For any language to work, whether it is auditory or visual, it must be agreed amongst a group of people that one thing will stand for another otherwise it will not work.
The number of spoken languages that there have been in history is unknown as there is no record of them. However the number of written languages that there has been is known as there has been recordings found dating back as far as 7000BC such as Egyptian hieroglyphs. However, this does not mean that language did not exist before this date it was just never documented.
The rosetta stone, created in 196BC and found in 1799 represents 2 different languages in 3 different scripts (Hieroglyphs, Demotic and Greek) this is because these were the three main scripts being used in Egypt at that time.
Hieroglyphs were used for important/ religious documents
Demotic was a common script in Egypt
Greek was the language of the rules of Egypt
Therefore the rosetta stone could be read by anyone in Egypt at the time such as priests, government officials and rulers of Egypt.
1450 Gutenberg produced the first moveable printing press which came to Europe a whole 600 years after it was discovered in China. It wasn't until increase in trade and thing such as wars that we were introduced to this new method of creating text. Letters were carved and crafted in order to be printed and for the first time ever multiple pages could be printed to look the same.
Nothing of great significance happened after this until 1870 when William Foster introduced the Elementary Education Act which made is compulsory for people learn how to read. Before this came into place only the upperclass, privileged and religious could read. Due to the increase in demand of things to read, production methods needed to change as hand written news papers and such would not be able to be produced quick enough for such high demand. Therefore printing presses and typewriters were developed and written information became informal and for most was just a hobby.
In 1919 Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus which brought together art and industry. Just after the first world war Germany saw a need to rebuild and industrialise design. Bauhaus brought about an institution where furniture makers, engineers, architects etc worked together.
Wednesday, 26 October 2016
Tuesday, 18 October 2016
Postmodern Graphic Design Research
The quote I have chosen is:
Stefan Sagmeister - www.sagmeisterwalsh.com/answers
- If graphic design works as a visual language, can trends enrich the design?
Stefan: 'Yes, of course. So much of what we design is ephemeral and has to be of its time. If I see a magazine from the 60-ies now, I find it enriched by the style of its day. The same is obviously true for current work.'
Key terms: postmodern graphic design, decorative graphic design, expressive graphic design, graphic design trends, trendlist, grunge typography, kitsch
http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4514&context=etd
To help me understand this more I did some research into postmodern graphic design as it isn't something I have ever looked into in depth. I found an article online which related postmodern to contemporary graphic design which I found interesting to read. Here are the main points I picked up from it:
- 1980 postmodernism became a widely recognised yet misunderstood form of expression.
- Characterised by conflicting ideas and notions of what the term means.
- Most critics say that it was a short lived style.
- Widespread across Europe and America from 1980 - 1990.
- Roots linked to literary analysis yet it was first demonstrated in architecture at the beginning of the 1950's
- An opportunity to break free from confines of modern movement.
- New form of visual expression.
- Rick Poynor called it an "intellectual fad"
- Critics are split into two groups = lovers and haters.
Friday, 14 October 2016
COP LECTURE 3 - 20,000 Year Non-Linear History of Image
20,000 Year Non-Linear History of Image
This lecture focused on an introduction to a range of visual communication from different cultures, contexts and epochs demonstrating how creative and tangential connections and continuities can be traced.
Starting with cave drawings which are the first ever drawings by mankind, the oldest one dating back to at least 35,000 years ago. They show humans trying to connect with the world and make sense of it by painting and capturing the things they have seen and experience in their day. Connections can also be found in Cy Twombly's work which links something over 35,000 years old to something created in the 20th century.
Many artists produce work that reflects their attempts at trying to connect with the world such as Mark Rothko who produces huge scale paintings that demand the viewer to look at them and be absorbed by them. Many of his paintings are displayed in popular art galleries all over the world and have even lead to people becoming so overwhelmed with emotion they have burst into tears whilst looking at them as they are feeling the loneliness and emptiness that Rothko did when he produced them. However this does lead to the question do people behave in a specific way in art galleries because they feel like they have to? They are big empowering buildings that hold a lot of authority as they are home to many famous artists works therefore it is possible people who visit them behave differently to how they would in an everyday situation either out of respect to other viewers in the gallery or the art work held there. Yet it is possible they are just doing what they think is expected of them. Similarly people act the same way in churches, they are quieter and more considerate of other which draws a connection from churches to galleries as they could both be seen as a place of worship and contemplation.
