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




    Patrick O’Shea

    The Baseball Cap as a Key Object in the History of Branding


    This paper argues that the baseball cap deserves recognition as one of the most durable objects in the history of branding. Emerging in the late 19th century from American sport, the cap quickly transcended its utilitarian origins to become a powerful medium for identity expression and brand communication. While much has been written about the cap’s ties to baseball and fashion, there remains an opportunity to interrogate further the broader semiotic role it plays in shaping cultural and political narratives.

    Drawing on visual and material culture, branding theory, and archival sources, this paper explores how the cap became a way of communicating meaning. It examines the cap’s transformation from early team logos (1902 Detroit Tigers cap) to promotional giveaways (1970s trucker caps), to its strategic use in political messaging (every post-war US election), and its adoption by subcultures such as 1980s London gay clubs (BOY London) and the American hip hop scene (NWA LA Raiders). In each case, the cap is not just worn, it performs and signifies.

    By situating the baseball cap within the histories of gender, race, and subcultural style, this paper shows how everyday design objects can become powerful vehicles for branding in culture. Ultimately, the cap’s journey reveals it to be not just a fashion item, but a symbol through which identities are claimed and brands are broadcast.



    — Patrick O’Shea


    My lifelong passion for history of design and specifically the powerful role everyday objects can play in our lives, started during my undergraduate degree in Product Design at Central St Martin’s. Following my studies, I spent a decade in branding and advertising agencies where I learnt first-hand the way in which images of the everyday are created and sold back to us as powerful cultural narratives. I then returned to Higher Education, completing an MA in Art & Design History followed by a PhD on BOAC’s use of design and aircraft interiors to communicate a sense of national identity in a rapidly changing post-WW2 world. Alongside my academic research, I have worked as lecturer in Design History at Kingston University, University of Creative Arts, Middlesex University, and Hong Kong Design Institute. I am currently a lecturer at the London College of Communications.