Be able to identify the Sumerian invention of writing called cuneiform, its development and purposes.

“Wedge shaped” writing, coexists with pictographs, cuneiform was gridded, understood the aspect of keeping things organized. Used to document what was going on.

Describe the roots of the early alphabets, historically and stylistically. Phoenician, Greek, Roman. 

Phoenician alphabet linked to our Latin alphabet, traded by the sea. Influenced by both the Egyptian hieroglyphs and Sumerian cuneiform.

The Athenians adopted Greek/Roman alphabets; they added vowels to the Phoenician alphabet to make it more “user friendly”. Well known for Greek vase painting we got philosophy, democracy, early science, literature, architecture, etc. from the Greeks.

Discuss the Egyptian contributions to design and their
Books of the Dead. How do these teach us about their culture?

The original book of the dead was written on Papyrus paper and gridded manuscripts, this taught us that their culture was very orderly and documented.

List 3 major contributions to graphic design from the Far East.

Calligraphy on paper

Developed moveable type

Use linen for paper

Explain how Illuminated Manuscripts embodied the ideas
of the middle Ages. Generally describe the historical context.

Be able to specifically speak to one significant manuscript.

Illuminated manuscripts helped to develop visual literacy due to the fact that pictures were easier to understand as people during this age were most often illiterate.

Discuss the significant philosophy of the Renaissance, humanism, and how it influenced visual communications. 

Renaissance meaning "re-birth" gave rise to philosphers such as Plato and Socretes. One such important philosophy was Plato's theory of how the Earth revolved around the sun and that the Earth was not the center of the universe.

Humanism-devotion to the humanities, literacy, culture, the revival

Both influenced visual communications by having developed perspective and depth making things look more realtistic.

Who invented moveable type/the printing press? Give examples of how it changed the Western world.

Be able to identify 3 typographers/printers and list their contributions to our graphic design lineage.

Fust and  Schaffer- invented color printing

Gutenberg printing press- black letter, printing of books

Nuremberg Chronicles- publishing house, made a lot of woodcuts

Identify the major classifications of type.

Black Letter-based off of Gothic Architecture

Garamond- sans-serif

Baskerville-sans-serif, designed with a lot of thick and thins in the typeface

Bodoni- known as a "modern" typeface, extreme hand, mathmatical, upright axis, thicks and thins are extreme

Eclectic historicism. What and why?

A strategy whereby designers reference styles from the past.

Know the difference between the different art movements.

The early Art Nouveau furniture designs by Henry van de Velde show already conceptions of lines and curves clarifying the constructive logic of objects, as can be seen in the design of armchair Bloemenwerf (1894/95). It was the demonstration of what van de Velde called his New Style, whose subject was reason. Consequently Henry van de Velde’s Art Nouveau became more constructional than decorative

Name 3 technological advances of the Industrial Revolution that directly related to visual communications.

The Lumiere Brothers and the making of the first short films

Photography

Graphic Design came out about this time

Describe stylistically the graphics of the Victorian Era.

Be able to outline the what and why.

·      Clearly articulated repeating pattern.

alot of floral designs

narrative typography was used in posters

the people look realistic/ real when painted or used.

Discuss the philosophy of the Arts and Crafts movement.
Why did it begin (reaction/reform, etc.)?Who were the leading players/their contribution?

William Morris created the Arts and Crafts movement, humans not being replaced by machines, good design should be accessible to everyone.

·      Had a personality that made him want everything to be available to everyone not just the rich people. (review)

It began as a revolt agains the machines replacing humans

Describe the ideas and formal qualities of Art Nouveau.

Give specific examples, names and/or countries.

Art Nouveau is different from country to country, what most defines this movement are the lines that are used, serpentine-like quality which is evident in this time period.

·      The female figure has not gone away and is displayed as a free spirit and a calm figure.

·      Everything was thought as to be beautiful, the thought of equality through the time period was for everyone, even a subway system was thought as beautiful.

Examples: Posters painted by Toulouse-Lautrec, France

Why did the Vienna Secession begin? 

The Vienna Secession began due to the idea of “to each its art. To art its freedom.” And that artwork should be designed for everyone not just those with money.

What were the significant ideas of the founders.

Gustav Klimt was an artist that seceded the Kunstler house, and since he was an international student, he was not able to present his artwork alongside the students from Vienna.

Discuss the work of Peter Behrens.

His artwork was designed using a lot of sans-serif type and he was the first person to “brand”, he was considered the first industrial designer.

Discuss modern thinking at the turn of the 19th/20th century.

(not Modernism as in mid-20th century) 

How does design participate in this thinking/discussion?

Compare stylistically WWI posters of the Allies and
the Central Powers. How was the ‘hero’ depicted?

The Allies WWI posters were painted/printed with a more realistic like person such as Uncle Sam wanting to recruit people to the Army. They looked more humanistic and real so it appealed more to the emotional side of people in the Allied countries.

On the otherhand the Axis/Central Powers posters were not as humanistic looking but rather more graphic based and looked menacing instead of "inviting". They used fear to force people into the military instead of appealing to the people's sense of pride for their country.

Discuss the ‘Bernhard formula’ within an historical context and
the emergence of commercial poster design, early 20th century.

took on the "less is more" approach to things

the emergence of commercial poster design in the early 20th century became very popular as things were beginning to become more advertised. They needed posters that would make things looke entising so people would want to buy them. 

The posters at the time also had narrative writing on them depending on what the product was and how they needed it to be advertised.

How did the idea of ‘the other’ find its way into modern art/design?

What did it look like?

Stylistically describe Art Deco and understand the historical context.

Art Deco used a lot of geometric designs in furniture as well as in the artwork

Buildings that were made during this movement also mimiced the geometric style

From the Renaissance to the Dadaists, how has typography represented ideas? Be specific re context and characteristics.

Typography has represented styles by how it was created/written. In the Renaissance the scribes wrote all the books and had very expressive and neat hand writting that involved pictures and intricate designs. 

From then on the typography that was being used has become more geometric, more machine like as the modern age approached and machines were being invented.

With Dada the typography that was used was reperesenting ideas by the use of collage which many artists did and by the way that the letters we being placed and used (mostly news paper headlines or typeface)

Describe the tenets of modern thinking early 20th c.