Books by Elizabeth Guffey
Whom is the world designed for? Is there space for coalition politics in design? It seems that de... more Whom is the world designed for? Is there space for coalition politics in design? It seems that design for inclusiveness is undergoing a paradigm shift, but the expansion of design for disability has been so rapid and multifaceted that it is raising unsettling new questions-and answers-for the field. The expansion of our understanding of ability and a rapidly changing technological landscape are moving us beyond Universal Design, the term often given to design for disability, and into an entirely new discussion. 1 These currents rise from deep scholarship; practice-based, interrogative design; and a new recognition of the creativity that disabled people can bring to the design process. As the outlines of a post-Universal Design practice are emerging, this essay attempts to map this new terrain.
Designing for the Disabled warrants serious consideration by designers today.
Making Disability Modern: Design Histories brings together leading scholars from a range of disci... more Making Disability Modern: Design Histories brings together leading scholars from a range of disciplinary and national perspectives to examine how designed objects and spaces contributes to the meanings of ability and disability from the late 18th century to the present day, and in homes, offices, and schools to realms of national and international politics. The contributors reveal the social role of objects - particularly those designed for use by people with disabilities, such as walking sticks, wheelchairs, and prosthetic limbs - and consider the active role that makers, users and designers take to reshape the material environment into a usable world. But it also aims to make clear that definitions of disability-and ability-are often shaped by design.
From band posters stapled to telephone poles to the advertisements hanging at bus shelters to the... more From band posters stapled to telephone poles to the advertisements hanging at bus shelters to the inspirational prints that adorn office walls, posters surround us everywhere—but do we know how they began? Telling the story of this ephemeral art form, Elizabeth E. Guffey reexamines the poster’s roots in the nineteenth century and explores the relevance they still possess in the age of digital media. Even in our world of social media and electronic devices, she argues, few forms of graphic design can rival posters for sheer spatial presence, and they provide new opportunities to communicate across public spaces in cities around the globe.
Bell-bottoms are in. Bell-bottoms are out. Bell-bottoms are back in again. Fads constantly cycle ... more Bell-bottoms are in. Bell-bottoms are out. Bell-bottoms are back in again. Fads constantly cycle and recycle through popular culture, each time in a slightly new incarnation. The term “retro” has become the buzzword for describing such trends, but what does it mean? Elizabeth Guffey explores here the ambiguous cultural meanings of the term and reveals why some trends just never seem to stay dead.
Drawing upon a wealth of original research and entertaining anecdotal material, Guffey unearths the roots of the term “retro” and chronicles its evolving manifestations in culture and art throughout the last century. Whether in art, design, fashion, or music, the idea of retro has often meant a reemergence of styles and sensibilities that evoke touchstones of memory from the not-so-distant past, ranging from the drug-induced surrealism of psychedelic art to the political expression of 1970s afros.
Guffey examines how and why the past keeps coming back to haunt us in a variety of forms, from the campy comeback of art nouveau nearly fifty years after its original decline, to the infusion of art deco into the kitschy glamor of pop art, to the recent popularity of 1980s vogue. She also considers how advertisers and the media have employed the power of such cultural nostalgia, using recycled television jingles, familiar old advertising slogans, and famous art to sell a surprising range of products.
An engrossing, unprecedented study, Retro reveals the surprising extent to which the past is embedded in the future.
Articles by Elizabeth Guffey
Design Issues, 2012
Design historians have paid scant attention to Jim Crow signs as artifacts, or as parts of proces... more Design historians have paid scant attention to Jim Crow signs as artifacts, or as parts of processes or systems, but doing so illuminates important aspects of the signs’ function and appearance, examining how their style made them meaningful and authoritative. Even more important, when recognized as a feature of communication design history, they remind us how often design is used to enforce social regulation.
Although the International Symbol of Access (ISA) has undergone a sustained critique in recent ye... more Although the International Symbol of Access (ISA) has undergone a sustained critique in recent years, its roots in Scandinavian
This article examines museums and their furnishing, arguing that benches, seats and the very noti... more This article examines museums and their furnishing, arguing that benches, seats and the very notion of comfort have a disabling or enabling function. A little studied aspect of visuality in museums, furniture admits some visitors and not others. Using New York’s Museum of Modern Art as the basis for its critique, the author gives an impressionistic account of how furnishing and comfort shape the museum visitor’s experience, but also reflect broader conceptions of the museum’s role in society.
Adam Michaels, cofounder of Project Projects and editor/designer of the Inventory Books series, a... more Adam Michaels, cofounder of Project Projects and editor/designer of the Inventory Books series, and Jeffrey Schnapp, Professor and founder of Harvard's MetaLAB, have coauthored the innovative paperback book The Electric Information Age Book: McLuhan/Agel/Fiore and the Experimental Paperback (TEIAB). Design and Culture's editor in chief Elizabeth Guffey speaks with them about their book and the nature of the design publishing industry today. They reflect on its implications in digital and material media, and its broader cultural critique.
