A new image for a new profession: Self-image and representation in the professionalization of design in Britain, 1945–1960

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between self-image, representation and professionalization in the formative years of the design profession in Britain between 1945 and 1960 through a focused empirical study of two independent but interrelated design organizations, the Society of Industrial Artists and the Council of Industrial Design. The article examines publications, correspondence and internal memoranda to identify attempts by both institutions to manage, steer and govern the professional image of the designer. As this material reveals, both organizations held the image of the gentleman professional as an aspirational figure for emerging designers. Attending to a gap in historical and sociological readings of the professions, the article establishes the discursive function of self-image in relation to the particular value of professionalism in design, suggesting that dress, behaviour and physical appearance can be read as sources through which to historicize and theorize the shifting status of the designer in the cultural economy.