In class on the last day of February

Yesterday we started off the class with a presentation from Amanda. We learned about the Victorian Era, and it was a very big and elegant. They liked to be very flashy with their designs. After the presentation Laura showed us some movies about printing. I'm not going to lie, I really liked the 2nd one a lot. It looks like a lot of fun to do, just messy. We also went over questions that we've had in our blogs from the last week or so.
The most meaningful thing I learned today was watching how the printing press was actually done, I was a little confused on it before watching the video, now I get it!.
My question though from yesterdays class is when we were talking about the solar/sun power printing or I cant exactly remember what it was, but it was solar/sun power, would it still work even without the sun?

The good old arts and crafts

The arts and crafts movement was a movement that really happened all because of the industrial revolution. William Morris is a very important person who played a huge role in this chapter. Morris had many typefaces and he named his first Golden and it was based off of or similiar to the Venetian roman face. "He also made the characters wider than most Gothic types, increased the differences between similar characters, and made the curved characters rounder"(Meggs History of Graphic Design 173). Chaucer was the last of his typefaces that he created. Morris really wanted his designs to be for the working class, but what was ironic was that only the upper class could afford it. The Ashendene Press became known during this time as well. The type designed for Ashendene was the semi-Gothic types. The arts and crafts movement was very important to 20th century designers.

What I found interesting about this chapter was William Morris in general. It was cool to see how much one guy had such an impact on the history of design. I'm not going to lie though, I'm not really liking the arts and crafts too much. There are some cool things about it, but some of it confuses me.

My question from the chapter would be if Morris wanted his designs to be more towards the working class, why didn't he make it toward the working class instead of the upper class?

In class.

Class today was all about the Industrial Revolution. We started off in groups discussing what we thought was important during the Industrial Revolution, such as important people, what lead up to it, etc. That took a good 20 minutes discussing in groups, and to be honest I was a tiny bit confused at first to what we were doing, but then after a little bit I finally realized we were answering questions. The remainder of class consisted of Laura lecturing about the rest of the chapter. This chapter was FULL of information and it was actually interesting to learn about.
The most meaningful thing I learned yesterday in class was how many different letter types were invented during this time, and I feel like many of these are still used today.
My question from the class is what kind of wood was used for the wood type?

The Industrial Revolution

This chapter was all about change. The Industrial Revolution had a major impact on graphic design and typography. New materials became available too. Factories became rather popular during this time, and created many new jobs for people. Other materials such as steel and metal were introduced. The sizes of letterings from small to big along with different styles were introduced. There were 4 styles that I read about in this chapter. Fat faces, antiques, Tuscan-style, and sans-serif types. Fat face is just what it sounds like, thick, fat and heavy. Tuscan-style almost reminds me of a cursive with curvy letters. Lastly sans-serif type looked a lot like Egyptian face with the no serifs. Wood-type posters became known around this time too. The two double-cylinder steam-powered press was also built during this time. "They were capable of printing 1,100 impressions an hour on sheets of paper"(Meggs History of Graphic Design 140). Hand pressed printing was starting to be replaced by steam powered ones. Photography became known also. Photography was being used to report things such as news, and events that were happening. For example, the Civil War was a big event that was first photographed. Pictures for children were developed also. Mostly in picture books.
What I found interesting in this chapter was basically the whole long chapter. It is amazing how one little thing, the Industrial Revolution, changed so so much for the graphic design industry. So much was developed during this time as well and it's really cool to see how things such as photography, printing, and such got started compared to today.
My questions is did photographers get killed when trying to take pictures to document the civil war?

Weekly Image

Sorry this is late!

This is a typography design that has a massive amounts of fonts, written in the word font obviously.

I feel like the function of this image is to show all the different types of fonts that are available in word and they show this message by writing the word font out with all the different types mixed in.

I came upon this when I was searching google images for a typography design image and I was just really drawn to this image.

I think the quality of this artwork is good. I like how the word font actually looks like a type of fond you can use, and I really love all the different types of words spelled out in the word.

The typography is a typography design and it is just a bunch of modern day fonts.

