History of Design has a forty-year life as an academic subject in which the University of Brighton has held a highly regarded and prominent role. This lecture explores some of the key themes in this development and how they intersect with Jeremy Aynsley’s own career as a design historian. Drawing on new research, it ranges from a consideration of designed words as commercial signs in the 1920s to the political location of graphic design in relation to post-war German graphic design. It also comments on the historical interpretation of constructed public and exhibition spaces.