after class 2-27

Yesterday in class we listened to Amanda talk about the Victorian Period.  She covered the design aspects of this period, a brief history of Queen Victoria, who inspired the English during the British Industrial Revolution, and she also went over the creation of posters.  The style of posters and broadsides were probably similar everywhere during this time period, but her description of posters is what I remember most about her presentation.  They used numerous different typefaces with several different sizes.  Their entire poster was filled with text and sometimes incorporated pictures.  I found them to be very difficult to read and hold my attention span, but it might have something to do with what I'm used to seeing today.  It seemed as if everything was either screaming for my attention, or was so small that I couldn't read it.  

I don't follow British history too much, but I was surprised to hear that Queen Victoria wasn't even the King's daughter, but his niece.  I might have missed the reasons for requesting his niece, maybe he didn't have a daughter or son?  Maybe he had an obsession with his niece?   Either way, I thought it was pretty interesting.  

I thought it was interesting that the British were inspired by the Islamic culture, mainly  because their styles are very different today.  I never would have thought they would have inspired each other this far in history.

Chapter 10

This chapter went over the Arts and Crafts movement, and discussed significant figures such as William Morris and John Ruskin.  Ruskin was a writer and artist who inspired  the philosophy of the movement, he rejected the Industrial Revolution type of work, and instead wanted to focus on the art and labor in society.  "A process of separating art and society had begun after the Renaissance" (167).  William Morris is considered to be the leader of the English Arts and Crafts Movement.  He wanted to show individual expressionism through his painting, typography, poetry and eventually through interior design.  He created very expressive wallpapers, furniture, textiles and carpets, which led to the creation of his business, Morris and Company.  The Arts and Crafts movement can be described as a period of time in which beautiful objects were created, men could enjoy work more, the exploitation of the poor was lowered, books were redesigned, and the list can continue.  

I find it funny that Morris was all about helping the poor and 'taught design that could bring art to the working class' (173), yet all of his created furnishings from Morris and Company and books were only available to the wealthy.  He seems like a big hypocrite in this scenario, as if he wanted to appeal to both ends of the spectrum.  He employed the poor and sold to the rich.

I am curious why the Kelmscott Press' first productions, The Story of the Glittering Plain, was printed in a very small amount at first.  Then over the next 8 years, the demand for this particular book skyrocketed,... even after Morris' death.  Why was this book so popular?  Why did everyone want it versus all books at this time, especially since his books were intended for the wealthy?

After class, 2-25

Today in class we reviewed Chapter 9, which covered the Industrial Revolution.  Many new typefaces were created because the use of advertising rocketed once the revolution began.  New companies were being made and wanted to have their own logos.  People with the best corn starch wanted their name out there.  Circuses were traveling around the world and people just wanted to be noticed.  What better to get this affect than big, bold and noticeable letter forms?  Fat faces, san serifs and Egyptian style typefaces were created during this time.  The photograph and camera were discussed, with a more in depth description of the camera obscura.  

I find it interesting that people thought the world was beautiful and such.  I guess it's different because they never saw pictures relating to the war and I have because of the day and age in which I live, but they have to have some common sense, right?  People are killing each other with rifles and bayonets, canons and fire.  What's romantic about this?  I could understand if it was honorable to go into the war because it takes a tremendous amount of courage and determination to fight, but to glorify the war in itself is just stupid.

Where did you get those old cameras?  And, to answer your question about the Freedman not being happy, is it quite possible that the photographer was white?  His name was Matthew,... not trying to be a name stereotyper, but...  A caucasian photographer would piss me off a little bit if I was an African American.  

Chapter 9: Graphic Design and the Industrial Revolution

As the title states, this chapter talks about how graphic design was affect through the Industrial Revolution.  The Industrial Revolution occurred first in England between 1760 and 1840, and it really started to take effect once James Watt perfected the steam engine.  Cities were growing rapidly because more factories were being created; meaning more jobs were available.  Everybody was out for that money.  More typefaces were created during this time, ones with personality and designed to catch the audiences' eyes.  This was done because the first forms of advertising were being created- mainly posters and newspapers.  An American printer, Darius Wells, created the first wood cuts which was a huge advancement.  Just compare wood with metal- wood is cheaper, lighter and more durable for this type of use.  

