Summary 1

THE HISTORY OF GRAPHIC DESIGN 2: SUMMARIES

CHAPTER 9: GRAPHIC DESIGN AND THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION:

·         Originated: England- 1760-1840

·         Radical process: social and economic change.

·         Energy was major impetus.

·         JAMES WATT: (1736-1819): He perfected the steam engine- 1780.

·         Electricity and gasoline fuelled engines expanded productivity. Machine manufacturing and divisions of labour developed. Scientific knowledge applied to processes and materials. Expanding buying power stimulated technological improvements. This enabled mass production, increased availability and lowered costs.

·         Shutdowns: overproduction, depressions, economic panics, bank failures and loss of jobs due to new technological equipment. Living standards in Europe and America changed during 19^th century.

·         French Revolution: human equality, increases public education and literacy.

·         Handicrafts diminished as unity of design and production ended.

·         Early days craftsmen designed and fabricated chair/pair of shoes, printer was involved in all aspects from typeface design, page layout and printing of books and broadsheets. Specialization of factory system fractured graphic communication into separate design and production components. Visual information profoundly changed.

·         Typographic sizes and letterform styles exploded.

·         The invention of photography, printing of photos expanded the meaning of visual documentation and pictorial information. Colour lithography passed the aesthetic experience, colourful images. Dynamic exuberant, chaotic century, parade of new technologies, imaginative forms and new functions for graphic design.

INNOVATIONS IN TYPOGRAPHY:

·         Dominant function- dissemination of information. Books and Broadsheets.

·         Faster pace, Mass communication needs: increasingly urban and industrialized society produced rapid expansion jobbing printers, advertising and posters.

·         Demanded: larger scale, greater visual impact, new tactile and expressive characters. Typography didn’t fulfil these needs.

·         26 letters of alphabet are phonetic symbols.

·         Industrial age transformed signs into abstract visual forms, projecting powerful concrete shapes, strong contrast and large size.

·         Letterpress pressured lithographic printing. Craftsman rendered plates from artist’s sketch; produced images were limited by the artist’s imagination.

·         Letterpress: type founders expanded design possibilities.

·         Early 19^th century: new type designs. England played pivotal role in development.

·         WILLIAM CASLON: grandfather of revolution. Heirs dismissed leaders working revolt.

·         Successful type designers: JOSEPH JACKSON:( 1733-92)

THOMAS COTTERELL :( d. 1785). Sand casting, large and bold display letters in 1765.

·         ROBERT THORNE (d.1820): Fat faces. Roman face, contrast, weight, expanding thickness of heavy strokes. Stroke width ratio: 1:2:5.

·         VINCENT FIGGENS: 3D

·         IONIC, CLARENDON, EGYPTIAN, SAN-SERIF TYPE.

·         Designer and foundry name attachments:

1.     CASLON= DORIC

2.     THOROWGOOD= GROTESQUES

3.     BLAKE AND STEPHENSON= SAN-SURRYPHS

4.     BOSTON TYPE NA DSTEREOTYPE FOUNDARY= GOTHICS.

·         SCHELTER AND GIESECKE FOUNDRY: first san-serif fonts with lowercase.

THE WOOD-TYPE POSTER:

·         Display types expanded in size.

·         Casting: difficult to keep metal in liquid state when pouring, uneven cooling= concave printing surfaces.

·         Metal types= expensive, brittle and heavy.

·         AMERICAN PRINTER DARIUS WELLS: hand carved wooden types. Durable, light and half expensive.

·         WILLIAM LEAVENWORTH: the pantograph with the router, 1834.

·         New display typography from clients: travelling circuses, vaudeville troupes, clothing stores, new railroads posters.

·         Compositor consulted with clients. Selected and composed type, rules, ornaments, wood-engraved/metal-stereotyped stock illustrations that filled type cases.

·         Designer had access to typographic sizes, styles, weights and novel ornamental effects.

·         Horizontal and vertical stress for all elements on the press= basic organizing principle.

·         Long words/copy was in condensed type.

·         Short words or copy was in expanded fonts. 

·         Magazines and newspapers with space advertising and legislative restrictions on posting shifted commercial communications away from posted notices.