What really attracted me to this piece would have to be all the words spelled out in the word font. I also like the contrast between the colors because it really makes the word pop.

This relates to what we have read and discussed because we've discussed older typography and how and who invented it.

Intro to Vis Comm-Pictures for project 1

I love food. But one important thing to me is to eat healthy. I try to eat as healthily I can when I'm at school. I feel like I do eat healthier when I'm at school rather than at home when I have access to junk food all the time. We tend to have a lot of food in our room, but there is rarely any sweets.

This picture represents my love for technology. My computer and my cell phone have a huge part in my life. When I went to London this past Christmas it was really hard to leave both behind. It is actually kind of sad how much I rely on them. I'm usually texting a lot too. It's a really bad habit.

I feel as if I'm a very bubbly person and what a better way to show that with polka dots. I also have a huge obsession with polka dots. I love them. My shower curtain, my bed, a lot of my shirts are covered in polka dots.

This is a picture of a few of my markers in my room. I love to be crafty and I love to color when I'm bored. I have a lot more markers in my room than is shown here. Coloring is another good stress reliever too.

This image shows some of then things we do in my co-ed frat I'm in. That is a big part of my life here at school. All my close close friends are in the frat and I love all the girls and guys in it. I don't know what my life here at school would be without it.

I said before how I have to have my desk really organized, but I never said anything about the rest of my room. My bed is never made, and the rest of my room tends to get messy really fast. And usually I'm too lazy to clean it unless it gets disgusting. This is the way my bed looks all the time, except when I wash my sheets, then it gets made. I just rebel at school because I ALWAYS had to make my bed at home and I hated it.

The speaker represents loudness. When I'm with my friends you can never get me to shut up and I just love being loud and having good times with my friends. When I'm in a comfortable surrounding my loudness comes out. I also have a really loud laugh that is recognizable from down the hall.

This picture represents smartness or studying. I've obviously been in school for 16 years of my life and I may not like to study and actually go to class, but I know it is for my own benefit. I know every test might not come out the way I want it to, but when I put my time and effort into studying I know it will show. Taking notes is one of the most important things, besides pay attention, to do in class.

This picture represents color. I love color and I feel that I am very colorful. My clothes are sorted by color and I like it that way. It makes it easier to find what I want to wear but it also makes my room a little more colorful.

Intro to Vis Comm-Pictures for project 1

This picture shows my wallet and it represents me because I'm a huge spender. Give me money and I swear it will be completely gone within a few hours. I have a hard time saving money and soon as I get it for a birthday or something I want to go out and spend it. I don't like working for that reason. And if I'm out with a friend, I usually talk them into getting things that they don't need because that is what I do to myself.

This is a picture of my bed. I'm completely obsessed with my bed. It is probably one of the most comfortable beds ever. If I'm not in class, I'm probably laying in my bed or napping in it. A lot of my friends will take naps in it because it is that comfortable.

This is a picture of the stack of blankets we have in our room. I love blankets and cuddling up in them when I'm in my cold warm. It's the perfect combination for me. I also like to make those tie blankets. I have at least 6 of them between here and my house at home.

This picture gives me a sense of home. This is my dog and blankie that I've had since I was born. I don't sleep without them. It gives me a sense of security when I am sleeping. Plus I like to cuddle with them when I sleep.

This picture is part of my movie collection at school. I love movies. I usually have a movie in when I'm doing homework, or when I'm falling asleep with my roomie or even alone. Movies are a good way to have me wind down from a stressful day or even if I want a relaxing night.

This picture of my ipod represents my love for music. I don't have a specific type of music that I like, but I'm always listening to it. When I'm doing homework, reading, falling asleep, working out, in some classes, I usually have my ipod with me.

This picture of the water bottles represent me because I'm always thirsty or I'm always drinking water. I do not like very many drinks, plus I like to stay hydrated with water. It is important to me because if I go one day without drinking it, I usually end up with a massive headache. So I try to drink 2-3 bottles a day.

This picture is an up close picture of a fan. I chose a picture of a fan because I like my room cold. I absolutely cannot sleep when my room is hot. I also can't concentrate when I'm uncomfortable in my room.

