This article probes the design history of Stanley Milgram’s simulated shock generator by comparing drawings and notes from Milgram’s archive in the Sterling Memorial Library at Yale with laboratory equipment and apparatus catalogues from the Archives of the History of American Psychology, University of Akron. By applying contemporaneous human factors engineering principles to the generator’s control panel layout, sequencing, and display optimisation, an argument emerges that suggests the tailor-made device had an influential role in facilitating the behaviour witnessed in the laboratory and generalised as obedience. Such an approach puts forward a new reading of Milgram’s experiment design, his penchant for dramaturgy, and reconsiders his generalisation of obedience to social authority.

Writing soon after the 1962 Conference on Design Methods at Imperial College-the event that led to the founding of the Design Research Society in 1966-J.C. Jones and D.G. Thornley described the Conference's purpose as twofold. Firstly, the event determined the parameters of a collective agenda and, secondly, it enabled discussions that would catalyse future developments in design methods work (Slann, 1963). On the occasion of the Design Research Society (DRS)'s fiftieth anniversary, this conference strand continues this dialogue with a specific agenda: to assess histories of future-focused thinking and to consider the histories, theories and practices shared between design researchers. What emerges from evaluations of the Design Methods Movement and of Design Research is the continuous search for a common language and common methods and an interest in problem solving, by bringing scientific methods to bear on design. If we understand the history of Design Research in generational terms, this panel suggests a new era: a generation of rigorous interdisciplinary collaboration. This stretches to include practice methods, research, writing and diverse collaborations across academic colleagues from various disciplinary enclaves. Victor Margolin echoed this vanguard at the DRS2010 conference, noting that design research today "pursues its interests based on its own criteria for best practice and meaningful results" (Margolin, 2010, p.1). We interpret this as pursuing meaningful discourse on shared-and dual-inspirational, creative work in design developments. As part of this collaboration we ask: what can design historians contribute to the understanding of design research as a process comprised of history, theory and especially practice? And what can design research contribute to design history's interest in critical, reflexive and inclusive investigations into past design contexts and developments, in order to ensure sound, future-focused thinking?

‘Histories of Design Pedagogy’ gathers material from across three decades of the Journal of Design History to juxtapose distinct investigations into design education across various geographies, contexts, relationships and methodological concerns. By isolating three overarching themes to structure twelve articles, this introduction also makes an argument towards future design pedagogy, suggesting an Urmodell, or master plan, of elements in design pedagogy that is informed by key issues debated by and through the articles presented. ‘Design Systems and Projects’ addresses the meaning and concept of design, relationships between education and industry, and design training networks. ‘Ethics and Methods’ advocates greater attention to the identities, subjectivities and roles of the designer and of the user as stakeholders in a designed system, the increasing role of research in design practice, elements that affect practice from global design to emerging technologies, and object collections research. The final theme, ‘Critical Histories and Theories’, looks to changes in design history and design studies to inform interdisciplinary scholarship and the future of design practice. Tensions over proportions, boundaries and structures are addressed by this Urmodell, but in the preferred definition of modelling as a mediator, it exists here as a malleable framework over a steadfast solution.