This seminar is grounded in the questions: What is graphic design? What is context? It examines the foundations of graphic design from the printing to digital revolutions and the dynamics within which designers operate. Students learn about historical context as an interaction of global perspectives, cultural movements/developments, technological factors, and social/political forces. Students learn to practice critical inquiry through readings and interpretive writing, applying broad lenses to the analysis of specific works, seeking meaning in the relationship between the work of individual designers and the ideas of their times, tracing similarities to and differences between the contemporary and past practice of graphic design, analyzing the impact of technological and cultural change on the uses of graphic media, and taking note of cross-cultural global perspectives.