This research project deals with historical approaches to design, both in the critical sense of reinterpreting the past in order to give meaning to the present and project the future, and in bringing recent phenomena together in order to understand the experience of the present time. Connections are sought between production techniques and the expressive possibilities of design, in the interpretation of visual languages from the past and the present, situated in their contexts of use and social practices. Through the identification and analysis of graphic manifestations and material culture as central objects of research, the aim is to investigate and reflect on design practices, circulation or consumption of design artefacts, contributing to the visibility of techniques and themes that act in the articulation of identities and cultural processes of signification. The promotion and memory of Brazilian design in its origins and lesser-known manifestations in traditional historiography from the 19th century to the present day is particularly valued.