This article highlights a growing confusion between two recent movements: retro-futurism and stea... more This article highlights a growing confusion between two recent movements: retro-futurism and steampunk. While these each involve visual representations of the past
and future, they can be distinguished by their modes of production. Both avant-garde and popular approaches to futurism are considered, and measured against ideas of retro-futurism and steampunk. The latter’s manifestation within a culture of tinkering, DIY, and craft are contrasted with retro-futurism’s characterization as a detached sensibility that mourns the lost belief in progress. While steampunks celebrate “making” and often build strong ethical claims for their work, the movement’s engagement with craft traditions is generally under-theorized; ultimately, in its lack of self-reflectivity, steampunk provides a mirror for our shifting understanding of craft, human agency, and the global implications of making in the early twenty-first century.
The Oxford Handbook of Science Fiction, 2014
Fluor: magazine on contemporary culture, Jul 2013
Lunenfeld on visual culture, design studies, art, media, and cultural critique. In part one of th... more Lunenfeld on visual culture, design studies, art, media, and cultural critique. In part one of this interview (published in the Journal of Visual Culture, 9(2), August 2010), Lunenfeld responded to a number of questions related to his Mediawork series and his concept of the "visual intellectual." In this, the second part of the interview, our emphasis includes design theory and the digital humanities.
A History of Visual Culture, 2009
With its plunging perspective and stark black and red graphics, Jules Grandjouan's 1906 poster pr... more With its plunging perspective and stark black and red graphics, Jules Grandjouan's 1906 poster promoting the antimilitarist daily La Révolution [ depicts a surging mass of humanity overturning a flag-capped stone pedestal. This
Objects, Audiences, and Literatures: Alternative Narratives in the History of Design, 2007
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Books by Elizabeth Guffey
Drawing upon a wealth of original research and entertaining anecdotal material, Guffey unearths the roots of the term “retro” and chronicles its evolving manifestations in culture and art throughout the last century. Whether in art, design, fashion, or music, the idea of retro has often meant a reemergence of styles and sensibilities that evoke touchstones of memory from the not-so-distant past, ranging from the drug-induced surrealism of psychedelic art to the political expression of 1970s afros.
Guffey examines how and why the past keeps coming back to haunt us in a variety of forms, from the campy comeback of art nouveau nearly fifty years after its original decline, to the infusion of art deco into the kitschy glamor of pop art, to the recent popularity of 1980s vogue. She also considers how advertisers and the media have employed the power of such cultural nostalgia, using recycled television jingles, familiar old advertising slogans, and famous art to sell a surprising range of products.
An engrossing, unprecedented study, Retro reveals the surprising extent to which the past is embedded in the future.
Articles by Elizabeth Guffey
and future, they can be distinguished by their modes of production. Both avant-garde and popular approaches to futurism are considered, and measured against ideas of retro-futurism and steampunk. The latter’s manifestation within a culture of tinkering, DIY, and craft are contrasted with retro-futurism’s characterization as a detached sensibility that mourns the lost belief in progress. While steampunks celebrate “making” and often build strong ethical claims for their work, the movement’s engagement with craft traditions is generally under-theorized; ultimately, in its lack of self-reflectivity, steampunk provides a mirror for our shifting understanding of craft, human agency, and the global implications of making in the early twenty-first century.
Drawing upon a wealth of original research and entertaining anecdotal material, Guffey unearths the roots of the term “retro” and chronicles its evolving manifestations in culture and art throughout the last century. Whether in art, design, fashion, or music, the idea of retro has often meant a reemergence of styles and sensibilities that evoke touchstones of memory from the not-so-distant past, ranging from the drug-induced surrealism of psychedelic art to the political expression of 1970s afros.
Guffey examines how and why the past keeps coming back to haunt us in a variety of forms, from the campy comeback of art nouveau nearly fifty years after its original decline, to the infusion of art deco into the kitschy glamor of pop art, to the recent popularity of 1980s vogue. She also considers how advertisers and the media have employed the power of such cultural nostalgia, using recycled television jingles, familiar old advertising slogans, and famous art to sell a surprising range of products.
An engrossing, unprecedented study, Retro reveals the surprising extent to which the past is embedded in the future.
and future, they can be distinguished by their modes of production. Both avant-garde and popular approaches to futurism are considered, and measured against ideas of retro-futurism and steampunk. The latter’s manifestation within a culture of tinkering, DIY, and craft are contrasted with retro-futurism’s characterization as a detached sensibility that mourns the lost belief in progress. While steampunks celebrate “making” and often build strong ethical claims for their work, the movement’s engagement with craft traditions is generally under-theorized; ultimately, in its lack of self-reflectivity, steampunk provides a mirror for our shifting understanding of craft, human agency, and the global implications of making in the early twenty-first century.
These ideas have lead to a vigorous discussion of care as an essential function of planning urban environments. But, we ask, how might care be reflected in the structures of art museums? In museums as buildings? In exhibition design? In tactile-friendly displays, or displays that contain multi-sensorial material? In wall labels that are available in large print or Braille copy? Are the displays hung on the wall so that they are accessible to a variety of human scales? Are sound-based works accompanied by captions or American Sign Language interpretation? Do museums consider how audio tours may co-exist alongside audio descriptions? All these questions and more will be considered in this panel. Above all, we ask, how can we broaden our conception of museums as institutions of care?