A Gathering of Flowers: On Design Anthologies

Over the past decade, anthologies – also called ‘readers’ – of design history and theory have proliferated across publishers’ catalogues. These books perform important pedagogical functions: they define fields and establish canons of authoritative texts, authors and concepts. While detractors argue that the easy availability of textual sources online means that we no longer need anthologies, the opposite argument can be made: the overwhelming volume of electronic information sharpens the need for concise, edited selections. This article examines the practices of selecting, editing and publishing anthologies and reasons for their increasing popularity, particularly in design education, at the present time.