HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN

A Reference to Important Events

Beginning of Writing/Alphabet/ Type

2012 BCE First evidence of papyrus

2039 BCE Cuneiform writing

1650–1200 BCE Stamp cylinder

1500 BCE Abstract Phoenician writing

1000 BCE Greek alphabet

1000 BCE Parchment

300 BCE Roman alphabet

105 CE Paper invented in China

300 CE Codex Augustus

400–500 BC Collapse of Roman Empire

800 Carolingian Minuscules

1000 BC Paper arrives to Europe through Arabs/Egyptians

1400 Woodblock printed cards

1300 Invention of movable printed woodblocks

1452 Gutenberg’s printing press

1470 Old Style typefaces

1700s Transitional typefaces

1800 Modern typefaces

1850 Square Serifs typefaces

3100 BCE Early Sumerian Pictographic script

Greek Alphabet

Roman Alphabet

Pictographic Script

Carolingian Minuscules

Gutenberg’s printing press

Square Serif Typeface

Early Art/ DesignEarly Art/ Design

1841 First publicity agency, US

1871 Photoengraving Lithography

1880 Photoprinting (half-tone screens)

1891–1898 Kelmscott Press1760–1840 Industrial Revolution

1800 Neo–Classical Art (and Victorian style)

1796 Lithography by Senefelder

1846 American Chromolitography

1839 Daguerreotype

1818 Harper Brothers Printing Firm

1450s Gutenberg’s printing press

1600–1750 Baroque Art

1603–1867 Tocuwaga period of seclusion in Japan

Early 1700s Rococo Art Lithography

Daguerrotype

Chromolithography

Photoprinting

Arts and Crafts Movement1880-1890s

The Arts and Crafts Movement was against social, moral and artistic confusion of the Industrial Revolution. It advocated for handicraft, and was against mass production. It focused on the harmony between production and human life.

John RuskinThe Arts and Crafts philosophy was influenced by Ruskin’s social criticism, which sought to relate the moral and social health of a nation to the qualities of its architecture and design. Ruskin thought machinery was to blame for many social ills and that a healthy society depended on skilled and creative workers. Like Ruskin, Arts and Crafts artists tended to oppose the division of labor and to prefer craft production, in which the whole item was made and assembled by an individual or small group.

1819-1900

William MorrisHe was the leader of the Arts and Crafts movement. Called for:Fitness of purpose, truth to nature of materials,individual expression. He was inspired by the writings of John Ruskin and Augustus Pugin.

1834-1896

Characteristics of Arts and Crafts art include symmetry, ornament, detail, real-ism/idealism, and the glorification of past

Art Nouveau1890-1910

Generic name for different approaches to an international, decorative style. Decorative Style, Asian influence.

Art Nouveau was inspired by Asian art, which was flat but expressed forms of nature. Such artists includeUkiyo-e, Katsushika Hokusai, Ando Hiroshige.

Geometry Pattern Simplification Atmosphere, gesture, expression Interpretation of the foreign and the old, into new forms…

Jules CheretConsidered the “Father of the modern poster”

Van de VeldeBelgium (and Netherlands) Called for a New Art (Nieuwe Kunst), contempo-rary in concept and form, with vitality and ethical integrity of the past

1836–1933

1863–1957

A reaction to academic art of the 19th century, it was inspired by natural forms and structures, not only in flowers and plants but also in curved lines. Architects tried to harmonize with the natural environ-ment.

Other important artists include Eugène Grasset, Alphonse Mucha, Peter Behrens

Vienna Secession1898

CUBISM1890-1910

Important artists include Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Fer-nand Léger.

Mainly an art movement. Influence from tribal art. Fragments of ob-jects to create figures. Insinuating movements in their artwork.

In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassembled in an abstracted form—instead of depicting objects from one view-point, the artist depicts the subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context.[3]

Futurism1909-1916

Important artists include Filippo Marinetti, Stéphane Mallarmé, andGuillaume Apollinaire

It was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. It emphasized and glorified themes associated with contemporary concepts of the future, including speed, technol-ogy, youth and violence, and objects such as the car, the aeroplane and the industrial city.

