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




    Dora Souza Dias


    The establishment of graphic design as an independent field of professional practice in the early twentieth century involved the creation of associations that aimed to gather professional practitioners, establish networks, and promote the value of graphic design within national borders. The period that followed the end of World War II saw considerable growth in the number of national associations focused on commercial art and graphic design, particularly in Europe, as well as increasing ease in international communications and the establishment of international trade agreements.

    This milieu created opportunities for forming international governmental and nongovernmental organizations, among which were some dedicated to design, such as the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) and the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), which appeared in the 1950s, preceding the first international organization dedicated to design, the International Council of Graphic Design Associations, known as Icograda.

    Icograda has had—and in a way continues to have—a long life of activities. From its establishment in 1963 to today’s undertakings as the International Council of Design (Ico-D), it has attracted member societies from all inhabited continents. Its archive, shaped under the instructions of its founding president, Willy de Majo, was systematically kept over the years and provides evidence of many activities and exchanges that took place around the world, not only for the council but also for individual member associations.

    This paper aims to offer a critical and historical perspective on the nature of the activities undertaken by this organization, particularly its relation to origins, issues of representation, its recognition as an international council, global ambitions, and its change of scope when embracing all of design.



    — Dora Souza Dias


    Dora Souza Dias is a lecturer in Graphic Design Theory and Practice at the University of the Arts London and Course Leader for the Graduate Diploma Graphic Design. Her research focuses on graphic design and its history and realities of professional practice today. She is an associate fellow at the TrAIN Research Centre, University of the Arts London.