Symposium The Design of History and the History of Design


London College of Communication
15 September, 2025



Book a ticket

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




    Russ Bestley
    Turning Revolt into Style: The Process and Practice of Punk Graphic Design


    I would like to present my new book on graphic design history, Turning Revolt into Style: The Process and Practice of Punk Graphic Design (MUP 2025). The book offers a contextual history of the graphic design and print industry of the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United Kingdom, particularly in its relation to a new cohort of punk-inspired and affiliated cultural practitioners.

    Book synopsis:

    Turning Revolt into Style: The Process and Practice of Punk Graphic Design is a ground-breaking analysis of the complex relationship between punk visual aesthetics and the graphic design and print professions, from the innovations of punk DIY pioneers to radical changes in the commercial design industry. These changes reflected not just the influence of an emerging cohort of young designers who aligned themselves with the new subculture, but also the advent of new technologies, particularly in the printing industry during the early days of photocomposition and digital reproduction. Drawing on interviews with leading punk and post-punk designers including Malcolm Garrett, Bill Smith, Chris Morton, Steve Averill, Mike Coles, Bob Last, Rob O’Connor, Jill Mumford, and Neville Brody, along with detailed archival and historical research, this book reveals the implicit tensions between a new creative vanguard and the design establishment, together with the opportunities offered by new technologies and dramatic parallel changes in labour relations and working practices. Along with a close analysis of punk and post-punk record covers, fanzines, and other artefacts, Turning Revolt into Style charts the story of a seismic cultural shift that was to have a lasting impact for decades to come. The text centres on two key questions: how did a new generation of young, punk-inspired graphic designers navigate the music graphics profession in the late 1970s and early 1980s? And how did significant changes in printing technology, labour relations and working practices in the design profession impact their work during that period?

    https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526151322/

    I have recently secured funding to publish a paperback edition alongside the library hardback in September 2025.



    — Russ Bestley

    Dr Russ Bestley is Reader in Graphic Design & Subcultures at London College of Communication. His areas of specialist interest include graphic design, popular culture, alternative music scenes and subcultures, comedy and humour. He is Lead Editor of the academic journal Punk & Post-Punk, now in its thirteenth year, Series Editor and Art Director for the Global Punk book series published by Intellect Books and a founding member of the Punk Scholars Network. In 2013, he established the Graphic Subcultures research hub at the London College of Communication, before going on to form the UAL Subcultures Interest Group in 2022. His research archive can be accessed at www.hitsvilleuk.com.