Chapter 9-The Industrial Revolution

The industrial revolution is incredibly interesting in that it was a major transfer from rural areas to more condensed urban setting. This period in time lasted from 1760-1800 and turned the design world upside down. This revolution gave birth to machinery and took away the hassle and tedious process of hand made crafts. This movement is known to be a movement that effected and influenced not just the art but society as well. I would go one step further in saying that this was more of a social movement then anything. With the industry booming after the invention of the steam engine, jobs popped up everywhere and people rushed to where the money was this led to overpopulated urban settings with poor work/living conditions. 

As for the design side of this time, we start to see advertising arising along with the industries. This meant posters were at high demands, and everyone was looking for a way to produce more posters, faster and cheaper. The invention of Gutenburgs printing press led to the creation of other printing machines that rapidly produced finished products. First was Lord Stanhope's design of a light weight all iron press, then came Fredrich Koenig and his steam powered press that pumped out 400 sheets per hour, finally came the Line'O'type that produced 4000 sheets per hour and resembled a typewriter. Along side the mass production of woodblock prints, was the invention of something completely new to the world of design. Photography began during this revolution in 1826 when Niepce took the very firs photo onto light sensitive paper. This movement known as the Industrial revolution is considered a time of scientific reasoning and the search for new ideas, it gave the world of design this identity of advertising and brought forth new inventions like the printing presses and photography. 

After Class-Chapter 8

Today we did a quick review about the renaissance, covering the three renaissance men that we learned about in class and in chapter 7, the designers we talked about were Ratdolt, Manutius, and Tory. All we did to remember these designers was review the major design aspects that each person used, and we clarified some new inventions or techniques that came about during this time. We only spent a few minutes going over the renaissance, cause most of our focus in class was aimed toward chapter 8 and of typographic genius. Mainly this chapter went over the French rococco period of art and the letterforms that were being used during that point in time. Many changes were made to typography including the invention of the first font family and formula for font sizes. These discoveries were made by Fournier le Jeune, and he created font sizes by using the point system where 72 points equals one inch. The most helpful part of class discussion was when we looked at the evolution of the type going from old style to transitional, to modern. We focused on the difference of strokes and how the letter form change due to the preference of the time. For example the modern types were machine made and thats because everyone was fascinated by the rise of industrial power so they had the urge for machine made lettering opposed to hand drawn type. 

Weekly Image

This is an image of the EA sports gaming logo. This, much like my last weekly image, can be related to class because it also is a logogram like the ones created during the rise of civilization. However I am using this image to show how it relates to the renaissance, more importantly how the renaissance helped push the development of new typeface. I was intrigued by the lettering of the E and the A for this logo. The type is highly stylized and is unique in the way that the strokes were created, and this uniqueness reminded me of Geoffroy Tory and his fantasy type. It was the renaissance era that brought forth this new sense of creativity and artistic license. If it was not for the inventiveness of the renaissance than there would never be this endless amount of fonts that are seen in the modern day design world. 

Before Class-Geoffroy Tory & Chapter 8

Geoffroy Tory is the name of graphic artist that lived from 1480-1533. He was not just an artist he was also considered a renaissance man covering and successfully accomplishing almost all factions of life. For example Tory was known to be a professor, scholar, translator, poet, author,publisher printer, bookseller, calligrapher, designer, illustrator, and an engraver. Not only did he accomplish such great feats but he did so during a time when such careers were yet fully developed. Tory can be considered a true renaissance man because he was, as previously listed, a man of many talents but also a man of worldly knowledge. I believe that it was his ability to understand so many different types of languages and styles that allow him to be considered one of the most profound graphic artists of his time and of history. It is also interesting to know that Tory was not a privileged child and that he studied hard and traveled in order to gain his knowledge of the arts and the world. The reason why I found this to be interesting is because usually back then it was hard to become anything/anyone unless you came from a noble background. Tory set out to understand and perfect all spectrums of design, but he also was known for inventing new styles and a new perspective of design. He is known for stepping away from the bold, cluttered style of the Gothic era by adding mathematical organization and spacing to his works. Along with the page layouts Tory also was seen as an inventor of type, mainly known for his unique typeface that involved each letter being represented by a certain tool. Tory was considered the most influential designer of the century opening the door for future designers to build off of his accomplishments.

