The importance of design history

- [Interviewer] Why is understanding the history of design important to those of us who are designers today? - [Interviewee] Well, that's really the obvious question, and there's not really an obvious answer. It's an interesting one. The initial thought that I think many people would have is that our technology environment is evolving so fast that all of our attention should be focused on the future. My own feeling is that if we step back from where we are, we will have a context and a perspective that will clarify the root in front of us. That's what I've been trying to accomplish. It's to encourage people, encourage students, encourage people in professional practice to step back from the intensity of the moment and gain a larger perspective. In doing so, you will find all kinds of interesting things. One of which is simply the fact that much of what you were doing that feels so completely new, unprecedented, and state of the art, actually actually has precedence and has some…