With the help of Watt's steam engine, the first steam press was created in 1814 by Friedrich Koenig.  This allowed paper to be printed much faster (400 sheets vs. 250/hour) and didn't involve much man power.  He than created the 2 double steam presses, which increased the production rate to 1,100 sheets/hour.  It was such a great advancement that everyday citizens were upset simply because they were loosing their jobs.  It was this reason that made Koenig have to hide his press so the crazy Ludites wouldn't tear it up.  

The typesetter was also invented during the Industrial Revolution, which eliminated the use of writing by hand even more.  Another great invention was the camera, which began as a reflection tool for drawing (camera obscura).  The first person to produce a photographic image was Joseph Niepce in 1822.  With the help of Herschel and Talbot, a camera was eventually made.  This invention led to the creation of motion graphics, first completed by Muybridge.  Yes, it is true; horses are airborne at times.  Hurray!

I'm very surprised at how everything changed during the Industrial Revolution.  Advertising was used, factories were being created, cameras were invented, very bold and new typefaces were designed, incredibly efficient presses were made, typewriters were made,.. the list can go on.  This is obviously one of the biggest moments in our world history because these advancements are huge, impacting the graphic design world along with everyone else.  I also like how the book refers Sir John Herschel as 'tackling the problem'.  It's just a nice visual. Crazy guy.

Okay, did the horses ever trip on the trip wires?  It seems like that would be hard to do,.. because the wires needed to be strong enough to trip a switch, but not strong enough to affect the horse's running ability.  If only Muybridge had "No animals were harmed in the making of this motion graphic picture," my question would be answered.

The Swing

In class this week we had tried several times to accurately describe a piece from the Rococo period.  I'm not sure if many people really understood what Rococo art actually looks like, so I decided to post one of the more popular paintings from this time.  

What you see above is The Swing, by Jean-Honore Fragonard, 1767.  This painting totally epitomizes the Rococo art style because of several factors.  Number one, the subject isn't very complicated at all.  It shows somebody outside, demonstrating the carefree spirit of Rococo artists.  The girl seems to have no care in the world as she's being pushed on the swing, she almost appears to be flattered.  She flirtaciously kicks off her shoe and continues to enjoy herself.  The one thing that made this painting so popular was the fact that the man pushing her is her husband, yet the man in the bushes is her secret lover.  Look at the view he gets!  Whoa baby!!  All of the colors used by Fragonard, mainly pastels, can signify what time period this was made in.  To give a good example, the clouds in the background are pastel in color, even though it's supposed to come off as dark and cloudy.  The sun shines through the clouds and penetrates her elegant dress in order to make her colors stand out,... even though it's still has a light and faded color to it.  Another big hint that this is Rococo art is the loose brushstrokes used.  

One thing I like from this time period is how elegant everything looks.  The faces on the people look like porcelain dolls because they are painted so perfectly.  Laura said that the Rococo period focused on the rich people, and it shows in this portrait.  The lush garden and the types of clothing clearly show the quality of life that people dreamed of or wanted to achieve.  It also shows how scandalous people can be, and clearly this sells because like I said, this is one of the reasons that The Swing was popular.

