Design in context

Penny Sparke's study traces the development of design from the 1700s to the present, placing each period's styles within the social and cultural conditions that shaped them. Rather than simply cataloguing objects, it asks what counted as good design at different moments and examines the reasons particular approaches succeeded.

The book also looks at what design is for. By tying form to purpose across more than two centuries, it offers a critical view of how design has served its time, making it useful for readers who want to understand design as part of wider history rather than as a sequence of isolated styles.