I chose this picture of my desk to represent how organized I am. Clutter on my desk just makes me more stressed out. I like when everything has a certain spot too because it makes it easier for me to find things when i need them.

These flowers represent relationship. I got them for our anniversary and I thought they would be a good image to represent my relationship. I look up to it. The flowers also make me happy as does being in a relationship.

I chose this cubs hat as one of my pictures because I am a die hard cubs fan. Ever since I was younger I've been obsessed with them. I hate the winters because there are no games and I live for the summers when I can go to them or just relax at home and watch the game.

In class chapter 8

Today's class started out the same. We went over questions that were posted on our blogs and Laura was nice enough, like always, to answer them for us. It is kind of nice to hear what other people have questions about. Then we started to go over chapter 8, Monday nights homework. In chapter 8 we learned a lot because i had 2 and a half pages full of notes. We learned anything from Romain du Roi and Rococo type to three different people; Caslon, Baskerville, and Didot&Bodoni. Going over the chapters in class help me understand what I didn't understand when I was reading through the chapters.
What was really interesting about this chapter was the Romain du Roi type. It just blew me away about the 2,304 square grid. Did they make the grid by hand every single time?
My one question from this class is if there was no printing in the United States, was the Declaration of Independence printed over in England or somewhere else?

Chapter 8

Chapter 8 was all about a new graphic design movement. There were many different things that were introduced in this chapter. One of a few new typefaces was called Romain du Roi. There were also types designed for the Imprimerie Royale. This type was only allowed to be used by the royal people, otherwise you would get in trouble. Transitional Roman was another type that was founded during this period. One bigger type was called rococo. I feel like rococo was a more elegant style, they liked to use nature and classical art. Engraving was developed and became popular this time. And engraving jobs became common as well. Ben Franklin introduced Caslon and was used for the Declaration of Independence. Another guy, John Baskerville was popular around this time. He was part of bookmaking. He also updated the paper quality. Modern is defined as a new category of roman type.
What I found interesting about this chapter was basically everything. There was so much new information that was told in this chapter. Many new types were formed and many new people had influence on our society.
One question I have from this chapter though is how long did it take an engraver to make an engraving on a copper plate?

In class today I learned...

Class today was rather long, but it was filled with a lot of interesting information. We reviewed answers from our blogs over the previous few chapters along with going over chapters 5,6, and 7. Today was filled with a lot of notes. I really like how we went over chapter 7 with us separated into different groups talking about one particular guy and then we talked about it as a whole. This really helped me understand more about the Renaissance than before. Chapter 6 was all about Martin Luther and Albrecht Durer, along with a few other things here and there. We learned how typographic printing changed society as we know it and that the spread of printing started in Germany.
The most useful or meaningful thing I think I learned today was how typographic printing changed our society in many different ways including: abundance of books and broadsides, spreading ideas, stabilizing and unifying languages, illiteracy declining, lead to basis for scientific inquiry, more education, individualism, and this even lead to the industrial revolution.
One question I have after this class would be did anything bad happen to Martin Luther for nailing the 95 theses to the church?

Chapters 6&7

Chapter 6 is about the German Illustrated book. By the 1500's printing was used in over 100 cities across the world, unfortunately some cities banned it. Because of typography, illiteracy became less and less. Martin Luther was one of two main guys talked about in chapter 6. Martin Luther was known for posting the 95 theses on the church. Copies ended up making it around town because of his friends, and within a few months it was spread all across Europe. Many jobs were feared to be lost because of typography. Woodblock illustrations were brought up in this chapter as well. Illustrator artists were at need because of the woodblock illustrations. Another important person in this chapter was Albrecht Durer. The Chronicle had emotional power and graphic expressiveness. Durer was well known in all over Europe before he was 30. "Durer absorbed the painting theory and technique, as well as the humanist philosophy of the Italian Renaissance. He became a major influence in the cultural exchange that saw the Renaissance spirit filter into Germany. He believed German artists and craftsmen were producing work inferior to that of the Italians because they lacked the theoretical knowledge of their fellow professionals to the south" (Meggs History of Graphic Design 85). He also contributed significantly to the alphabet design. Lastly, a broadside is a single leaf of paper printed on only one side. When both sides are printed, the page is frequently called a broadsheet.
Chapter 7 is all about Renaissance and Graphic Design. Renaissance designers loved to use floral decoration. With the rapid growth of literacy created a huge demand for teachers to teach writing and this created the need for records needing to be kept. Many books flourished in different cities, but only Paris, and Venice were the top two.I found the last thing interesting about broadsheets because now-a-days we hate wasting paper, so we are taught to use both sides.