The focus of chapter 8 is on the increasing inventiveness of typeface after the turn of the eighteenth century. Designers stepped away from the formality of the Roman capitals, and began to invent new typefaces that were put together using mathematics, however the overall lettering would be created for aesthetic appeal. during the Rococo era in the eighteenth century brought fourth a sense of organic lettering. Floral designs and the use of s-curves caused the rococo period to be full of intricate patterns that derived from nature. The most important invention to come out of the rococo period was the set of guidelines and rules created by Fournier le Jeune. What Jeune did was create a book that included a system of design in which measurements, rules, and typeface were all unified for other designers to use as reference. This invention also lead to the beginning of type families, or fonts. This set of guidelines also involved principles involving the use of fonts in relation to the use of decorative typefaces. It is during this time that engravers or print makers start to be seen more as artists because they were no longer confined to using a certain type, they began to invent and create new decorative engravings.

This period in time allowed designers to create their very own type, one man in particular was William Caslon who was an englishman that created his own typeface called Caslon Old Style. This become the main font used by all designers in England at the time. What was unique about his font designs was that they were mainly easy to read but still maintained this sense of artistry that was pleasing to the eye. Next in line to change the world of type was a man who also resided in England, his name was John Baskerville. What Baskerville did was improve the printing press and designed cast and set type. He also borrowed some ideas from the Japanese and he would often finish his work by hand painting flowers and fruits throughout. Truly the most important aspect that came from this time period was the inventiveness and use of different types. Also it is important to note that guidelines were created that helped organize the world of graphic design and type, however it did not limit creativity and the search for new ideas.

Weekly Image

This Advertisement for NIKE represents what we have been learning in class more specifically the early stages of civilization when logograms were being used. A logogram is something that represents a certain concept, for example how the dollar sign($) represents money/currency. I saw this image once before outside the internet, but this image was taken of the computer. The main reason why I was attracted to this particular piece is due to the color contrast between the dark, rugged terrain and the red of the NIKE swoosh. I was also drawn to this advertisement because, like I said earlier, I remember seeing this image before. For NIKe this is meant to sell products, or overall draw attention to their company. Even though this image is recent, we can still see how design is used to communicate, NIKE is using an element of communication that dates back before the Phoenicians. The only difference is that ancient civilizations used logograms to help communicate important ideas, whereas NIKE uses it to promote a product. However the effect is still the same because the NIKE swoosh is known worldwide due to the logogram being easy to identify.

Class Presentation-Illuminated Manuscripts

1) History of the Romanesque and Gothic period: • Romanesque period happened A.D. 1000-1150 • Saw renewed religious feelings • Monasticism reached its peak • During the middle of the 12th Century, the Romanesque period evolved into the Gothic period which lasted until A.D. 1150 • The Gothic period became very advanced because towns turned into cities and the upbringing of agriculture aided in international trade • Money became the main source of wealth and stable governments emerged

2) Describe the history, influence of the style: • Liturgical books such as bibles, Gospels, and psalters emerged during the Romanesque period • The Middle Ages produced a new emphasis on linear drawing and distorting figures for the overall design of the page. This was because during the Carolingian era, illusionism really took off • The rise of universities also increased making the book market boom during the Gothic era and the illuminators emerged to help meet the high demand for the books

3) Summarizing the look of the style: • Gothic art became a Medieval art movement led by the development of Gothic architecture. • One of the famous Gothic illumination is called the Douce Apocalypse (Page 54) • As you can see in this specific scene, a beautiful illustration is above two columns of text • Another example of Gothic illumination is a page from the Ormesby Psalter (Page 55), a famous liturgical book of the late medieval era • You can see more illustrations surrounding the text and a lot of red and blue were used in many late Gothic manuscripts, especially this one

4) Describe key designers within the style: • Unfortunately, the scribe and illuminator are unknown in the previous figures on pages 54 and 55 but there were artists that have been known during this time era

• Jean Pucelle grew up in the Gothic era and became an illuminator active between 1320 and 1350 • He liked color and a delicate touch
• Hermann Jean and Paul Limbourg worked with a different style called International Gothic • Created late medieval illumination 5) Describe the typography of the style: • Black lettering became the calligraphic form used • Littera moderna (latin for modern lettering) became the dominant mode of Gothic lettering • Tall, narrow lettering and sharp, angular lines make up the calligraphy unlike the typical round Carolingian we have talked about • Condensed space was key in Romanesque/Gothic typography

After Class-Chapters 2&3

Today we went over the reading for chapters 2 and 3. Much like the last class discussion today helped clarify some misunderstandings I had for the readings, and it also went over some topics or key terms that I missed. For example I missed when the book went over what a logogram is, but after class discussion I was able to find out that a logogram is simply a symbol that represents an object like the dollar sign representing money. Also in class we went over how the Phoenicians were the first to use achrophonic symbols or in other words symbols that stand for the initial sound made when spoken.