Dada1916-1924

Important artists include Marcel Duchamp, Tristan Tzara, and Jean (Hans) Arp

The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature, poetry, art manifestoes, art theory, theatre, and graphic design, and concentrat-ed its anti-war politics through a rejection of the prevailing standards in art through anti-art cultural works.

It was a reaction to the horros of WWI. Dadaists were against war and violenc. Their art was considered anti-art.It was a form of rebellion. The intent was to provoke emotion.

Constructivism1919-1920s

Important artists include El Lissitzky, and Vladimir Vasilevich Lebedev

Visual Discourse, objects mean something- symbolic. It included geo-metric shapes, photomontage, and bold lettering in order to catch the viewer’s eye.

Originated in Russia beginning in 1919

Constructivism was an artistic and architectural philosophy which was a rejection of the idea of autonomous art. The movement was in favour of art as a practice for social purposes.

De Stijl1917-1931

Horizontal, Vertical, primary colors and blocks.

Important artists include Théo van Doesburg andPiet Mondrian.

Proponents of De Stijl advocated pure abstraction and universality by a reduction to the essentials of form and colour; they simplified visual compositions to the vertical and horizontal directions, and used only primary colors along with black and white.

Art Deco1925-1940s

It was considered decorative art, and focused mostly on style.

The style is often characterized by rich colors, bold geometric shapes, and lavish ornamentation.

It is an eclectic style that combines traditional craft motifs with Machine Age imagery and materials.

A.M. Cassandre was an important figure during this time.

Art Decois an influential visual arts design style which first appeared in France after WWI, flourishing internationally in the 1930s and 1940s before its popularity waned after World War II.[1]

Bauhaus1919-1933

It was founded with the idea of creating a “total” work of art in which all arts, including architecture, would eventually be brought together.

The Bauhaus style became one of the most influential currents in Modernist architecture and modern design.

It had a profound influence upon subsequent developments in art, architecture, graphic design, interior design, industrial design, and typography.

Bauhaus was a school in Weimar, Germany, founded by Walter Gropius, that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught.

International Typographic Style

1950sThis was a design style, also known as the Swiss Style, that originated in Switzerland which emphasizes readability, and cleanliness. It promoted asymmetric layouts, use of a grid, sans-serif typefaces and flush left, ragged right text. It advocated for the use of photographs instead of illustration.

In the 1920-1940s, the Isotype Movement created by Otto Neurath and Gerd Arntz wanted to create a world language without words using pictographic symbols that were geometric in shape that everyone could understand.

Important artists of this time include Herbert Matter, Emil Ruder, Josef Müller-Brockmann, Armin Hofmann, and Adrian Frutiger.

New York School1950s - 1960s

The New York School was known as “The Abstract Expressionists”, in which a variety of different fields, including poets, dancers, composers, and artists, began creating work that explored new directions in art. They wanted to break away from what was socially acceptable.

It placed emphasis on expression, and incorporated abstract ideas and forms.

Influential designers of this time include Henry Wolf, Charles and Rae Eames, Saul Bass, Bradbury Thompson, Alvin Lustig, and Paul Rand.

Postmodernism1950s -

This design movement felt that Modernist design was “too uniform”, “boring”, and “sterile”, and challenged the structure and clarity that was so prevalent in the earlier movement. It brought back earlier forms of design such as ornamentation and the vernacular in order to expand the range of design possibilities. It let go of the idea that all design had to have functionality and embraced the idea of experimentation for personal fulfillment.

Post-modern art and design can be described as highly expressive, allowing the artist to engage with the audience through his or her work. Often times, it could be chaotic and irrational. Although it had separate ideas from Modernism, it still utilized counterforms and restrictions such as grids to enhance their designs.

Influential designers of this time include Paula Scher, Carin Goldberg, Neville Brody, Milton Glaser, and Wolfgang Weingart.

Digital Age1984-

With the creation of computers came the creation of digital design. The first designs incoporated pixels, creating a jagged like effects to the designs that were produced. Type was transformed into an object with points. This era created many new typefaces for the computer and also revived some old styles and alphabets. Superfamilies were created to give typefaces more variety. Computer design also allowed for images to overlap, which could not be done before.

The invention of the world wide web allowed for everyone to have access to all sorts of ideas and things, such as type, and things to read. People could talk to anyone around the world. Everyone is a potential publisher as they could post their work on the internet for the world to see.