Design is all around us. It manifests itself in the boardroom and on the battlefield; from the factory floor to the supermarket aisle; in our cars, kitchens and bathrooms; in advertising and food packaging; on movie sets and in computer avatars. In The Genius of Design, the author and design historian, Penny Sparke, offers us far more than a history of design icons. The book's five sections take the reader on a chronological journey, from industrialization in the 19th century; on to the Modern movement, the Bauhaus and beyond; through austerity and wartime; postwar boom and the potential of new materials and processes; and finishing with an up-to-the-minute engagement with design in the 21st century.

The Genius of Design champions not just the ?design heroes' of the last 200 years but also the democratic forces of machine production and mass consumption. Above all, it puts human beings back where they belong - at the heart of the debate about what makes good and bad design.