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Home > Your Courses > Graphic Design for Everyone

Lesson 1: The History of Graphic Design in a Nutshell

Do you remember the cave drawings you learned about in elementary school? Believe it or not, those
prehistoric doodles are an ancient form of graphic design. Cave drawings began the art of human beings
using images to convey information.

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The Moment of Truth

Page 1 of 6

Few sentences in the English language can strike as much fear in
your heart as, "Design a flyer for the upcoming trade show; your
deadline is tomorrow." The first thing to do after retreating to your
office or cube is take a few deep breaths. Next, pick up pen and
paper and face the realization that you don't know where to begin.

Graphic designers the world over face this daunting challenge
every day. Design may be their life's passion, but even the experts
have to start somewhere. Fitting images and text on a page is a lot
like putting together a puzzle. It can be frustrating, tiresome, and
time-consuming -- but ultimately rewarding and even exhilarating.

Of course, not everyone who is given a design assignment is a
graphic designer. Not everyone has gone to school to study the art
of placing images and setting type. Not everyone relishes critiquing
billboards and advertisements.

On the other hand, everyone has had to create a document that is
composed and well-proportioned at one time or another -- if only a
resume or flyer for a yard sale. Teachers often need to create
posters, administrative assistants are asked to publish newsletters,
and small business owners find themselves wearing both the
entrepreneur and advertising executive hats. Many times, these
jobs are too "simple" to take to a professional graphic artist, or
more likely, there's no room in the budget for a pro.

This course will introduce you to the process a graphic artist goes
through when creating a design. This first lesson will briefly cover
the history of graphic design. History is important in that it can give
you inspiration on which to base concepts (Lesson 2) and it can
keep you from reinventing the wheel.

Why Are You Here?

I'm assuming you're taking
this course to learn how to
arrange images and text in
an appealing manner. As
simple as that sounds, it can
be quite difficult to creatively
place images and text so that
they draw and keep a
viewer's attention.

I love the arts -- especially
the graphic arts because
they tie form and function
together so perfectly. I have
a special affinity for objects
that are beautiful and
functional. I've worked as a
professional graphic artist
and illustrator, and I love to
share and teach.

The Internet has given us an
incredible opportunity for
learning and sharing. The
Message Boards are here for
lesson and art discussions.
Please take the time to meet
your fellow students and to
constructively critique one
another's work. It really helps
to further your own
knowledge of art and design.

What's in Store

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Lesson 1

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In this course, you're going to learn the basics of graphic design: the tools that will allow you to
become a successful amateur designer. They are listed here in the order we will cover them:

●

Concept: An idea your design is based upon. You can have a beautiful picture but good
design makes a person think about what is being said. The idea, or concept, is the catalyst.
Concept is covered in Lesson 2.

●

Images: Lesson 3 focuses on this element of design. If you can take pictures, draw or
paint, you can create your own images. But having these skills is not a prerequisite for a
graphic artist. I've always thought of design as putting together a puzzle. You're given
several pieces and it's your task to put them together in a visually compelling yet logical
way.

●

Typography: Usually when I mention typography to a nondesigner, a puzzled look crosses
her face and she says, "Isn't that map-making? " It's a plausible mistake; after all, there's
only one letter difference in the spelling. But Typography is the study of typefaces and
letterforms. Most people, understandably, think of type as Times New Roman, 12 point
because that is all they've been exposed to. But there's a whole world of extraordinary
typefaces that can add dimension to a design. Lesson 4 introduces you to this exciting
world.

●

Color: Lesson 5 delves into the world of color theory. I only scratch the surface of this vast
subject, but it's enough to get you started. You'll find out why colors look good together so
you can make informed decisions when using color. In addition, you'll learn the costs of
color in printing and how to get around the expenses by using monochromatic color
combinations and exciting usage of black, white, and gray (yes, they are colors too!).

●

Composition: You've heard about compositions in music and, if you've done any
gardening, composition of soil. Composition is what the music and the soil are made up of
and in what percentages. Composition is vital in good graphic design; it allows you to take
control of how and when the viewer sees your work. Lesson 6 lays out the rules of
composition.

A Little History Goes a Long Way

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I say a little history because we have so little time to discuss it all.
Needless to say this is an overview that can give you a place to start
to do your own historic research.

In this lesson, I use A History of Graphic Design by Philip Meggs
as my source of information. Check out that book if you want the
big picture view.

Picture it . . . Lascaux France, 15,000 B.C. Your not-so-average
caveman decides he wants to communicate with other cavemen.
What's the big deal, you ask? Well, for the first time, this prehistoric
person decided to draw pictures to get a message across. This event
marks the beginning of the graphic design.

Philip Meggs, author of A History of Graphic Design explains that this
signifies "prehistoric people's lack of structure and sequence in
recording their experiences. " The drawings have no order and the
images aren't the correct size in relation to one another.

