Exam-Style Questions

Compare and critically analyze how gender and the body are used as design elements in different historical contexts. How do the images reflect shifts in the objectification, commodification, and aestheticization of gendered bodies in design and visual culture? (ALLEN JONES AND BAD BUNNY)

Both images present the body as a designed object, shaped by the values, desires, and ideologies of their time. While both engage with objectification, aestheticization, and the male gaze, they do so in strikingly different cultural contexts. In Allen Jones’s 1969 artwork, the woman’s body is transformed into literal furniture—an armchair made from a fetishized female mannequin in lingerie and bondage gear. This work reflects the dominant social values of the time, where women were not only seen as inferior but also commodified as passive “objects of desire.” As Laura Mulvey argues, design and visual culture have historically catered to the “male gaze,” which is evident here through the eroticization and dehumanization of the female body, both symbolically and functionally. In contrast, the Calvin Klein advertisement featuring Bad Bunny signals a shift in how objectification operates. Here, the male body is aestheticized, hypersexualized, and marketed, revealing a reversal or broadening of the gaze. This image highlights Baudrillard’s notion of commodity fetishism and sign-value: consumers aren’t buying underwear for function, but for what it symbolizes—sexual power, desirability, and cultural capital. Ultimately, both examples reveal how bodies are stylized through design to reflect shifting ideologies around gender, power, and consumption.

Compare how gender and power are represented through the design of the body in two different visual examples studied in class.
(You may draw from images like Allen Jones's chair, Calvin Klein ads, or similar visual materials.)

Reflect on the shift from “Good Design” (1950s–1960s) to “Responsible Design” (1970s–1980s). What social, political, or economic forces influenced this transition? Reference at least two authors or design movements.

The shift from “Good Design

Discuss how Baudrillard’s theories of simulacra and sign value help us understand contemporary consumer culture. Use one example of a design object, ad, or celebrity product to illustrate your argument.

How have feminist and/or decolonial approaches challenged dominant narratives in design history? Use one or more case studies or texts discussed in class to support your answer.

Feminist and decolonial approaches interrogate and critique traditional design narratives, highlighting marginalized voices and perspectives that have been overlooked. These approaches often advocate for inclusivity and social justice in design practices.

Compare two examples of exhibition design discussed in class—one from the modernist “white cube” tradition and another that disrupts it. How do they reflect different ideologies about art, space, and the viewer?

The modernist white cube tradition can very obsviously be seen in MOMA’s art exhibition. In this exhibition, art was presented and exhibited in a white wall, clean, minimal lighting atmosphere, in a way, alienating the actual artwork from social, historial or even cultural context. The viewer’s role is almost invisible, as they are alienated from the artwork itself, reinforcing the idea of the artwork as autonomous and elite. By giving the actual exhibition space so much power, this reflected modernist ideals; ideas of elitism, and the idea that the frame in which the art piece was in was way more powerful than the art piece itself. However, a clear contrast is in the Savage Beauty exhibition, where Alexander Mcqueen almost criticizes the white cube art space. The collection explores themes of beauty in a grotesque format, with the artwork and the environment both …