Week Five - Architecture and Graphic Design

Week Five – Architecture and Graphic Design

This week’s reading had a lot of new ideas, names, art movements and concepts for me to learn, but one consistent thing that kept coming up was architecture and its link(s) to graphic design. I was also surprised to learn that the influential architect Frank Lloyd Wright was also a graphic designer.

I’ve really never thought of architecture when I think of Graphic Design – and vice versa. But according to Jennifer Sage, a principal architect in New York, graphic design and architecture are linked in a very important way – in her own words:

“Incorporating a graphic message into the architecture of a project can provide a big message with minimal construction and cost.  More importantly, it can also reinforce the spatial definition.  In the case of the children’s library at Fort Washington, the graphics on the giant lampshades were used to define a series of “rooms” and create distinct environments. We were able to use the New York Public Library image data bank, which was pretty great. The graphics have created an entire little world in each of those lampshades.”

So when I learned that Frank Lloyd Wright, widely thought of as the most prominent and significant architect in modern history also was a graphic designer it really blew my mind. I’d known about some of the famous houses he built, like Fallingwater and have seen one of his buildings in real life – the King Kamehameha Golf Club on Maui.

I knew that his architectural endeavors included concepts like “organic architecture” where he designed and created buildings that were harmonious with their natural surroundings, and took advantage of the better features of the surrounding environment.  From our reading, I also know that he saw space as one of the most important elements of design, and that his work was influenced by Japanese and pre-Columbian architecture. When he was young, he had used a printing press with a friend. This experience gave him insight about using space or white in his designs and how to bring many different elements together while working within certain confines.

His graphic design work is not well known, however there was a book published by author Penny Fowler, Frank Lloyd Wright: Graphic Artist in 2002 that offers some great information and details about his overlooked contributions to graphic design.

 

A basic definition of graphic design, regardless of artist or influence, is that it is a form of communicating. Week to week, I am surprised by all of the ways that graphic design is a part of my daily life. Discovering that architecture has a place in graphic design is another eye-opening lesson for me, and one that makes me want to look a little bit closer at the details in my world. Finding out that Frank Lloyd Wright was a graphic designer is both interesting and inspiring to me and I am now looking forward to discovering more about the history of graphic design. I wonder what surprises will pop up next, and look forward to learning more.

Websites used for information and images - 
 http://www.wearedesignbureau.com/projects/graphic-design-vs-architecture/  - Images of library and quote from Jennifer Sage
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright - Information about Frank Lloyd Wright
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallingwater - Image of Fallingwater
 http://maui.golfroadwarriors.com/2013/04/26/king-kamehameha-meets-frank-lloyd-wright/ - Images of King Kamehameha Building

Week Four - Photography

Week Four - Photography

Our reading this week introduced several significant ideas in the history of Graphic Design – the influence that the Industrial Revolution had on the technology and demand for printed materials, the development of lithography and chromolithography, and the influences and of the Victorian Era and Arts and Crafts movement. 

One significant piece of technology that emerged during this time was the development of photography.  In our contemporary society, we are bombarded on a daily basis with images. In any given week we are exposed to hundreds, if not thousands of images, and often don’t think of the impact that they have on our daily lives. It’s hard to imagine an advertisement, whether printed (like a magazine) or digital, that doesn’t use photography. Can you imagine thumbing through a Better Homes & Gardens without any photographs inside?

Photography started with humble beginnings – the camera obscura, the daguerreotype and the collodion process. Early photographers such as Louis Jacques Daguerre and Henry Fox Talbot were as much inventors as they were artists – the development of capturing and printing images on paper was entirely new. While artistic influences would take hold of photography in time, the initial goal of photography as a new technology was to accurately capture the world as it was, and then print the images on a medium that allowed the images to be reproduced.