The Designer's Reference

A History of Graphic
Design

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We've a better and more extensive set of tools now, but in essence,
this lack of structure and sequence is really what sets the modern
graphic artist apart from the cave drawings.

There's evidence that the beginning of human civilization was in
Mesopotamia, which lies in a fertile area between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers (what's now modern day Iraq). The Mesopotamians
were skilled technologically and agriculturally. After a few millennia
(approximately 3000 B.C.), the Sumerians came to Mesopotamia and
brought with them a complex religious system. This presented a
major bookkeeping challenge: How were they going to keep track of
everything? You got it. They were going to write it down, and it's
thought that this is how writing was invented.

Move on to Egypt and you've hieroglyphics and the Rosetta Stone
(197 to 196 B.C.). The stone, the key to translating hieroglyphics,
was found by Napoleon in 1799 and is written in three languages:
Egyptian hieroglyphics, Egyptian demotic script, and Greek. Jean
Francois Champollion broke the code to the Rosetta Stone and
therefore hieroglyphics. And I always feel so good about myself when
I can decipher cryptogram puzzles in $2 magazines.

So up to this point, we've seen drawings on cave walls and
government documents etched in stone. Well, when did paper enter

A History of Graphic
Design is recognized as a
seminal work; this Third
Edition surpasses in detail
and breadth the content,
design, and color
reproduction of previous
editions. It is required
reading for professionals,
students, and everyone
who works with or loves
the world of graphic
design. This
comprehensive reference
tool is an invaluable visual
survey that you will turn to
again and again.

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the picture? Obviously, it didn't always exist; otherwise, Napoleon
would have dug up the Rosetta Parchment.

We have the Chinese and a little plant called Papyrus to thank for this
awesome invention; otherwise, we'd all be stuck playing with Palm
pilots all day, and what fun is that?

The Chinese were a pretty ingenious people. Around 1800 B.C., they
created a pictographic language (Calligraphy) that wasn't based on
an alphabet. This picture-for-word exchange is called a logogram .
The Chinese differed from the Egyptians in that their written language
did not correspond to the spoken.

"There is no direct relationship between the spoken and written
Chinese languages. Both are independent systems for conveying
thought." (Philip Meggs, p. 20)

Several hundred years later they invented relief printing (for example,
woodblocks and rubber stamps) and moveable type (individual
characters cut out of wood). The invention of moveable type opened
all kinds of doors in the printing arena. Let's walk through one to
Germany in 1450.

Gutenberg (Not the One from Three Men and a Baby)

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Johann Gutenberg is an icon of the Graphic Design world. Why?
He invented the printing press. Chinese gave us moveable type
and Gutenberg did what all great inventers do; he built on an
existing idea to create an even better product.

Without the printing press, magazines, newspapers, books, and
basically anything written would not be readily available without
extreme cost. If you think books and periodicals are expensive
now, just imagine what it would cost if monks had to transcribe your
monthly issue of Cosmo.

During medieval times, monks sat day after day writing and
rewriting religious documents to create illuminated manuscripts.

According to Meggs, "The preservation of knowledge within the
monastery included the making of illuminated manuscripts, which in
the strictest sense are handwritten books embellished with gold or
silver. However, the term has come to mean any handwritten book
that was decorated, illustrated, and produced during the medieval
period."

Monks created their own parchment, vellum, and inks. They ground
their own minerals, such as lapis lazuli (blue), to create their own
color. They built books by hand and, as you can imagine, they were
very expensive in terms of money and manpower.

Gutenberg revolutionized the way information was produced. The
type was set on the press as were the images. An artist added any
illumination after the fact.

Trained as a goldsmith, Gutenberg perfected his skills at setting
metal type. He used his knowledge of metal combinations to create
type that could maintain size and shape throughout production,
receive an impression, and hold-up after repeated use.

Gutenberg in Texas

The University of Texas at
Austin's Ransom Center
holds a copy of the
Gutenberg Bible on display
in its permanent collection.

Bible is the first surviving
book printed from movable
type on a printing press, the
invention of which is
attributed to Johann
Gutenberg. It was printed in
Mainz, Germany between
1450 and 1455. The Ransom
Center holds one of five
complete copies in the
United States."

How amazing is that?

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You know, sometimes I am so amazed at our forefathers. These
people were not only artistic, but also scientific. Today, we seem
very concerned with pigeonholing ourselves into one category or
another. My main purpose when teaching is to open doors for
people who may not think they're creative just because they're
good at math. The two do not have to be mutually exclusive!
Embrace your creativity; think of it as recess for the brain.