My question from chapter 6 would be how did Martin Luther and Albrecht Durer die?

Picture of the Week

This is an image of the alphabets. It shows the earliest alphabets to today's modern day one. I think this is kind of cool to see the modern day alphabet up against the old ones. There isn't every single alphabet letter in the image, but there is a good amount of them.

The function of the picture is to compare the alphabets. And I feel like it does a good job comparing the alphabets from way back when to basically today.

I found this image when I was just searching the web for an image for this week. I actually googled the first alphabet to today and this is one of the images I found.

There really is no typography besides the alphabet letters I guess.

The quality of this artwork is really cool. There is a piece of clay or what not that has some letters etched into it and it looks like under it they are writing out what it says or at least what letters are in it.

What attracted me to this piece is that it was different from the others. It had really old letters to more modern day letters. I also liked how there was a piece of clay that had letters or symbols etched into it.

This relates to class because we spent a whole chapter or two reading about alphabets and the many different kinds there were or are. We talked about Latin, Greek, Korean, the 1st alphabet and so on. I thought this image would fit perfectly.

Guest Speaker

Today's class was interesting. Not only did we have Andrew Lloyd Goodman speak to us before class, we were lucky enough to have him join us in class. When reviewing the last 2 chapters we read, chapters 4 and 5, he would go into more detail about what we were learning. I'm not going to lie, it was really interesting to hear how much information he knows. We discussed the illuminated manuscripts into more detail and then we started to go over printing.
One thing I found really interesting about this class was the process it took to make a book back in the day. There were many different people involved in this process and some people had better jobs than others.
My question after this class is how much did the workers get paid back then to make a illuminated manuscript?

The Printing Press

Chapter 5 was all about printing coming, obviously, but anyways this an interesting chapter. It started off talking about typography. They define typography as the term for "printing with independent, movable, and reusable bits of metal or wood, each of which has raised letter form on one face". Typography is up there with one of the most important inventions. Writing allowed people to keep records, and document what was happening. Paper was a important invention to allow printing to happen. Movable type was created around this time as well. Johann Gensfleisch created the first book that had printing in it. Gutenburg was the guy that was known for the invention of movable type. One last topic covered in this chapter was the copperplate engraving. Engraving is defined as "printing from an image that is incised or cut down into the printing surface".
One thing I found interesting from this chapter was that Gutenberg had many things to do with this chapter. No only he invented typographic printing, may have been involved in the development of copperplate engraving as well.
The question I have from this chapter is when was color first used in printing?

In class 3&4

I felt as if class went extremely fast today. We spent the first little bit going over past questions we posted. That was kind of nice to hear questions that other people in the class had. After going over the questions we went into learning about our paper&presentation project. This should be interesting to say the least. After that we went into taking our quiz, that did not make me too happy. I read every chapter, highlight and take notes, and I feel like I could have done so much better. I need to change my strategy maybe, but after the chapter 4 quiz we took, I am determined to do better. After being the last one to finish that quiz we started to review chapter 3 before time ran out. Chapter 3 was all about the Asian contribution and chapter 4 was more about illuminated manuscripts.
The most useful/meaningful thing I learned today would have to be just the whole chapter 3 in general. I really liked learning about how much the Asian communities had a big influence on our lives today.
The one question I have after today's class is are we going to go over chapter 4 at all? I was rather confused reading it, and even if we just go over it a tiny bit, it would really help me out! =)

