Symposium The Design of History and the History of Design


London College of Communication
15 September, 2025



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SpeakerS and Abstracts:

Huda Almazroua
Alberto Atalla Filho
Russ Bestley
Kevin Biderman
Silvia Bombardini
David Cross
Dora Souza Dias
Sam Gathercole
Ian Horton and Ian Hague
Jennifer Hankin
Zarna Hart
John-Patrick Hartnett
Fenella Hitchcock
Abbie Vickress and Sakis Kyratzis
Christopher Lacy
Timothy Miller
Danah Nassief
Jesse O’Neill
Nina O’Reilly
Patrick O’Shea
David Preston
Cheryl Roberts
Rebecca Ross
Antoin Sharkey
Andrew Slatter
Kate Trant
Vanessa Vanden Berghe
Judy Willcocks
Christin Yu



A symposium for UAL’s Design History research community


The Design of History and the History of Design is a one-day symposium that maps research into, through or at the boundaries of design history at UAL. While design history may underpin our teaching across different disciplines, research in design history across UAL is somewhat hidden. This symposium aims to share and make visible the work of researchers (staff and students) at all career stages across all UAL colleges.

Exploring the intersections of historical narrative and design practice, it examines how history is constructed, represented, and mediated through design, and how the discipline of design itself is shaped by its evolving historiography.

The symposium will serve as the starting point for a Design History Network at UAL, bringing together researchers from across the university. It also lays the foundation for a welcoming research community in design history, with potential for ongoing events, collaboration, publications, and curriculum development.

If you have any questions or would like to be involved in future activities, please get in touch with the convenors:

Rujana Rebernjak
r.rebernjak@lcc.arts.ac.ukTai Cossich
t.cossich@lcc.arts.ac.uk
Please also sign up for the UAL Design Histories Newsletter




    Andrew Slatter
    From MA to PhD: a reflection on—and a proposal towards—a critical evaluation on the impact of Ravensbourne’s contribution within and beyond UK graphic design education 1963–1996


    My MA dissertation (2024) focussed on the 1992/93 and 1993/94 cohort’s experience of studying BA (Hons) Visual Communication Design in the School of Graphic Design at Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication. My research provided insights into how The School’s commitment to teaching and learning principles derived from The School of Design Basel and the HfG Ulm afforded its graduates sustainable methods and principles for solving visual communication design problems. It was both a ‘school of thought’ and a ‘school of how to think’.

    I offered an alternative perception of Ravensbourne to highlight its ethos of form with function rather than form follows function and a discussion on problem solving as a creative act whereby Ravensbourne’s basic design and typography curriculum can be considered a ‘basic problem space’ where the process of defining, presenting and evaluating is integral to developing strategic design thinkers.

    Drawing on a number of primary sources—from alumni’s written reflections and archives and through printed articles, prospectuses and documents from my own and Geoff White’s archives—I drew attention to the lineage of continental European modernism that influenced Ravensbourne and celebrated the distinctive philosophy Ravensbourne contributed to UK graphic design education in the late 20th century.

    My Phd commencing September 2025 will explore the transnational learning lineage of the Swiss international style in the teaching of basic design and typography at Ravensbourne over a thirty-year period. It will critically evaluate this maverick institution – using a postcolonial lens – to determine where its sits in relation to graphic design pedagogy in other UK colleges in an era when graphic design was formalised in the UK higher education context. An exploration of the designer’s body/mind experience afforded by Ravensbourne’s pedagogical ideology will uncover the student’s lived experience (and the lived impact) of their exposure to basic design and typography.



    — Andrew Slatter


    Andrew Slatter is a Graphic Designer with over 15 years’ experience of teaching in Higher Education. He a Senior Lecturer in Contextual and Theoretical Studies (CTS) in the Design School at LCC developing inclusive curricula that addresses decolonisation and intersectionality through active-learning and writing as practice methods.

    As a graphic designer Andrew is concerned with the visual organisation and presentation of information using a systematic methodology informed by the teachings of Armin Hofmann, Emil Ruder and Wolfgang Weingart (Basel), Geoff White (Ravensbourne) and he subscribes to the values of Radical Modernism (Dan Friedman, 1994).

    Andrew researched the teaching of basic design and typography at Ravensbourne while studying MA Academic Practice in Art, Design and Communication (UAL, 2025). He will be extending this research to study a PhD at Central Saint Martins exploring the influence of the Swiss international style on UK graphic design pedagogy starting September 2025.