After Class 2/18

In class today we went over a lot of information, mainly the history of several different typefaces.  The ones that we covered are: Caslon, Garamond, Romain du Roi, Baskerville, Bodoni, and Didot.  Caslon is a very simple and plain font that was designed to be 'comfortable' and 'pleasing to the eyes', which means that it's good in body copy where a lot of continous reading is done.  An example of bracketed serifs can be seen in this typeface.  Garamond was designed by a French designer/printer.  He was influenced by Tory and this typeface was used to replace nearly all uses of textura.  Romain du Roi was designed primarily for governmental use, and if it was used for any other reason, the result was death.  Pretty strict, eh?    The unique aspect about this typeface is that was mathematically designed by using a 2,304 square grid system, all of which basically turned useless because the squares get too small to follow once the text was reduced in size.  Baskerville is a font still used today because of it's versatility.  It is a transitional typeface with slight uses of stress in letterforms, as well as different serifs.  The designer of this also created a new type of paper; it was a glossy, finer tooth paper that many people accepted right away.  Bodoni is a modern design with thin and straight serifs.  The designer increased the contrast of thin and thick with strokes, and he also condensed letter forms to make them taller and more geometric.  His competition was Didot, who also was a modern designer with sharp serifs and obvious thick and thinness.  

Yesterday we also learned where the terms upper and lower case came from.  (Pretty heavily weighted terms,...)  I also learned where leading came from, but where does the word kerning come from?

Another big topic was the introduction of the Rococo period, which lasted from 1720-1770.  This period can be described as symmetrical, floral, feminine, detailed and elegant.  It generally focused on the life of rich people,... mainly because only rich people could ever afford the first type of porn.  

A new form of graphics were introduced during this time as well- informational graphs.  Linegraphs, bar charts and pie charts were now being used to compare valuable information.

I am really surprised to hear about the Ludites, who were responsible for destroying printers and other forms of technology.  I can't believe that during vulnerable times, people refuse to advance (or let others) and make the world a better place.  There really isn't that bad of a side affect to printing, despite the fact that opinions and rumors were spread easier, but that occurs everywhere regardless if it's printed on paper.  I think I am going to make a movie about these fellas, the picture shown in class was terrifying.  I some crazy men bearing clubs demanded to locate my printers, I probably wouldn't think twice about it.  Loco.

Chapter 8: An Epoch of Typographic Genius

Chapter 8 discusses the typographical influences from the French.  Roman capital letters were revised many times, and many new measurement grids were constructed.  A new typeface, Romain du Roi, was designed for French king Louis XIV.  This typeface was to be used strictly by the Imprimerie Royal; other uses constituted a capital offense.  It's importance was great because it shifted from the Venetian old style roman, and created a category called transitional roman.  A design period, rococo, emerged in the mid 1700's.  This style was characterized by floral designs, plant forms, light and pastel colors, and ivory white and gold in color.  During the 18th century, type measurement was all over the board until Fournier le Jeune attempted to set a standard measurement, the pouce.  le Jeune was one of the most influencial designer of his era.  Copper engraving flourished at this time because the free line was an ideal medium to express the floral curves of the rococo design.  It was also a break from mechanical-looking typographic printing, which many people took in.  The contributions of William Caslon, John Baskerville, the Bodoni's and the Didot's were also mentioned in this chapter.  All of which have a significant part in design history.  The origins of information graphics begin during this era, including the start of pie charts.

I think it's interesting that the Declaration of Independence is written in Caslon.  I have never really thought about where the type design came until now.  Thanks to printer Benjamin Franklin, he introduced Caslon to the American colonies where it was used excessively... despite jealous criticism. 

Why did French law prevent typefounders from printing? (p. 118)

After Class 2/16

After going over questions from previous blogs, yesterday we quickly went over the Renaissance.  Renaissance can be described as a rebirth or a revival, and it begin in Italy.  One word that was defined yesterday was incunabula, which is latin for cradle or baby linen.  The birth or beginning caused 17th century writers to adopt it as a name for books printed for Gutenburg's invention.  Martin Luther was discussed in class, who was a monk for the Catholic church.  He had a problem with the Catholic's pardons and/or indulgences, so he wrote his 95 theses and posted it at the church.  With the use of typographic printing, his name and ideas were known, therefore started the Reformation.

Albrecht Durer was also brought up in class yesterday.  He is created with bringing the Renaissance to Germany after travels to Italy.  After his return from Italy, he wrote a book that discussed the mathematical fundamentals of writing letters and how to draw.  One example is that he described how to use a grid when drawing a more accurate representation of people.  

