Co-ordinated design policy and the shift from one-off designs to comprehensive design systems

During the late 1940s and early 1950s a small group of designers embraced the concept of ‘design coordination’ in an attempt to unify the visual output of their clients. This shift in emphasis, favouring order over expression, represented a tipping point in the professionalisation of graphic design in Britain, helping to transform designers from individual commercial artists, into business practitioners working predominantly in groups.

Paper published in the proceedings of the ICDHS 2012 Conference. Design Frontiers: territories, concepts, technologies 8th Conference of the International Committee for Design History and Design Studies.