Chapters 3&4

I found chapter 3 far more interesting than chapter 4. I never really realized how much the Chinese contributed to our societies. They invented things such as gunpowder, compasses, and calligraphy, their ancient writing system, is used today by more people than any other visual language system. Logograms became known during this time and logograms are images and signs that represent a word. The Chinese were also known for developing the phonetic loans which is when they "borrow the sign of a similar-sounding word". One thing that really shocked me in Chapter 3 was that there is no relationship between their spoken and written language. Both of them are completely separate from one another. "A sound from the mouth to the ear, and a sign from the hand to the eye". There are four phases to Chinese calligraphythat were discussed in this chapter. The first is called chiaku-wen. The second is called chin-wen. The third was hsiao chuan. The last phases was chen-shu which is still used today. The Chinese were the firsts to invent paper. Before paper came around they would write on bamboo slats or wooden strips, which was a lot more work than paper. At first they thought the paper would just be an easy substitute, but they realized as time went on that it was cheaper and easier to work with. Their paper invention was used for much more than just writing on, for example, it was used for toilet paper, wrapping paper, and wallpaper just to name a few. I dont know about you, but I feel like their toliet paper didnt seen very soft since it was the same used to write on. It's amazing how one little invention can turn into so much. Along with paper making, the Chinese were known for discovering printing. Printing was a major contribution to society back then, and look how far we've come with printing. The Diamond Sutra is the oldest form of printing we could find. With the invention of both paper and printing, money was one of the big products that came out of this. People would even try to conterfit it back then as well, which I found very interesting, their penalty for this was death. Another thing that came out of printing and paper was playing cards. Movable type was also founded around this time by a guy named Pi Sheng.
Chapter 4 was all about different kind of manuscripts. Illuminated manuscripts got their name from the "vibrant luminosity of gold leaf, as it reflected light from the pages of handwritten books, it gave the sensation of the page being literally illuminated" (Meggs History of Graphic Design 42). There were many people that were responsible for helping create this book. The book was written in the scriptorium. The head of the scriptorium was the scrittori. There was a copisti. Lastly there was the illuminator. It was amazing to see how much work and how many people go into making this book. After the invention of parchment, the codex format became known. There were many book designs that were talked about in this chapter. Celtic, Romanesque and Gothic, Judaic, Islamic and Late medieval to name them. Each one I feel was based off their religion and the religion at the time.
My question over these two chapters is how long did it take to make one illuminated manuscript?

Chapter 2 review

In class today we basically reviewed what we read in chapter 2.  Chapter 2 was all about alphabets and how they became.  We went into detail about the Greek, Latin, and a little bit of the Korean alphabets.  We also discussed about phaistos disk and how it was one of the first steps to the alphabet.  Phaistos disk was also the first known alphabet and it led to mass printing and printing press.  The last thing we went over in class dealt with the substrates we have learned about this far.  So far we've used clay from Mesopotamia, papyrus from Egypt, and now parchment and vellum from animals skin.  We had a foreshadow in that we will be reading about how the Chinese invented paper.   

What I found really interesting was this whole class today.  I really liked learning about how the alphabets became about.  It was interesting to see the different alphabets and how similar they look to ours today.  

My one question from today who have to be who discovered Phaistos disk?  

A.B.C

Chapter 2 was all about alphabets. Whether its the Aramaic alphabet, the Greek alphabet, the Latin alphabet, or even the Korean alphabet, each one went into detail about how it was created and how it compares to today. The alphabet actually came from alpha and beta in the greek alphabet. Alphabet is defined as "a set of visual symbols or characters used to represent the elementary sounds of a spoken language; signifying sounds, syllables, and words" (Meggs History of Graphic Design 18). Chapter 2 went into detail about the four alphabets listed above. The Aramaic alphabet was used by tribes in Syria. This alphabet was very important to todays society because it helped with common day alphabets. The Greek alphabet was also mentioned about in this chapter. The Greeks had a different way of reading than we do. They started out using the right to left method, then they developed the writing method called boustrophedon which is when every line reads in the opposite direction. And after learning how to read left to right, I feel like this method would be so hard to do. The Greeks also used uncials. One thing I found really interesting was the the alphabet played a role in democracy for the Greeks, we wouldn't even make a big deal over the alphabet being used by the government today because we use it for EVERYTHING. The Latin alphabet was also another mentioned in the chapter. The Latin alphabet didn't use papyrus anymore, then switched to a more durable paper called parchment, which is made from the skins of calves, sheep, and goats. Vellum was the best parchment one of this time could find. Lastly, the Korean alphabet. Hangul is one of the most scientific and complex alphabets in todays society. There are over 2,000 syllables, way more than our alphabet. I find this really interesting because I know you can make thousands and thousands of words form our 26 letter alphabet.
One question that I have from chapter 2 would be are we going to get the chance to play around with the different alphabets?