A REVOLUTION OF PRINTING:

·         Printing press used Baskerville and Bodoni.

·         Hand press= mechanical theory and metal parts, increase in efficiency in size and impression.

·         LORD STANHOPE’S PRINTING PRESS: constructed of cast iron parts in 1800. Metal screw mechanism. One tenth of manual force to print on wooden press. Enabled doubling of printed sheet sizes.

·         FRIEDERICK KOENIG: German printer, 1804. Steam powered printing press. First powered press like hand press connected to steam engine. Method of inking type by rollers instead of hand inking balls. Horizontal movement of type forms in bed of machine. Movement of tympan and frisket were automated.

·         Stop cylinder steam powered press= faster operation. Type form was on flat bed, moved back and forth beneath cylinder. cylinder rotated over type carrying sheet to be printed. It stopped to be inked by rollers. When cylinder was still, pressman fed fresh sheet of paper.

·         KOENIG : Double cylinder steam powered press.

·         WILLIAM COWPER: used curved stereotyped plates wrapped around cylinder, 1815.

·         AMBROSE APPLEGATH: four cylinder steam powered press using curved stereotyped plates made from papier mache molds, 1827.

·         NICHOLAS LOUIE ROBERT: developed prototype for paper making machine, 1798.

·         JOHN GAMBLE: making paper in single sheets without seam or joining.

·         1803: first paper production machine operative at Frogmore, England. Poured suspension of fibre and water in thin stream upon vibrating wire-mesh conveyor belt. Unending sheet paper could be made.

THE MECHANIZATION OF TYPOGRAPHY:

·         Setting type by hand was slow and costly.

·         Book, newspaper, magazine.

·         OTTMAR MERGENTHALER: perfected linotype machine -1886. Small brass matrixes with female impressions of letterforms, numbers and symbols.90 typewriter keys controlled vertical tubes that filled these matrixes. Operator pressed a key, matrix for character was released. Slid down chute, and melted lead poured into line matrixes to cast slug bearing raised line of type. 

·         TOLBERT LANSTON: Monotype machine-cast single characters from hot metal.- 1887.

PHOTOGRAPHY, THE NEW COMMUNICATION TOOL:

·         Photochemical processes

·         Camera obscura = dark chamber in latin.

·         4^th century B.C: camera obscura = darkened room or box with small opening / lens on 1 side. Light rays passing through aperature are projected onto opposite side and form picrure of bright objects outside.

·         1665: small,portable, boxlike, camera obscuras were made.

·         To make the image projected permanent or fix it to the surface, a light sensitive material was needed.

THE INVENTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY:

·         JOSEPH NIEPCE: Frenchman produced first photographic image. Researched by transferring drawing on printing plates.

·         1822: He coated pewter sheet with light sensitive asphalt= bitumen of Judea. Hardens when exposed to light. Contact printed a drawing. Oiled to make it transparent to pewter with sunlight. Washed pewter with lavender oil to remove soft parts. Etched with acid to make incised copy of original. INVENTION= HELIOGRAVURE= SUN ENGRAVING.

·         Putting pewter plates in back of camera obscura.

·         LOUIS JACQUES DAGUERRE: Diorama invention. Daguerreotypes= highly polished silver plated copper sheet sensitized, placed silver side down, over container of iodine crystals. Iodine combined with silver =iodide. Plate placed in camera, exposed to light.

·         WILLIAM HENRY FOX TALBOT: photography and photographic process combined printing plates. Paper with silver nitrate= sensitive.

·         Images made without camera= photogenic drawings.

·         Images made by manipulating objects with light striking photographic paper= photograms.

·         JOHN HERSCHEL: Sodium thiosulfate= fix/ permanent images. Reversed image = negative.

·         Photography/ greek “photos” = light drawing.

·         Calotype= greek/ kalos typos= beautiful impression.

·         FREDERICK ARCHER: wet plate process

·         GEOERGE EASTMAN: 1888: Kodak camera.

THE APPLICATION OF PHOTOGRAPHY TO PRINTING:

·         THOMAS BESWICK: Wood engraving.

·         JOHN CALVIN MOSS: Photoengraving method. Translating line artwork into metal letterpress plates.

·         1860-1870: wood engravings drawn from photographs , mass communication.