I thought it was really interesting how Luther depicted the two pictures of Jesus being removed from the cross and the Pope being carried in the Pope Mobile.  I'm glad that it got the attention of so many people because the intention was to show how the real hero, Jesus, was treated and yet the Pope is getting pampered,... even though he is just representing Jesus.  I'm not religious by any means, but I feel this can go along with everything in society even today.  We often get caught up in the most ridiculous things, upset for the stupidest reasons, even though there are more important, more serious things going on in this world.  I like to get a good reality check every once in a while.  I complain about having too much homework, and somebody else out there is getting severely abused.  The importance of some things need to be seriously considered and rethought,... 

Erhard Ratdoff is credited with creating the first complete title page and I would like to know what book was the title page intended for?

Chapter 6 & 7- The German Illustrated Book & Renaissance Graphic Design

In Chapter 6, we were supposed to look at the sections dealing with Albrecht Durer and Martin Luther.  Albrecht Durer is a famous printer in the Graphic Design world.  He created the Apocalypse, which has 'an unprecedented emotional power and graphic expressiveness (p.84).' His views changed slightly after traveling throughout Europe.  His interactions with the Italian Renaissance allowed him to experiment with theoretical knowledge.  Thus leading into his first book, A Course in the Art of Measurement with Compass and Ruler.  This book did a great job explaining the mathematics of typography, which allowed more people to understand how to write.  After the Bible was printed for many to enjoy and study, people across Europe began to contradict the views of religious leaders; and decided to partake in their own beliefs of the Bible.  Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses for debate on a church door, it had such power that it was eventually put into the printing press.  This made his views available to people everywhere, eventually making him famous.

I think this is one of the most significant things that have shown the importance of the printing press in my views.  I am a Lutheran (not devout my any means) and have slight familiarity with Martin Luther's story.  However, I can really see the importance of the printing press at this time period because without it, who knows if religion would have ever been contradicted.  Martin Luther's ideas never would have been seen around the world, not in the short amount of time that it did anyways.  Clearly this is a huge part of our history since our history is based on religion and our understandings/interpretations of life.

Chapter 7 discusses how the Italian Renaissance affected graphic design.  This chapter explains what a Renaissance is and what makes it different from the rest of the art periods.  The difference lies mainly in the floral decoration, which was applied to furniture, architecture, artwork and manuscripts.  It's quite evident how typefaces are becoming more legible and easier to interpret because of the newly improved kerning.  Renaissance also relates to the change in philsophical humanism.  An important date to retrieve from this book is the early 1500's, in which pocket books were first printed.  Renaissance man Geoffroy Troy is also explained in this book because he had a huge impact on the Graphic Design world.

I think it's interesting how the decline for hand-printed articles lost work for many artists, but yet at the same time the need for illustrators increased.  Only the best master calligraphers were used because the work was very intricate and the need for new and true beauty was high.  

Celtic Tattoo (Wk. 2)

  Throughout this past week, we had talked about Celtic Illuminated Manuscripts and how they were an important aspect of the history of Graphic Design.  We looked at the illuminated manuscripts mainly through the Book of Kells.  This book had a huge array of celtic designs, and they also incorporated fancy initial caps in their work.

This online picture is showing a woman with a Celtic tattoo.  I was drawn to it because the tattoo looks incredible, plus it also contained type alongside the design- needless to say, it reminded me of ancient illuminated manuscripts.  Even looking at the tattoo from several feet back, it's quite evident that it took precise and intricate detailing to end up with this finished product.  The artist paid close attention to getting accurate shadows and shading to get a good feeling of three dimensionality.  This is something that many tattoo artists strive to achieve- making a flat tattoo appear 3-D.  

The typography seems somewhat appropriate for the design.  However, I feel this typeface looks too much like a Gothic-style textura instead of the Celtic uncials and half-uncials that we saw in class.   Since the Celtic design doesn't have the correct typeface to go along with the tattoo, I feel it isn't an accurate tattoo.  However, this is a good example of how people can get confused with history.  Maybe they should have taken a History of Graphic Design class,... that way they would have chosen the right font for their tattoo,...

