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




    Danah Nassief


    My doctoral study and continuing research are situated in the broader context of design for social and political change, exploring the overlap between visual communication design and political engagement in the Arab Middle East and North Africa, with a specific focus on revolutionary uprisings from the end of the Second World War until the early 1980s. Thus, positioning me work in the realm of decolonising the history of design with a specific focus on global south design historiography and the post colonial Arab world. The research provides an alternative view, facilitating a deeper understanding of Arab politics through an Arab-centric and visual communication design perspective, addressing a gap in knowledge attributed partly to the reliance on Western-centric approaches to theorizing and analysis, especially in relation to the study of Arab politics. In addition, the study fills a gap resulting from the large number of studies exploring the history of radical politics in the Arab world from singular disciplinary historical, political, economic, or social perspectives, but rarely an integrated disciplinary perspective incorporating visual communication design. My current research and interests relate to Arab culture and identity, developed through the study of its visual language of dissent and relying on a unique research methodology that expands our understanding of the interdisciplinary overlap between visual communication design and political engagement. This multi-layered interdisciplinary approach is also one of the study’s main contributions to knowledge, drawing on theories from multiple disciplines as the basis for its descriptive and analytical frameworks. In other words, providing an alternative visual perspective that facilitates a deeper understanding of Arab radical politics through an Arab-centric and visual analysis of materials developed by politically engaged visual communication designers whose work reflected the ideologies and sentiments of the time. 



    — Danah Nassief


    Danah Nassief is a recent graduate with a PhD on the intersection of graphic design and politics. Danah has also practiced and taught graphic design for the past 15 years alternating between the two and allowing both to feed into and strengthen the other.