I also found it interesting how different writing in the west is from the writing style of the Chinese and other Asian cultures. Even though the Greek and Roman empires developed an alphabet that closely relates to modern day writing, I find myself being more interested in the calligraphy of China. One aspect of the western writing style that I found to be intriguing is how both the Greeks and Romans developed two styles each, one being neat and carefully written the other being sloppy and quickly written. For the Greeks it was called unicials which were letters with more rounded edges rather than geometric shapes. As for the Romans it was called capitalis rustica which was written very quickly with no spacing of the letters so they could fit more words on one piece of parchment. The reason why I find this interesting is because these forms of quick sloppy writing is like the early stages of modern day cursive.

After reading both of these chapters my only question that I keep asking myself is which culture had a greater impact on the world with its developments, the West or the East?

Before Class-Chapters 2&3

The reading for chapter two included the descriptions of the earliest forms of alphabets, and how they came around to being used in modern day life. What caught me of guard but also fascinates me about this chapter is how it is almost completely unknown where the written alphabet started. The chapter reveals these languages in a chronological manner and includes some insight to where/ how the alphabet may have developed. It all started with the Cretan pictographs derived from the Minoan civilization. This type of writing is explained to be the starting point for what is known as the Greek alphabet. The most important discover of the Cretan pictograph system is the Phaistos disk which is a circular slab that included the entire 135 pictographs found in the Minoan civilization. After the Cretan pictographs came the North semitic alphabet. This written language came from the western Mediterranean area and was developed due to the extensive amount of trading that was being done in the region at the time. During this time period around 1500 B.C. the Semitic people, influenced by Egyptian and Mesopotamian writing developed something called Sinaitic script which is a evolved form of hieroglyphics. The Ras Shamra script is described as being an example of the Semitic alphabet and it includes thirty cuneiform signs that act as consonant sounds, which are seen as being the precursor to the Greek alphabet. One of the most visually interesting forms of writing is that of the Aramaic alphabet. This written language was developed in the tribes from Aram and uses twenty-two symbols that act as consonantal sounds. I find this writing interesting due to the way that each letter is connected to the next with an upward curving stroke, and how they abbreviated the first and last letter in the word which made it easy to see the separation of words. Aramaic writing is also the writing used for the holy book of the Muslim religion called the Qur'an. This form or style of writing kept developing but mostly went unchanged as it evolved in the more eastern civilizations. As for the west, it was the Greek alphabet that made the most impact towards the development of a sound, uniformed alphabet. This Greek alphabet evolved from the Phoenicians and according to Greek mythology it was King Cadmus that brought the alphabet to Greece. The Greeks practically just cleaned up the messy symbols/letters of the Phoenicians alphabet by giving them a more geometric shape, by doing so it made the writing crisper and led to the epic poems of the Odyssey and the Iliad. The most complex part about the Greek form of writing is this method they used called boustrophedon which meant that instead of reading left to right they wrote in the opposite direction every other line. Because of the massive size of the Greek Empire the alphabet adapted to the region it was found in leading to the development of the Latin, Etruscan and Cyrillic alphabets. The most important or most developed of the written languages is that of the Latin alphabet. Latin came into power as the Roman empire began to rise. Influenced by the Greek alphabet the Romans borrowed their alphabet with minimal changes. The Latin alphabet, at first contained twenty one letters but after the Roman conquered Greece they alphabet grew to twenty six letters. There exists two forms of writing in Latin, there is the more time consuming and important capitalis quadrata which was written slowly and carefully including precise spacing of each letter. Than there is the more sloppy quickly written form called capitalis rustica, this form is meant to save space and allows the writer to write as much as possible not worrying about the neat spacing that was used in the capitalis quadrata style. This was also used due to the expensive price of papyrus and parchment. The use of parchment paper is just another invention of the Roman empire, and it allowed for the development of the codex. The codex is the early stages of the modern day book, and because there was an embargo put in place on papyrus everyone used parchment. In some time it became evident that rolling up the papyrus paper was a messy, tedious process so instead the Roman tied sheets of parchment together. The Roman empire gave birth to great industries like architecture, engineering, art, and language and influenced the western world but I believe without the use and development of the written language none of it would have been possible. Moving away from the western civilizations and moving far East to Korea the use of written language is dramatically different. Instead of writing left to right the Koreans used syllabic blocks by combining a consonant and a vowel. It is considered as the most scientific form of an alphabet because the Koreans developed the abstract signs according to the position of the tongue in the mouth when they spoke. This view of the Korean alphabet leads perfectly into the next chapter of the book that is about the contributions made by the Asians in regards to written language.