After Class 2/12

Today in class we reviewed the previous chapter and also got into Chapter 5- Printing comes to Europe.  First we brought up the Book of Kells someone attempted to describe the artwork on a particular page from that book.  We then looked at the Spanish piece- Four Horseman of Apocalypse which apparently 'scared the hell out of people', according to Laura Huaracha.  The Book of Hours was also discussed, which was a book of prayers.  Next we went into Johann Gutenburg, who created the first printing press.  The style he typically used was Textura.  It was during his time that playing cards were created, which was an important invention because it equalized everyone since people of all classes were allowed to use them.

I was interested at how the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse scared so many people during its fine hour.  When I first glanced at it, it just looks like any other old painting, containing no terrifying images.  Of course there is a black floating person-thing, which can be compared to a ghost, but in all honesty, this isn't scary!  It interesting to see how the term 'scary' can change over so many years.  Scary to us is today much more graphic and meaningful.

When I read the chapter yesterday, I understood it as Gutenburg wasn't credited with printing the first bible because that douche bag sued him right before it was going to be finished.  But in class today, it was said that he did get the credit for it,... so does that mean he was credited at the time, or in today's time he is credited?  I know it isn't a big deal, but I'm curious.  Poor guy getting bullied all the time.  Give him some slack ya know? 

Chapter 5- Printing Comes to Europe

Chapter 5 was an informative chapter that discussed how Europeans adapted printing.  The invention of printing allowed knowledge to spread rapidly and the levels of literacy increased greatly because of it.  The first form of propaganda was seen in ars moriendi where it urges people to put aside the desire to provide for one's family and will one's estate to the church.  Apparently the Chinese didn't adapt to typographical printing immediately because alignment between characters wasn't critical and it was nearly impossible to sort through all of their characters.  They therefore kept to block printing instead.  

I am really surprised to read that the value of a book during the early 1400's cost the same as a farm or vineyard.  I understood that books were expensive because of the labor and material, but more than a vineyard!!  

I am also impressed and depressed with Johann Gutenburg's story.  He accomplished something so great and worked so hard, but basically got stabbed in the back with the person who was borrowing him money.  The backstabber turned out to be one of the biggest and most important printing firm in the world.  I am curious to see if they are they still in business to this day.

After class 2-11

In class yesterday we talked about how the Asians contributed to the creation of written text.  We talked about their inventions, their relief paintings and also how they replaced scrolls with a codex-style book.  The purpose of writing on bones was also mentioned

A lot of this information was a review, but hearing the contributions all at one time in list form was quite impressive.  Laura said the Chinese were responsible for inventing the compass, paper (toilet paper included) and gunpowder.  They also were the first culture to print using seals, chops, ink rubbings and movable type.  These guys were basically ninjas when it comes to inventions.  

I'm not sure I completely understand the differences between ink rubbings/movable type/and relief paintings.  Pretty sure I even got a question wrong in the practice quizzes. 

Chapter 3 & 4: The Asian Contribution & Illuminated Manuscripts

Chapter 3 discusses how the Asians designed their own form of writing.  It started with pictography similar to Egyptian hieroglyphics.  If legend is true, Chinese writing began when Tsang Chieh wanted to mimic the footprints and claw marks of various animals.  Chinese characters are all logograms, and the present day writing system has over 44,000 characters.  The Chinese are credited with inventing paper, along with doing some of the first printing in history.

Chapter 4 discusses how illuminated manuscripts originated and became a significant part of history in many different cultures.  A Celtic book, The Book of Kells, is mentioned because it has some of the most beautiful and intricate work ever seen.  They also paid heavy attention to initial caps and incorporating a wide variety of color.  Apparently, Caroline minuscules are considered to be the closest form of our lowercase alphabet,... cool bit of information there.  This chapter also discusses the Spanish, Romanesque, Islamic and Judaic forms of illuminated manuscripts.

