in non-English archives and collections.
• Practice-led and design-based research that bridges academic scholarship and professional practice.

Global Perspective

DH actively cultivates scholarship that transcends geographical and cultural boundaries, recognizing design as a global phenomenon with diverse local expressions. The journal deliberately balances Eastern and Western design traditions, challenges narratives that have historically dominated design history, and seeks contributions that explore indigenous design practices, post-colonial perspectives, and cultural hybridization. Through this global approach, the journal serves as an important platform for international scholarly dialogue, helping to redefine the boundaries of design history as a discipline.

Audience

DH serves a broad and diverse readership:

• Design Historians and Scholars: Academics specializing in design history, material culture, and visual studies who seek access to original, peer-reviewed research.
• Architects and Designers: Practitioners across all design disciplines who draw on historical knowledge to inform contemporary practice.
• Museum Professionals and Curators: Specialists in exhibition design, curatorial practice, and public engagement with design heritage.
• Students and Educators: Design history students and faculty who use the journal as a primary learning, teaching, and research resource.
• Cultural Heritage Professionals: Specialists in preservation, conservation, and heritage management who engage with design’s material and cultural dimensions.
• Social Scientists and Interdisciplinary Researchers: Scholars in sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, and related fields interested in design’s social, cultural, and political dimensions.

Through open-access digital publication and the encouragement of submissions in English from researchers worldwide, DH fosters broad international engagement with the evolving discourse in design history.