This textbook combines an analysis of historical thinking about design with contemporary critical theory. Throughout, explanations are linked to visual concepts, so the book is useful for studio instruction as well as freestanding lecture courses on history or theory. Promoting rigorous thinking as well as practical and technical proficiency, it encourages students to critique the professional design work they encounter, as well as their own studio practice. New thinking about graphic design, uniting a historical perspective with an essential critical background, is made accessible to students--this thinking would otherwise be available only in diverse and unsuitable readings.