Edgar Allen Poe, W.S. Hartshorn, 1848

“Early Operation Using Ether for Anesthesia,”  Josiah Johnson Hawes, 1847

Although not heavily emphasized in our reading, photography was a democratizing art during the Industrial Revolution – and beyond. Similar to the development of printed books and text, photography gave the public an ability to capture and see exactly what was around them for the first time. They were no longer dependent on an artists interpretation of their world through drawings and paintings, but could actually have images of their families, their homes, their travel and major world events (like the Civil War). Photographs, like books, became prized possessions. Also like books, their initial cost was high, but through the advancement of printing processes, they became quite affordable for many – they were a far less expensive proposition than commissioning an artist to paint a portrait for example. 

Photographers Studios, William Pryor Floyd, C. 1860-1870, Hong Kong

Before the turn of the century, photography found its way into homes both as printed images and later, as cameras for individuals to use personally. Photography studios became a booming business, and photographers like Matthew Brady were able to take portraits of important and influential people. Abraham Lincoln attributed his success in his bid for President in part to the portraits that Brady took of him while he was running for office. This website has some great information about Brady, Lincoln and the influence photography had on his Presidency. Photography was having a profound impact on the lives of people, and was affording them the opportunity to see and capture the world in an entirely new way. It's influence on modern graphic design and art is undeniable and I find it hard to imagine daily life without photographs.

Photographs of Abraham Lincoln, c. 1860 by an unknown camera operator, for Mathew Brady

Images sourced from Google search and found here:

 http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Make_a_Daguerreotype


 http://scientificbodyphotography.wordpress.com/conservation/history/


 http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/lincoln-captured/?_r=0

 
Scsnned Image - Photographers Studios, William Pryor Floyd, C. 1860-1870, Hong Kong, sourced from page 78, Photography: A Cultural History, 3rd edition, Mary Warner Marien
http://www.amazon.com/Photography-Cultural-History-3rd-Edition/dp/0205708005

Week Three - Typography

“Typography is the major communications advance between the invention of writing and twentieth century electronic mass communications.”

(Meggs History of Graphic Design, page 80)

After our reading this week, this passage in our text really stuck out to me. This course certainly has done what was advertised in our syllabus – I am seeing the world with new eyes. This particular passage is a great example of that.

Of course mankind did not go straight from marking on cave walls to emailing, but in my day to day life, I often forget that and don’t appreciate the advancements in communication that have been made. Graphic design is, after all, about communicating.

I take for granted that in this digital era I can download a book to my computer or even my phone in seconds. I can connect instantly with friends and family by text message or Facebook. I don’t think of my predecessors in Europe who paid a fortune to obtain books that scribes spent months laboring over before typography was developed. Nor do I think of or appreciate how typography changed forever how humans communicate and helped spread ideas and advance literacy throughout an evolving civilization. Our reading helped stress to me that the invention of typography is so significant, that it ranks right up there with the development of writing as one of the most important advancements of humankind.

These powerful thoughts lead me to appreciate in this digital era, how important typography really is. It surrounds me everyday, at work and at home, but I had not taken the time to appreciate it until now. While I still may not appreciate it in all of its forms, I am now seeing it all around me. Without it major ideas, beliefs and even revolutions could not have been distributed in such a profound and widespread way.

Typography allowed for the masses to finally obtain the books they demanded. It changed the way people think, and allowed them to finally be on par with the elite and the clergy – it democratized the written word. Nowadays, that’s come under fire a bit. Some critics say that the invention of the computer, home printer and internet have allowed non typographers to corrode the standards of typography.

I don’t think I agree with those critics. I think typography and its standards will continue to evolve as we, a literate society, continue to evolve. I’m actually excited to see where we are headed. New and emerging technology is creating innovative ways for us to communicate everyday. One thing I can say for sure is that I do have a new appreciation for how I obtain information and how typography has helped that evolution.

Week Two - Visual Language

Our weekly reading assignment was really interesting this week. It was all about the origins of written communication and the advent of alphabets. I was intrigued by how well the book covered the topic – it really took me around the world and showed me how written language developed in different civilizations. Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece were all covered, which I had studied before, but it also covered topics such as Chinese calligraphy and the Korean alphabet, which I have not been exposed to before and found really fascinating.

