The History Of Visual Communication

The History Of Visual Communication
Cave Paintings 55,000 years ago
common themes: large
animals, tracings of
human hands, abstract
patterns
first form of visual communication
cave painting sites
Lascaux
closed b/c paintings
were being damaged by
carbon dioxide emitted
from tourists
created the Lascaux II
most famous cave
painting 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 different
b/c 3D effect was created
Photography
Camera Obscura
Joseph Niepce created 1st
successful photograph
Daguerreotype
created by Louis Daguerre
image was exposed to a lightsensitive metal
sheet
Calotype Process
created by William Fox Talbot
image was exposed onto a light sensitive
paper producing a paper negative
Wet Plate Process
created by Archer
glass plates were used for the negative to
capture the image when exposed to light
Dry Plate Process
created by Richard Maddox
glass plates coated in gelatin
gelatin: a colorless watersoluble glutinous
protein obtained from animal tissue
Kodak
established by Eastman
James Clerk Maxwell took 1st color photograph
Muybridge paved the way for motion picture
photography
zoopraxiscope: a device used to project a series
of images in successive phases of motion
The Egyptians
Tombs, Great pyramids, temples
Hieroglyphics
Rosetta Stone
Deciphered by
Jean Francois
Champollion
has 3 languages: Greek,
Demotic, Heiroglyphics
resides in the British Museum
contained logographic
and alphabetic elements
logogram: visual symbols
representing ideas or objects
derived from 2 Greek words hiero meaning
sacred and glyphic meaning engraving/writing
The Printing Press
Johannes Gutenberg
motivation: love of books &
spending time with father at the mint
watching goldsmiths and jewelers
created oilbased ink
experimented w/ metal topography
introduced modern book printing
agreement w/ John Fust stated that if
Gutenberg couldn't repay the loan after 5 years,
Fust could get the press, tools, and materials
agreement violated and Fust and
Schoeffer took credit for the press
hand press in which ink is
rolled over the raised surface
of movable handset letters
held 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 mold
was made
was quicker, more durable, and lettering was
more uniform
Gutenberg made metal type out of an alloy of
lead, tin, and antimony
Bible: 1st book to be printed
Major Printing Processes
Relief
Intalgio
Porous
Lithoography
Sumerians
Cuneiform
to help keep track of
business transactions
began as a series of pictographs
Evolution
became more abstract
# of characters grew
characters became wedge shaped
chose sumer region to
settle b/c of fertile ground
Things we know
Theocratic culture
ruled by a priest king
skilled artisans
music=important part of life
The Linotype Machine
invented by Christopher Sholes
tested by Clephane
name comes from the fact that it produces an
entire 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 shift
key
Black key: lowercase; White key: uppercase;
Blue key: punctuation, digits, etc.
Computers
Univac= 1st commercial computer
created by John Preseper Eckert and John
Mauchly
letters stand for Universal Automatic Computer
IBM
letters stand for International Business
Machine
developed IBM701 EOPM Computer
developed first memory disk(floppy disk)
Douglas Engelbart invented the mouse
named mouse b/c of the tail connected to
the computer
first internet= ARPANET
developed to protect flow of info b/w military
installations
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's
operating system
The Book
Scrolls
Construction
long continuous
pieces of papyrus
separate sheets glued
together at the edges
simply rolled or had
wooden rollers at each end
Codex
Definition:a covered and bound
collection of hand written pages
Advantages
over scroll
compact,sturdy, and ease if reference
can be opened flat to any page
easier use in libraries b/c title
could be written on the spine
adopted by
Christianity
used in churches for Bibles and scriptures
Parchment
Definition:a substrate
made from animal skins
replaced papyrus b/c
was 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
Illuminated
Manuscripts
word illumination refers to
the borders, illustrations,
and ornamentation added to
each page of text
reserved for religious texts
b/c were so laborious
creation of illuminated manuscripts
declined b/c of printing press
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