·         STEPHEN H HORGAN: Halftone screen: screen broke image into minute dots. Sizes= tones. Squares, dots, sandwhiched.

·         FREDERICK, E, HIVES: early half tone process, half tone printing plates.

·         1881: photochemical colour illustrations.

DEFINING THE MEDIUM:

·         DAVID OCTAVIUS HILL, SCOTTISH PAINTER AND PHOTGRAPHER ROBERT ADAMSON: POTRAITURE, CALOTYPES, LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS.

·         JULIA MARGARET CAMERON AND FRENCHMAN, F.T. NADAR= PHOTOGRAPHY CONTRIBUTIONS.

PHOTOGRAPHY AS REPORTAGE:

·         Historical record and define human history.

·         MATHEW BRADY : American Civil war

·         TIMOTHY O SULLIVAN

·         ALEXNDRA GARDNER

·         EADWARD MUYBRIDGE: the horse in motion, sequence photography, graphic images to record time and space.shutterspeed of camera was important. Motion picture photography.

POPULAR GRAPHICS OF THE VICTORIAN ERA:

·         ENGLISH ARCHITECT, A.W.N.PUGIN: designed ornamental details of British houses of parliament.

·         OWEN JONES: ENGLISH DESIGNER, AUTHOR , AUTHORITY. Islamic. Moorish ornamental, Western, eastern, biblical.

·         Victorian popular graphics was chromolithography, colourful printed images.

·         Time of strong moral and religious beliefs, proper social conventions and optimism.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITHOGRAPHY:

·         Lithography= Greek= stone printing.

·         ALOYS SENEFELDER: CHEAP WAY TO PRINT WORKS.

·         PLANOGRAPHIC PRINTING: printing from flat surface.

·         GODEFROY ENGLEMANN: chromolithography process.

·         Chemical principle = oil and water don’t mix. Image is drawn on flat stone surface with iol-based crayon, pen, or pencil. Water spread over stone to moisten all areas except iol based image. This repels water. Oil-based ink is rolled over stone, adhering to image but not wet areas of stone. Sheet of paper placed over image and printing press is sued to transfer inked image onto paper.

THE BOSTON SCHOOL OF CHROMOLITHOGRAPHY:

·         Technical perfection and imagery of compelling realism.

·         RICHARD M HOE: perfected rotary lithography press. = lightening press.

·         JOHN H BUFFORD: crayon style images.

·         LOUIS PRANG: designer, engraver, used chromolithography, naturalistic images. Father of American Christmas cards.

THE DESIGN LANGUAGE OF CHROMOLITHOGRAPHY:

·         Started in Boston.

·         1875: ENGLISHMAN ROBERT BARCLAY: patent for offset lithographic printing on tin.

THE BATTLE ON SIGNBOARDS:

·         VISUAL AND PICTORIAL POSTER.

·         LITHOGRAPHY WAS ILLUSTRATIVE MEDIUM.

·         JAMES RILEY: DESIGNED INGENIOUS WAYS ON LETTERPRESS POSTER.

IMAGES FOR CHILDREN:

·         CHILDREN = LITTLE ADULTS.

·         WALTER CRANE: CHILDRENS PICTURE BOOKS

·         RANDOLPH CALDECOTT: ABILITY TO EXAGGERATE, MOVEMENT FACIAL EXPRESSIONS, PEOPLE, ANIMALS.

·         KATE GREENWAY: BOOK DESIGNER, SIHOUETTES, SOFT COLOURS, WHITE SPACE, ASSYMETRICAL BALANCE.

THE RISE OF THE AMERICAN EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING DESIGN:

·         JAMES AND JOHN HARPER

·         WESLEY AND FLETCHER

·         JOSEPH A ADAMS: ELECTROTYPING PROCESS.

·         THOAMS NAST

·         HOWARD PYLE

VICTORIAN TYPOGRAPHY:

·         ORNATE ELABORATION= MAJOR INFLUENCE.TYPEFACE AND LETTERING.

·         SHADOWS, OUTLINES AND EMBELLISHMENTS.

·         HERMAN IHLENBURG: MAJOR VICTORIAN TYPEFACE DESIGNER.

·         JOHN F CUMMING: designed typefaces.