One of the most popular pieces of work held in a gallery is the Mona Lisa, which is seen as the most important thing in the Louvre and is protected behind a sheet of bullet proof glass. It is the most famous painting in the world yet no one knows why, does the popularity of it make it more desirable for people to go see it or are people really interested in the quality and style of the painting? There is also a question of whether the Louvre influence its popularity and power by doing things such as putting the bullet proof glass in front of it to exaggerate it's importance.
This is a similar situation with the work of Banksy who creates graffiti work in the streets which is an illegal act in the UK yet his work is desired greatly by art galleries all over the world and they are willing to pay extortionate amounts of money for a wall with his work on. There are many graffiti artists in the world yet art galleries have made him valuable by expressing such a great interest in him.
1913 saw the birth of the constructivist movement in Russia by Vladimir Tatlin which banned modern art as it was seen as a symptom of western society that creates pretentiousness amongst individuals as well as it creating a divide between people who think they are better than others because of the type of art that they appreciate. Therefore abstract artists such as Jackson Pollock were detested by Vladimir Tatlin. Due to this the CIA funded artists like Pollock and used their abstract modernism to symbolise the freedom of America which was their cultural weapon as it represented a huge contrast to Russia's suppression.
Another use of art as a weapon can be seen through artists such as the Guerrilla Girls who are a feminists group that campaigned against the fact women artists don't get shown in galleries yet the majority of nude paintings in galleries are of the female form which questions whether women are only seen as objects. As their work wasn't been shown in galleries they decided to rent the billboards outside them so display their campaigns.
The 1960's brought about the birth of a counter culture, free love, new forms of music. An art school in Paris kicked out professors and made it into a faculty and made images of revolution nd political struggle.
This lecture focused on an introduction to a range of visual communication from different cultures, contexts and epochs demonstrating how creative and tangential connections and continuities can be traced.
Starting with cave drawings which are the first ever drawings by mankind, the oldest one dating back to at least 35,000 years ago. They show humans trying to connect with the world and make sense of it by painting and capturing the things they have seen and experience in their day. Connections can also be found in Cy Twombly's work which links something over 35,000 years old to something created in the 20th century.
Many artists produce work that reflects their attempts at trying to connect with the world such as Mark Rothko who produces huge scale paintings that demand the viewer to look at them and be absorbed by them. Many of his paintings are displayed in popular art galleries all over the world and have even lead to people becoming so overwhelmed with emotion they have burst into tears whilst looking at them as they are feeling the loneliness and emptiness that Rothko did when he produced them. However this does lead to the question do people behave in a specific way in art galleries because they feel like they have to? They are big empowering buildings that hold a lot of authority as they are home to many famous artists works therefore it is possible people who visit them behave differently to how they would in an everyday situation either out of respect to other viewers in the gallery or the art work held there. Yet it is possible they are just doing what they think is expected of them. Similarly people act the same way in churches, they are quieter and more considerate of other which draws a connection from churches to galleries as they could both be seen as a place of worship and contemplation.
One of the most popular pieces of work held in a gallery is the Mona Lisa, which is seen as the most important thing in the Louvre and is protected behind a sheet of bullet proof glass. It is the most famous painting in the world yet no one knows why, does the popularity of it make it more desirable for people to go see it or are people really interested in the quality and style of the painting? There is also a question of whether the Louvre influence its popularity and power by doing things such as putting the bullet proof glass in front of it to exaggerate it's importance.
This is a similar situation with the work of Banksy who creates graffiti work in the streets which is an illegal act in the UK yet his work is desired greatly by art galleries all over the world and they are willing to pay extortionate amounts of money for a wall with his work on. There are many graffiti artists in the world yet art galleries have made him valuable by expressing such a great interest in him.
1913 saw the birth of the constructivist movement in Russia by Vladimir Tatlin which banned modern art as it was seen as a symptom of western society that creates pretentiousness amongst individuals as well as it creating a divide between people who think they are better than others because of the type of art that they appreciate. Therefore abstract artists such as Jackson Pollock were detested by Vladimir Tatlin. Due to this the CIA funded artists like Pollock and used their abstract modernism to symbolise the freedom of America which was their cultural weapon as it represented a huge contrast to Russia's suppression.