Photography Says Cheese

Page 5 of 6

Let's fast forward to the early 1800s. A Frenchmen by the name of Joseph Niepce developed a
technique for actually taking a photograph. The process that Niepce went through to create what he
termed heliogravure (sun engraving) was truly astonishing. It fits the old adage "necessity is the
mother of invention" to a tee. You see, Niepce was a lithographer (a printing technique using wax
drawings on stone). His son was a talented draftsman who was drafted (no pun intended) into the
army, thereby forcing Niepce to come up with a way to transfer images without drawing. His son
seemed to have cornered the market on that talent.

Combine pewter, light-sensitive asphalt, lavender oil, and acid and you have a photograph. I don't
know about you, but this makes me really happy that I have a digital camera.

Niepce started a trend, and as usual, other brilliant minds built upon it. Louis Jacque Daguerre
created the daguerreotype, which used copper and iodine crystals. Maybe pewter plates were too
difficult to put in the back of your camera. I know we wouldn't see as many "dog in bluebonnets"
pictures around here if lugging pewter around was a prerequisite.

And another man, William Henry Fox Talbot of England was standing around one day, marveling at
a beautiful view, and he set about to find a way to make the images stick onto paper.

His experiments revolved around paper and silver chloride. One of his first images was created
without a camera. Instead he placed a leaf on paper and sandwiched it with glass. This exposure
was deemed a photogenic drawing.

Building on these successes, Sir John Herschel created a way to stop light from developing an
image. If you have any experience with darkroom wet photography, you know that you need to fix
an image to halt its light sensitivity. Herschel pioneered this technique and he deemed the invention
of Talbot as photography.

There you have a very brief and incomplete history of the photographic image. You can read a
more complete reconstruction in A History of Graphic Design.

Eras Worth Noting

Page 6 of 6

In this section, I'm going to list and describe a few of the influential
design eras. It will be fast and furious but still a good starting point
for your own research:

●

Arts and Crafts began as a protest of sorts to the Industrial
Revolution. Mass production of goods, although
inexpensive, has a tendency to leave an object without
personality or the mark of the hand. No love goes into the
production of the object. The Arts and Crafts movement
sought to bring beauty and skill back to production.

William

Morris

is the most recognized person of this era. He was an

exceptional pattern designer whose images graced
wallpaper, fabric, and other textiles. On top of this, he was
also an accomplished writer who published his first book of
poems at the age of 24.

Plugging Away

I have high regard for the
book A History of Graphic
Design. I wholeheartedly
recommend that you go to
your local university or public
library and check out the
book or buy it at a local
bookstore. It is a great
reference to have on hand.

Other books that may be of
interest are Design, Form,
and Chaos by Paul Rand

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●

Art Nouveau is a style that is often scoffed at, but it truly
helped to pave the way for more abstract thought in art.
Characterized by tendrils of vines and images of the female
form, Art Nouveau encompassed all areas of the visual arts
from graphic design, furniture design, and architecture.

Bieres de la Meuse

by Alphonse Mucha is probably one of

the most recognizable pieces from this era (usually seen in
dorm rooms across the country).

"Art Nouveau is the transitional style that evolved from the
historicism that dominated design for most of the 19th century. By
replacing historicism -- the almost servile use of past forms and
styles instead of the invention of new forms to express the present
-- with innovation, Art Nouveau became the initial phase of the
modern movement." (Meggs, p. 190)

●

Though Bauhaus is also the name of a favorite band from
my high school days, Bauhaus (

pronounced

BOW, as in a

curtsey, not hair-tie, HOUSE) was also a revolutionary style
from the early 20th century. The Arts and Crafts movement
had turned its back on industrialism but the Bauhaus
decided to embrace it. The goal was to "breathe a soul into
the dead product of the machine," according to Walter
Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus school. This work has a
spare, geometric quality. There are no excesses or frills
and there is a large amount of type as graphic image.

Moving On

In this lesson, you got a quick and dirty overview of the history of
graphic design. Although it may not seem pertinent to your goals, it
always helps to know how something became what it is. In the next
lesson, you'll find out how to develop your concept.

Though, before you go on to the next lesson, don't forget to tackle
the quiz and do the assignment. If you have any questions, post
them on the Message Board. Even if you don't have questions, it's
worth visiting the Message Board to see what your fellow students
are up to.

and Six Chapters in Design
by Bass, Chermayeff,
Glaser, Rand, Tanaka, and
Tomaszewski.

If you're interested in poster
art, especially political or
propaganda posters, check
out the book Prop Art by
Gary Yanker. This is a
favorite of mine that I found
at my university library while
doing a paper on the Poster.
It's currently out of print but
you can find it through used
booksellers on the Web.

For a source of chronological
information, check out the

New York Metropolitan
Museum of Art's timeline

. Not

only does it give you
chronological perspective,
but it also shows a map of
everything that was
happening in the world at the
same time.

Next Steps

Pages

The Moment of Truth

What's in Store

A Little History Goes a Long Way

Gutenberg (Not the One from Three Men and a Baby)

Photography Says Cheese

Eras Worth Noting

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