Prerequisite(s): VIST 205, VIST 262, VIST 272 or VIST 282. This course offers students an opportunity to consider how ‘the idea of design’ has developed historically, while they simultaneously reflect on the way this idea functions within today’s globalized world. Organized in a rough chronology, each week works to thematically introduce the different ways that ‘the question,’ ‘the practice,’ and ‘the product’ of design have all been mobilized, marketed, and theorized. The course challenges students to think across a complex, cross-cultural network of images, objects, services, interfaces, and experiences while working to determine the ever-fluctuating value that design has, as both a noun and a verb. Students will work to disentangle the idea of design from the complex webs of financial, cultural, and social capital that provide for its most practical and its most esoteric applications. Topics will include the ethics and the politics of design; the relationship between design and the arts and crafts; and how identity is shaped by design. Equivalent course ARHT 306 effective through Summer 2021.