Another use of art as a weapon can be seen through artists such as the Guerrilla Girls who are a feminists group that campaigned against the fact women artists don't get shown in galleries yet the majority of nude paintings in galleries are of the female form which questions whether women are only seen as objects. As their work wasn't been shown in galleries they decided to rent the billboards outside them so display their campaigns.
The 1960's brought about the birth of a counter culture, free love, new forms of music. An art school in Paris kicked out professors and made it into a faculty and made images of revolution nd political struggle.
Thursday, 13 October 2016
COP LECTURE 2 - COP1 Lecture - Visual Literacy.
Visual Literacy
The main idea behind this lecture was the fact that as graphic designers our job is to communicate and this is one of the most vital skills we need to have.
Visual Communication:
- Communicating ideas using type and images.
- Based on a level of shared understanding of signs and symbols.
- Altered dependant on audience.
Visual Literacy:
-Constructing meaning from visual images and type.
-Interpretation of images
-Creating images that effectively communicate a message
We were shown a picture of a toilet sign in Korean which featured no written english at all yet everyone could work out that it was a sign telling you were the toilets were. This is because every country uses a variation of the stereotypical outline of a man and woman which you associate with being on toilet doors. No matter where you are this is instinctively the sign you look for when you are trying to find a toilet.
For some symbols our brain automatically reads it and associates it with a variety of things. For example when you see the symbol '+' on its own this could suggest:
-Maths
-Church
-First Aid
-Ambulance
Yet when it is put into context with other symbols such as: + - = x it can only mean mathematics.
Simple adjustments to it such as elongating the central stem create a cross which refers to religion and christianity, or changing the colour of it to green then instantly screams first aid.
Visual Syntax:
The pictorial structure and visual organisation of elements, represents the basic building blocks of an image which alters the way we read it.
Visual Semantics:
The way an image fits into a process of communication, including relationship between form and meaning and the way meaning is created.
Semiotics
The study of signs, symbolism, signification, indication and communication. Related to linguistics (the study of structure and meaning of language)
SYMBOL (logo)
SIGN (Identity)
SIGNIFIER (Brand)
Visual Synecdoche:
When a part is used to represent the whole or the other way around.
e.g. The statue of liberty representing the whole of New York.
Visual Metonym:
A symbolic image used to make reference to something with a more literal meaning
Visual metaphor:
Used to transfer the meaning from one image to another
The main idea behind this lecture was the fact that as graphic designers our job is to communicate and this is one of the most vital skills we need to have.
Visual Communication:
- Communicating ideas using type and images.
- Based on a level of shared understanding of signs and symbols.
- Altered dependant on audience.
Visual Literacy:
-Constructing meaning from visual images and type.
-Interpretation of images
-Creating images that effectively communicate a message
We were shown a picture of a toilet sign in Korean which featured no written english at all yet everyone could work out that it was a sign telling you were the toilets were. This is because every country uses a variation of the stereotypical outline of a man and woman which you associate with being on toilet doors. No matter where you are this is instinctively the sign you look for when you are trying to find a toilet.
For some symbols our brain automatically reads it and associates it with a variety of things. For example when you see the symbol '+' on its own this could suggest:
-Maths
-Church
-First Aid
-Ambulance
Yet when it is put into context with other symbols such as: + - = x it can only mean mathematics.
Simple adjustments to it such as elongating the central stem create a cross which refers to religion and christianity, or changing the colour of it to green then instantly screams first aid.
Visual Syntax:
The pictorial structure and visual organisation of elements, represents the basic building blocks of an image which alters the way we read it.
Visual Semantics:
The way an image fits into a process of communication, including relationship between form and meaning and the way meaning is created.
Semiotics
The study of signs, symbolism, signification, indication and communication. Related to linguistics (the study of structure and meaning of language)
SYMBOL (logo)
SIGN (Identity)
SIGNIFIER (Brand)
Visual Synecdoche:
When a part is used to represent the whole or the other way around.
e.g. The statue of liberty representing the whole of New York.
Visual Metonym:
A symbolic image used to make reference to something with a more literal meaning
Visual metaphor:
Used to transfer the meaning from one image to another
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