History of Graphic Design

Midterm Review

Historical Background of DesignVitruvius names a guiding principle that has found its place in design history: “all buildings must satisfy three criteria: strength (firmitas), functionality (utilitas), and beauty (venustas)” (Bürdek 1997) Leonardo – designer as inventor – science and engineering basedDisegno - the artistic idea/the creative spark inspiration

Interno – plan the draftEsterno - the work of art

Disegno as the father of the ‘arts’ - painting sculpture architecture ( hierarchy) In 1588 Oxford Dictionary

a plan or scheme devised by a person for something that is to be realized, a first graphic draft of a work of art,

-an object of the applied arts, which is to be binding for the execution of a work

Social Process of Design• Event or Discovery: natural /man-made /technology

• Change : philosophy/approach

• Response: Aesthetic & Practice ( the link to Art & Design)

• Reaction: good/bad? Does it work?

• Dissemination: travel and migration – ideas and people

• Transformation: - of practice/technology/philosophy/aesthetics

Looking at Images• Which includes the breakdown of the parts of an image• Understanding difference between an ‘image’ and its parts and • how that affects the ‘whole’• The message that the image sends/ and the role and relationship

between creator/image/ viewer• This relationship is key to our understanding of art & design• We need to ask why = why do I like it• Why is it important• What would happen if it was changed?• • These images – are part of our visual and cultural literacy

• Literacy means that a group shares the assigned meaning of a common body of information - visually is without as much rigidity (Dondis, 1973)

• Meaning lies as much in the eye of the

beholder as in the talents of the creator. Form is affected by content; content is affected by form the message is cast by the creator and modified by the observer. (Dondis,1973)

Reproduction and Authenticity • Printing – quantity and mass distribution• Lithography – speed and variety of

reproduction increased• Photography • “the eye perceives faster than the hand can

draw” ( Benjamin, 1936)• Kept pace with speech• Opened up possibilities for art/interpretation• Changed our relationship with the image/object in

regard to its authenticity

• The whole province of genuineness is beyond technological ( and of course not only technological) reproducibility.

• An object’s authority is its genuineness

• Reproductive technology removes the thing reproduced from the realm of tradition - it substitutes for its unique incidence a multiplicity of incidences.

• What does this mean when creating work that is reproduced?

• How does it affect the message?

• How do you create authority and authenticity with multiple reproductions?

Phaistos Disk,, 2nd half 16th century BC - 1st half of the 11th centuryCrete, GreeceClay

Papyrus of Hunefer Book of the Dead, Anubis introducing Hunefer to weighing of his heart. 1300 BC, Egyptian

Caves of Lascaux, Hall of Bulls, painting, prehistoric, France

Incarnation Initial, Chi RhoBook of KellsIlluminated Manuscript,Celtic1st decade 9th Century

Gospel of St. MarkIlluminated manuscriptBook of Durrowc.680

Lindisfarne GospelsCarpet PageCeltic698-700

Ormesby PsalterIlluminated ManuscriptEnglish, late Gothic13th CenturyEnglish

Coronation GospelsSt. Mark’s GospelAachen800 ADCarolignian

Psalter in LatinFust and Schoeffer1457German, GothicEarliest example of color printing in Europe

Four Horsemen of the ApocalypseBeatus of Fernando and Sancha, 1047

Moorish Spain

Les Tres Riches heures du duc de BerryIlluminated ManuscriptJanuary pageLimbourg Bros1413-1416FranceGothic

Jack of Diamonds woodblock playing card1400

Ex Libris, for Johannes Knabensberg, c 1450, woodblock

‘Hans Igler that the hedgehog may kiss you’

Gutenberg Bible, 1450-55, Johan Gutenberg, Mainz, Germany

Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493 Anton Koberger, Printer,

George Alt , Calligrapher

Travels in Mt. Syon, 1486, Bernardus de Breidenbach ( Erhard Reuwich, illustrator)

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Albrecht Durer, 1498

Jenson-Eusebius Typeface, 1470, Nicolas Jenson, Evangelica Praeparatio

Schwabacher typeface, 1522New TestamentMartin LutherWoodcuts of the Apocalypse, Hans Cranach

broken curvesoblique strokes – retaining the

Calligrapher’s curve

A course in the art of measurement with compass and ruler

1525 , Albrecht Durer

OctavoAldus ManutiusEarly 16th ceVenice

Renaissance 1400 – early 1600s ( 15th – early 17th century)

• Romain due Roi typeface, 1702• Phillipe Grandjean deFouchy, French•

Modern

1750 onwardgreater contrast between thin and

thick strokes, - often hairlineserifs vertical stress

more abstract in appearancehorizontal/vertical/circularcompass and ruler

GermanyUnger -Fraktur

1793 Johann Friedrich Unger

1725 Wm Caslon – London type foundry

over 200 types based upon Caslon which had Dutch roots

solid functionality easy to read Transitional Roman

18th century

Robert Clee

Trade Card for

liquor dealer

Copperplate engraved

MMA

Steam Engine, James Watt, 1744

Slab Serif , Egyptian Typeface ( six line pica), 1821, William Thorowgood

The Siege of TroyAstley’s Circus,Anonymous1833Letterpress and Woodcut

• MIDDLE AGES 373 - 1453 ADCeltic, Saxon, & Hiberno 200 - 732 ADByzantine Art 400 - 1453 ADJustinian 527 - 565 ADIslamic Art 622 - 900 ADCarolingian Art 732 - 900 ADRomanesque Style 1000 - 1140 ADGothic Style 1140 - 1500 AD

• Renaissance 1400-1600 – Italy 1400-1600– No. Europe 1500-1600 (includes Mannerism)

• Baroque 1600- 1725• Rococo 1720-1760• Neo Classical 1750-1830 Age of Enlightenment

Industrial Revolution 1750- 1850

Technology to Know

Printing PressTypographyPhotography

DaguerrotypePhotograph

Lithography

• Font TimelineOld Style - RenaissanceTransitional - 16th – early 17th , BaroqueModern - second half 18th Century, Neoclassical