InfoGuides: History of Graphic Design: Find Articles

Recommended Databases

What's in these databases?

Databases and journals are excellent sources for finding in-depth information on your topic or artist, including citations to or full-text articles from scholarly journals, professional magazines, and newspapers. Start here if you're looking for exhibition reviews, interviews, photographic essays, or critical analysis.

Art and Architecture Source This link opens in a new window
Find articles on a broad range of art and design topics, including communication/graphic design. Includes articles published in French, Italian, German, Spanish and Dutch.
Art & Architecture Archive This link opens in a new window
Full-text archive of magazines comprising key research material in the fields of art and architecture, dating from the late-nineteenth century to the twenty-first. Subjects covered include fine art, decorative arts, architecture, interior design, industrial design, and photography.
Tutorial for the Art & Architecture Archive database.
Design and Applied Arts Index (DAAI) This link opens in a new window
Includes information for design and crafts, from textiles and ceramics to vehicle design, advertising and sustainability. Covers journal articles, exhibition reviews and news items from 1973 to the present.
Tutorial for the Design and Applied Arts Index database.
Communication and Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new window
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Provides indexing, abstracting, and some full text for journals and books related to communication and mass media studies back to 1915.
View a tutorial on this database here.
ARTbibliographies Modern This link opens in a new window
Specialist bibliography available for the study of modern and contemporary art covering all art forms, including fine art, digital art, crafts, design and photography. Features full abstracts and indexing from art journals published from the late 1960s onwards. Also incorporates book records, including those drawn from the collections of the Tate Library and the Bibliothque Dominique Bozo, Muse LAM.
Tutorial for the ARTbibliographies Modern database.

Selected Graphic Design Journals

Visible Language
Peer-reviewed design journal that advocates the potential for the research and practice of visual communication, including interface and interaction design, typography, and design education.
Journal of Design History
Peer reviewed journal. The Journal of Design History (JDH) embraces the history of a range of design-related subjects, from furniture to product design, graphic design, craft, fashion, textiles, architectural interiors and exhibitions.
Eye: The International Review of Graphic Design
Design magazine for professional designers, students and anyone interested in critical, informed writing about design and visual culture.
** Available online through 2014; newer issues available in print in Fenwick Library.
Design Issues
Peer reviewed. The first American academic journal to examine design history, theory, and criticism, Design Issues provokes inquiry into the cultural and intellectual issues surrounding design.
Design and Culture
Peer-reviewed journal for the field of design, including new or overlooked lines of inquiry that redefine our understanding of design.
Available from 2009 to present
Visual Communication Quarterly
Peer-reviewed journal of theory, research, practical criticism, and creative work in all areas of visual communication.
Information Design Journal
Peer-reviewed journal focused on discussing and improving the design, usability, and overall effectiveness of ‘content put into form’—that is, verbal and visual messages shaped to meet the needs of particular audiences.