Week 1 image

This image is written in another language obviously, but its white with black and red colors for the symbols.
The function is to tell people what not to do. No smoking, cameras, and bombs are allowed.
I was looking around on google images for a modern pictograph image and I came upon this image.
The style of this image is simple and in another language. I don't know exactly what the wording states, but with the pictographs being so understandable it says no smoking, no taking pictures, and no bombs.
The quality of this artwork is simple, but it gets the point across. It is a modern pictograph, which are elementary type drawings.
What attracted me to this piece would have to be that it is in another language, and the fact that it is in another language and I understand what they are saying drew me to it. I also like that the drawings are very simple, clear, and understandable and yet I know what they are. The colors work well too because red usually means warning so it obviously helps people understand not to do these things. I also like that it says no bombs, and it makes me wonder where exactly the sign is posted at.
This relates to what we have studied because the last class we went into what pictographs really are and I thought this would be a good example of a modern pictograph. Pictographs were created thousands of years ago, and yet we still use them today.

A look back in History

Today in class we basically reviewed what we read the night before. We talked about pictographs, petroglyphs, and ideographs and distinguished the difference between them all. We also went into some detail about Hammurabi and the hieroglyphics that the Egyptians used. Papyrus is one form of paper out of many that we have learned about so far. The most useful and meaningful thing I learned out of this class was about the papyrus. I find the making and usefulness of papyrus really interesting. The fact that they had to make their own writing utensils is impressive. And it might take days to make one sheet to write on.
One question I still have after this class would be who found the Rosetta Stone, and where was it found?

Chapter 1

This chapter is about the early writings and how people communicated with each other thousands and thousands of years ago. The first human marks were found in Africa over 200,000 years ago. They used a lot of black used from charcoal and some other colors such as yellow and red. These pictures were used for survival, utilisation and ritualistic purposes. Writing became of because people of this time needed to keep records. Writing back then started off very different, then wrote top to bottom, and eventually throughout time it went from left ot right. Stamp seals were first used during this time by the Babylonians. At first the seals were just used with simple pictures, but they eventually turned into stories being told. The Egyptians were known for their hieroglyphs. The Roesetta stone was the first form of hieroglypics found. Another big step for the Egyptians was the invention of papyrus. They were also the first to created illuminated manuscrips.
One person of group I found interesting are the Sumerians. They had a great impact on our future and yet we know very little about them. "The invention of writing brought about an intellectual revolution that had a vast impact upon social order, economic progress, and technological and future cultural developments" Meggs History of Graphic Design.
After going through all the steps to make papyrus, exactly how long did it take to make one sheet to write on?

The Early Communications

I would have to say that the topic we studied in class today would have to obviously be about early communications. We especially went into detail about cave paintings and looked at paintings from millions of years ago. Most of the paintings were just of pictures, and everyone had different depictions of what they meant. Before we actually went into more detail about the paintings we went downstairs to try our own. This was fun, yet challenging. I think what I learned most out of this was that symbols and pictures can be taken many different ways. I had fun being hands on and thinking of ways to show our sentence. A lot of effort and thought had to go into these otherwise people would not have understood what you were trying to show.
My question would have to be did other people during the cave painting times understand what one groups pictures were trying to say? Or did the pictures and symbols just vary group by group?