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A crisp survey of design throughout history. Banks integrates the theory of design with its practice, from impetus to execution. The language is forceful and rather formal, reflecting the book’s origin in a design-history course the author taught for 30 years. Banks takes particular care to explore the emotional, political and aesthetic influences on design, and has arranged the book chronologically to trace the evolution of design ideas. Starting with prehistoric conceptualization (arrow points, cave paintings), Banks discusses the development of emotional satisfaction in one’s work and the investment of aesthetic value, then the advancement of symbolic thinking and its simplification through repetition into signs and patterns. Points that paint the big picture move the story along—design progressing in concert with social and economic activities, design as a status symbol, design as a display of the power and prestige of the state and its role in addressing ideological issues. Banks clearly addresses how most design styles built upon that which went before—the revivalist movements, for example—and how others were ruptures in the fabric of expression, such as the architectural possibilities occasioned by the Industrial Revolution and the computer, which gives rise to a question that bedevils Banks as she seeks to comprehend the union of beauty and function: “Is that which is technically possible always desirable?” The book itself is a testament to design; it showcases artwork and photographs, which illustrate the vocabulary of style, alongside its brisk main text. A vast take on design history presented with stylish ease and familiarity.
Banks, Anne J.
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