The system of writing in the Western civilizations was always evolving, at first it was a unified system set up by the Romans but as time passed and different borders became set in place so did different forms of language. As for Asia it is the ancient Chinese form of calligraphy that is still unchanged and used today, more so than any other form of writing. Chinese calligraphy is compared to the visually vibrant form of hieroglyphics and the writing found in the ancient Mayan culture. It is not like the alphabet that contains abstract signs that act as consonants however the Chinese used simple lines together that are bound by an invisible box. The difference between Chinese calligraphy and Egyptian hieroglyphs is that the Chinese used abstract simple lines apposed to the complexity of hieroglyphics. These lines were combined together to create a character and each character represented a word or an idea, these are called logograms. The earliest writing form was conducted on the shells of turtles or the bones of large mammals and it was called chaiku-wen. Chaiku-wen is descibed as the communication between the living and the dead where a royal diviner would write a message on the shell or bone then press a hot piece of metal onto it and the marks left behind would be interpreted as a message from the dead. The next form of calligraphy is called chin-wen, which involved writing/inscribing characters onto cast-bronze. Even more abstracted then the previous ctyles was the style of hsiao chuan which was an elegant combination of lines to produce an aesthetically sound character. It was in this form that Chinese calligraphy became unified in all regions of China. The last stage/development of Chinese calligraphy is called chen-shu, and it has been in use for nearly two thousand years. I find it intriguing that this form of writing is considered more of an art then anything else due to the shear brilliance and beauty of each character. Much like the Egyptians invented papyrus the Chinese invented paper. At first the Chinese would write on bamboo slats with ink and a bamboo pen, but then a man named Ts'ai Lun invented paper by using the bark off of trees and putting it through a rigorous process of soaking and flattening. By doing so he invented a light weight durable material to not only write on but also use for wallpaper, napkins, wrapping paper and even toilet paper. Aside from the invention of paper the Chinese are also responsible for the important invention of print making. Because of this development copies of texts and important document could be easily made. There exists many different ways to go about print making, the first way used by the Chinese was a simple relief print, where an image is raised from a flat surface by subtracting the space around, then you would ink the raised image and press it onto a piece of paper. It is unknown who invented relief print making but the invention gave way to latter forms of the art. Because of print making the important documents were able to survive years of weathering due to the longevity of the paper and ink, such documents like the nine Confucian classics are still intact today.

After Class-Chapter 1

In class today we discussed the reading for chapter 1 about the beginning of visual communication. I was eager for the class discussion since i was still a little confused as to what the book was saying. More specifically I was interested in finding out the difference between a few key terms that the chapter touched base on, like the three different types of visual communication found in the early stages of civilization. Petroglyphs, ideographs and pictographs are the three terms that class discussion helped clarify. During the reading I could not decipher what was a pictograph or what was an ideograph, the discussion in class allowed me to actually look at the terms and break them down. For example picto stands for picture meaning the symbols used are meant to portray an object, whereas ideographs are signs that try and convey an idea. As for the term ptroglyphs I realized that petro is short for rock or stone so the term is talking about abstract symbols that are carved onto stone.

Since the reading for chapter one was otherwise straight forward with its message I did not have that many questions in regard to it. However the class discussion helped set up the next chapters topic more so than the book did. What intrigued me the most were the charts shown in class that depicted the gradual change from early symbols to the modern day alphabet. Along with the slight introduction to the next chapter, I also enjoyed going more in depth about the Rosetta Stone. The book did a perfectly acceptable job in describing the discover of the stone, but it was not till we talked about it in class that I truly thought about how extraordinary and important the stone was. When I read about the massive stone document it was just that, another document but then in class we discussed its importance even further and it interested me to know that without that one stone we would have never been able to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics, and furthermore their way of life.

Before Class-Chapter 1

In the previous post I mentioned that I have taken a course in art history, and much like that class, the history of graphic design begins with the earliest form of visual communication. According to the book the first recorded use of visual communication is found in the cave drawings made by early homo sapiens. I found it interesting that in my art history class we studied the same cave paintings found at Lascaux, but we were looking at this paintings strictly as the earliest form of art. Whereas the history of graphic design argues that the images found in the caves are in fact the earliest form of visual communication. The truth is, we will never figure out why these cave paintings were made because they date back before recorded history even began. All throughout the world are these markings, simple signs and symbols that were left behind by prehistoric artist/communicators. These prehistoric homo sapiens used these petroglyphs/pictographs to tell a story. Later on these pictographs developed into two different categories, they acted as the stepping stone for pictorial art and the pictographs are considered to be the beginning of the written language.

