The History Of Visual Communication

The Printing Press

Johannes Gutenberg

motivation: love of books &spending time with father at the mintwatching goldsmiths and jewelers

created oilbased ink

experimented w/ metal topography

introduced modern book printing

agreement w/ John Fust stated that ifGutenberg couldn't repay the loan after 5 years,Fust could get the press, tools, and materials

agreement violated and Fust andSchoeffer took credit for the press

hand press in which ink isrolled over the raised surfaceof movable handset lettersheld within a wooden frame

Movable Type

1st movable type system developed in China

carved from wood

Advantages of metal or wood

could be produced quicker once single moldwas made

was quicker, more durable, and lettering wasmore uniform

Gutenberg made metal type out of an alloy oflead, tin, and antimony

Bible: 1st book to be printed

Major Printing Processes

Relief

Intalgio

Porous

Lithoography

The Linotype Machine

invented by Christopher Sholes

tested by Clephane

name comes from the fact that it produces anentire line of metal type at once

first installed in The New York Tribune

Keyboard Layout

90 character keyboard

arrangment based on letter frequency

upper/lowercase keys were separate (no shiftkey

Black key: lowercase; White key: uppercase;Blue key: punctuation, digits, etc.

Sumerians

Cuneiform

to help keep track ofbusiness transactions

began as a series of pictographs

Evolution

became more abstract

# of characters grew

characters became wedge shaped

chose sumer region tosettle b/c of fertile ground

Things we know

Theocratic cultureruled by a priest king

skilled artisans

music=important part of life

Cave Paintings 55,000 years ago

common themes: largeanimals, tracings ofhuman hands, abstractpatterns

first form of visual communication

cave painting sites

Lascaux

closed b/c paintingswere being damaged bycarbon dioxide emittedfrom tourists

created the Lascaux II

most famous cavepainting site

located in France

Almira cave

has a red hue b/c of red soil

located in Spain

discovered by Marcelino

Chauvet Pont d’Arc

painting techniques differentb/c 3D effect was created

Photography

Camera Obscura

Joseph Niepce created 1stsuccessful photograph

Daguerreotype

created by Louis Daguerre

image was exposed to a lightsensitive metalsheet

Calotype Process

created by William Fox Talbot

image was exposed onto a light sensitivepaper producing a paper negative

Wet Plate Process

created by Archer

glass plates were used for the negative tocapture the image when exposed to light

Dry Plate Process

created by Richard Maddox

glass plates coated in gelatin

gelatin: a colorless watersoluble glutinousprotein obtained from animal tissue

Kodak

established by Eastman

James Clerk Maxwell took 1st color photograph

Muybridge paved the way for motion picturephotography

zoopraxiscope: a device used to project a seriesof images in successive phases of motion

Computers

Univac= 1st commercial computer

created by John Preseper Eckert and JohnMauchly

letters stand for Universal Automatic Computer

IBM

letters stand for International BusinessMachine

developed IBM701 EOPM Computer

developed first memory disk(floppy disk)

Douglas Engelbart invented the mouse

named mouse b/c of the tail connected tothe computer

first internet= ARPANET

developed to protect flow of info b/w militaryinstallations

first memory disk= floppy disk

Apple

introduced Apple Lisa in 1983

1st PC with a GUI

GUI developed by Xerox

introduced Apple Macintosh Computer in 1984

Microsoft

introduced MSDOS

a computer operating system

introduced Windows in response to Apple'soperating system

The Book

Scrolls

Construction

long continuouspieces of papyrus

separate sheets gluedtogether at the edges

simply rolled or hadwooden rollers at each end

Codex

Definition:a covered and boundcollection of hand written pages

Advantagesover scroll

compact,sturdy, and ease if reference

can be opened flat to any page

easier use in libraries b/c titlecould be written on the spine

adopted byChristianity

used in churches for Bibles and scriptures

Parchment

Definition:a substratemade from animal skins

replaced papyrus b/cwas more durable

How to make it

1. remove hair and fat and smooth the skin

2. soak hide in water solution; calcium, flour, salt added

3. hide stretched out, flattened, and dried

IlluminatedManuscripts

word illumination refers tothe borders, illustrations,and ornamentation added toeach page of text

reserved for religious textsb/c were so laborious

creation of illuminated manuscriptsdeclined b/c of printing press

The Egyptians

Tombs, Great pyramids, temples

Hieroglyphics

Rosetta Stone

Deciphered byJean FrancoisChampollion

has 3 languages: Greek,Demotic, Heiroglyphics

resides in the British Museum

contained logographicand alphabetic elements

logogram: visual symbolsrepresenting ideas or objects

derived from 2 Greek words hiero meaningsacred and glyphic meaning engraving/writing