There were several things that grabbed my attention while reading these two chapters.  On page 32, it states that regular calligraphy is today considered to be one of the highest art forms in China.  It's surprising how writing can be regarded as a high art within ones' country.  On page 28, the penalty for making counterfeit money in China was death.  One hell of a deterrent... maybe we should use that now...  I also have a newfound respect for Muhammad of Islam.  It states that he encouraged his followers to learn how to read and write, and he also advocated women to do the same.  This in turn led to many important women calligraphers and illustrators. Awesome.

One question I have... on page 34, it states that China begin to use paper as toilet paper.  So does that mean China invented toilet paper?  Never knew the history of t.p.   

After class- 2/9

Today in class we reviewed material from the other day and also got into Chapter 2, which dealt with the alphabet.  We got to see the progression from pictographs all the way to the Greek alphabet, which was very interesting.  

I'm really interested in the Greek rock carvings, especially the Trajan Column.  It's the first piece of typographical history that I have made a connection with because I am familiar with the typeface, Trajan (don't kill me Laura,...).  I feel oh-so-smart now because I know where this font originated from, and it's pretty badass that it has such a significant history.  In all honestly, I thought fonts just randomly appeared because some crazy ninja was bored and created a few typefaces.  Thank God for this class, huh?

During class I was also surprised to hear that in present day some countries/cultures still don't allow everyone the opportunity to read and write.  The leaders want to have even more power over people, and since knowledge is power, they don't want everyday Joe's to be at the same levels of intellectualism.  This is pretty sad because we can all learn from each other in some way, and if you're surrounded by stupid/uneducated/ignorant people, how far can a society go?  It reminds me of the portfolio speaker from the other day- "Work with people who are smarter than you,... always."

Chapter 2- Alphabets

Chapter was just bursting with a bunch of information.  It describes the transformation from the early Semitic alphabet all the way to the Roman's instituted changes.  I thinks it's interesting how something we today feel is so universal and stable (writing) changed so easily once a new empire came to power.  Their style of writing changed and died out, which reminds me of how a language functions.  If it's not spoken, it's lost, even though another language was probably affected by it at some point.  This chapter does a great job explaining the creation of serifs (which I have always wondered about) and also goes into the complexity of the Korean alphabet.

I find it very interesting how the two most popular written languages (forms of Latin and Aramaic) evolved in two completely separate ways.  They each branched out at one point in time and turned into a huge accomplishment for human life.  I like seeing how small changes affect the whole picture, and for thousands of years small changes occurred on each of these languages, eventually coming to a halt once we believe perfection has been achieved.  It makes me wonder if any other changes will ever be made to our alphabet in the future.

I am curious to know if there is a connection between ancient vellum, which was described as the finest parchment made from the smooth skins of newborn calves, and the scrap-booking vellum.  The vellum I have used in scrap-booking is somewhat see-through.... but i don't know if they relate to one another.  If so, my pages have taken on a totally different meaning.  

Dolce & Gabbana Advertisement (Wk. 1)

During class on Friday, we talked about various symbols that represent a man and a woman.  I had thought of that 'mud flap' silhouette woman and wanted to move on from that idea.  While brainstorming about this assignment, I was thinking about advertisements I have seen in the past that have portrayed women negatively. 

 

I found this Dolce & Gabbana advertisement in a Cosmopolitan Magazine a while back and knew this was the perfect advertisement to discuss.  Since I no longer have the magazine containing the ad, I retrieved this image online from http://blog.lib.umn.edu/conn0406/feministtheory/