Mesopotamia otherwise known as the fertile crescent was the end of nomadic tribes and the beginning of developed civilizations. Stuck in between the Euphrates and Tigris river, Mesopotamia gave early man the opportunity to truly mature in the ways of communication. By not having to constantly be on the move, mankind was finally able to develop new tools and ideas along with the ability to record history. For example the book speaks of the city of Uruk where clay tablets were found that involved pictographs accompanied by numeric symbols in a vertical fashion. The marks made on the clay tablet were made from a wooden stylus by scratching the surface of the clay. According to the book around 2800 B.C. there is a noticeable switch from vertical columns to horizontal rows reading left to right. The invention of a triangular stylus also changed the way Paleolithic people went about visual communication. Instead of scratches on the surface the triangular stylus would gauge away at the clay which led to the development of abstract sign writing, otherwise known as cuneiform. Cuneiform was the true beginning of the written language, and from it came multiple advantages and social developments. For example historical records were made along with libraries stocked full of novels and poetry and tablets talking about religion, mathematics, history, medicine, astronomy. The use of writing also gave birth to the invention of written law which helped uniform society in the fertile crescent. The end of Mesopotamia gave birth to those empires that followed such as the Persian, Greek, and Roman empire.

However it was the Egyptian empire that evolved the written language and changed it into what is known as hieroglyphics. Hieroglyphs is a complicated, highly developed form of writing that uses pictographs in order to tell a story. The Egyptians also did away with the use of cuneiform and replaced it with the use of phonetic signs. This system of writing that was put in place by the Egyptians is also known as a picture writing system. The word hieroglyphics is Greek for "sacred carving", these sacred carvings are found in Egyptian temples, tombs, and carved onto tablets. One of the more famous or most talked about piece of writing from the Egyptian empire is the Rosetta stone which was found by Napoleons army in 1799. The Rosetta stone is interesting and unique because it incorporates three scripts that were inscribed in three languages. Because the stone involved three different languages of the same script, the western civilization were able to decode Egyptian hieroglyphics and better understand their civilization. This discovery also allowed for the better understanding of the Egyptian writing system which contains over seven hundred hieroglyphs, one hundred of these hieroglyphs were mainly pictographs whereas the rest were known to be phonographs. The Egyptians created a new form of writing and they also created a new material to write on. Papyrus is the first form of paper. Made from the Papyrus plant found near the Nile river, papyrus had many uses but most importantly replaced the use of stone templates. The stem of this papyrus plant had a natural adhesive found in it, so when the plant was wet they would hammer the stems flat and have it dry in the sun. After being dried out they would then polish for a smooth surface. There were different grades of papyrus that were used depending on the importance of the document being written. They would write on papyrus by using a wet brush dipped into different pigmented ink cakes. The Egyptians were also known as the first civilization to use illustrated manuscripts, or in other words a combination of words and pictures that communicate a specific message. This invention led to the creation of more detailed books and stories much like the funerary text know as the Book of the Dead. Illustrated manuscripts invented by the Egyptians made way for later forms of communication found after the fall of the Egyptian empire.

After Class-2/3

For the first day of class we began by making introductions. I got to know a little bit about my peers by having a few minutes to talk to them and ask simple questions like "Whats your major?" or "Whens your birthday?". After the introductions we went straight into playing with play-doh. At first I must admit I had no idea how play-doh correlated with the history of graphic design, but I did not complain because well...we got to play with play-doh. The activity called for the class to break up into smaller groups, then each group was given a phrase that they had to depict by using the play-doh. The only rules were that no numbers or letters could be used and the play-doh had to be a flat image, so no building was allowed. The phrases that were handed out were not common sayings whatsoever, which made things difficult when it came time to guess each groups phrase. For example, my group had to work off of the phrase "The chicken and the cow danced at midnight", the other groups understood the images that we made but they did not get the phrase. After fooling around with the play-doh we began to discuss what we can expect to learn from this course, and what is necessary for us to get a good grade. From what I grasped this course is going to cover the history of graphic design, it is going to be a writing intensive class in which we learn about styles of the past.

After the first day I must admit I am both anxious and curious. I cant wait to get into the thick of things and start to understand how and why graphic design began. As of today the most meaningful concept to grasp is from the play-doh activity and how difficult it is to create a visual image with limited supplies in order to convey an idea...or in this case a phrase. I also found it interesting that we are starting by looking at cave drawings as the first form of graphic design. I have taken other art history classes and am always intrigued when I learn about the beginning of art because it is truly amazing to see how far the design world has come.