It also touched on the origins of writing – concepts like pictograms, petroglyphs and hieroglyphics. I have been lucky enough to see some actual petroglyphs in person on a visit to the Big Island of Hawaii years ago. I have to say, I wish I had taken this course or been able to read our text before that trip. I know at the time that I saw the petroglyphs that the thing that was the most interesting to me at that moment was the age of the petroglyphs, and that they were still in existence for us to see. I had no idea that what I was looking at was language. 

 

 

In fact, I honestly think one of the things that struck me the most was how basic the images were. I probably thought more about how much humans have evolved since that point, and how much better art was today. I totally missed the point that the petroglyphs were not meant to be art but instead were an emerging form of communication! I am shaking my head now at how I undervalued those images at the time, and I hope I can go back and see them again. I truly have a different vision about what an incredible piece of human history exists there. 

 

Thinking about those petroglyphs, and how I didn’t understand them and appreciate them as a language or form of communication made me think about a passage in our textbook  - it mentioned how the Egyptian hieroglyphics were not understood for nearly fifteen centuries. People were fascinated by the images but did not understand them until Napoleon’s expedition turned up the Rosetta Stone and Jean-Francois Champollion started to translate them.

I wonder if centuries from now, our predecessors will still communicate in ways similar to how we do today? Will they be able to look back at us, their ancestors, and understand our language and our writing? Or will they make the same mistake I did and undervalue our written language as basic and perhaps a primitive art form? Will they have anything to learn from us?

One thing is for sure – I have learned to appreciate the history of written language from our reading this week, and will do my best to keep my mind open to where communication started and where it is headed.

Images sourced from Google, originally published here:

http://www.gohawaii.com/big-island/guidebook/topics/petroglyphs
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dayland/4563634657/
http://saturdaybriefing.outrigger.com/dr-kelleys-weekly-briefing/rubbing-petroglyphs-at-outrigger-hotels/

Week One - Field Journal

 

 Our assignment for the week was to do some light reading in our textbook, as well as look at every image inside and reflect on our first impressions and observations.

 The textbook we are using for the course is Megg's History of Graphic Design, written by Philip Meggs and Alston Purvis. I chose to purchase the printed book, as I think I appreciate images and information a bit better in textile form than digital when I am learning. It's a heavy book, with thousands of images inside, so looking at all of them really took some time. The book reminded me somewhat of another textbook I used last year for my History of Photography course - it was also a large, image heavy book, but I thought that that text was far more challenging to read due to the author's writing style. I'm actually pretty excited about reading Megg's History of Graphic Design, as I think I will really learn from the information the authors are presenting, and I like how the book is organized.

 Flipping from front to back, I think it's easy to see the progression of the images starting from the invention of writing on tablets and scrolls, to printing, the invention and use of photography in design and contemporary designs, including well know works of art and even comapny logos. I can certainly see the influences modernization and the Industrial Revolution had on advancements in design - both in the technology available to create the designs themselves (and print them), as well as the influence these movements had on culture and the audiences they were created for.

 

 For example, I noticed that there were international influences in many of the examples of European designs throughout the book. I am attributing this to a couple of factors - travel was made easier and more affordable by modernization and international communication improved through the advancement of technology, which then allowed for the sharing of ideas and techniques across the world. For example, I really liked the images of the batik process book binding done by Chris LeBeau. This book was published in Amsterdam, but the batik process was a process that originated from the Dutch East Indies (modern day Indonesia). I find the design very visually appealing and can understand why it was adapted and brought to Europe. I'm looking forward to learning more about how technology and modernization brought together different cultures and  influenced design throughout history.

 

 

 

 I think our instructor, Kent Manske, was certainly right in his introduction to the class - this is an exciting time to be alive and learning about graphic design, and I am looking forward to what I will discover in this class. I think that what I learn about the history of graphic design will be influential on how I percieve designs in this digital era.

 

 

 

 

Images sourced from Google, originally published here:

http://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/chapter-11/deck/1163463

http://www.19thc-artworldwide.org/summer_05/articles/groo_11.html