When looking at the overall craftsmanship of this advertisement, it is absolutely gorgeous.  The simple typeface is placed in an unexpected location in the composition, the lighting is perfect and let's face it ladies, the men look sexy as hell.  However, that's what really irks me about this advertisement.  I understand to the fullest extent that sex sells, but this has really gone too far.  It's more that selling sex, but signifying rape and degrading the female audience.  The woman is very attractive, high heals and the whole damn package, and yet she's being forced on the ground while three other men watch intently,...ready to pounce on her.  It just screams GANG RAPE and I don't know why the hell this should attract women to purchase Dolce & Gabbana products.  Even the text is encouraging this derogratory meaning because it's placed directly over their private parts and the opacity is turned way down.  It makes me feel like I shouldn't be seeing this, that it's private and quite frankly, I should be calling someone of authority to put an end to this.  I'm interested to see if more companies will pursue this type of advertising because this one has created such controversy among viewers around the world.  It's been noticed (for all the wrong reasons) and unfortunately, that's how businesses roll in the dough.  Get noticed, get sold,... but women, don't sell yourself like this.

After class 2/6

In class today, we reviewed Chapter one.  We began by creating basic symbols that show men and women, which was interesting because everyone had different ideas and it was difficult to think of symbols on the spot.  It made me realize that there are so many different symbols in the world and an idea can be expressed in many, many, many ways!

We proceeded to talk about how written languages developed, from simply stick figures to ancient hieroglyphics.  There was a huge timeline that contained pictography thru demotic but it clearly shows advancement.  

While looking up verbs to translate in different languages, I was intrigued by how simple everyone was, once I looked at it and understood that it isn't English.  It makes so much sense for people to want to write faster, because that's the way we are in present day.  The quality of life raises a lot because we have time for enjoyment and time to live our life,... which is what everyone wants to do.  Those cavemen were actually pretty smart, contrary to popular belief.

Chapter 1, the Invention of Writing, gives a very in depth introduction to the history of design.  It begins by briefly explaining the evolution of homo sapiens and then describes the very first forms of communication.  This chapter does a great job explaining the overall process that writing undertook:  from pictographs to cuneiforms and finally reaching advanced styles of hieroglyphics.  The one thing I can appreciate is that this book doesn't simply state the facts, but gives reason as to why the ancient people did what they did.  Examples- reasons for using the Book of the Dead, and the purpose of using scarab beetles throughout Egyptian culture.

I am honestly impressed by Jean Francois Champollion's ability to decipher the Rosetta Stone.  He begins by noticing patterns in the stone, realizing hieroglyphs often functioned as phonograms and then sounded out Cleopatra.  By this discovery he was able to assign sounds to particular glyphs, and his success just exploded from there.  It shows you have to start from the very beginning, the bitch work if you will, in order to make something huge.

I really want to know when Jean began to study the Rosetta Stone.  It was discovered in 1799, and he lived from 1790-1832.  Clearly he didn't live very long and yet he deciphered a lot of information,... but I'm curious to know how long it took him to decipher the whole thing.  It's quite impressive.

Frolicking with clay

      Yesterday was the first day of History of Graphic Design and Laura had an clever approach to introduce history to the class.  She took us to the ceramics room where we had to get hands on with clay.  We then divided into small groups and were assigned a random phrase in which we had to portray using solely clay.  She intentionally made each phrase difficult in it's unique way to show the struggles that early designers/painters had to overcome.  Examples:  showing various colors using only one color of clay, portraying certain people (Ryan Seacrest out of all people...) and expressing emotions.

  

    Doing this exercise made me realize how much extra work and effort prehistoric artists had to do just to illustrate a simple meaning, a simple character.  As difficult as it may seem, historical artworks have demonstrated their purpose and have given us a clue into their life by simply using mud and their index finger.  This shows how wide the doors are open to designers in the present day.  The possibilities are endless and it's quiet exciting as a future designer!  I'll admit that I'm guilty of doing an assignment simply because I have to get a grade for the class,... without much thought or meaning to it.  Today made me question myself for doing this.  Why put effort into a project if it doesn't possess any emotions for myself or my targeted audience?

I searched some meaningful posters, and the one above hit home for me.  

Advertising Agency: LOWE GGK, Warsaw, Poland

Copywriter: Patryk Michon

Photographer: Igor Omulecki

Published: July 2008.