Industrialization

Industrial revolution had a tremendous impact on the progress of graphic design. In today class we discussed the steps that lead to further development of arts and craft. We also focused on the people of the era who made these changes possible due to their dedication and creative thinking. 

After the invention of the steam engine by James Watt the entire industry started to use the new application to solve technical issues which for centuries were obstacles for economic, faster and easier production. In the spam of less than one hundred years the print underwent major changes. In 1796 lithography was invented by Alois Senefelder. It was the first step towards the mechanization of print. Lithography became a popular and low cost method for printing both text and image on stone (usually limestone, hence the name from Greek 'lithos' meaning stone) and later metal surface. In only 40 years the device was improved to the extend of printing in color. First chromolithography in the US was introduced in Boston in 1837. The chemical process of chromolithography was based on stone surface with acids and gum arabic and then implication of ink to create multi color prints in many copies. 

In the meantime in 1814 back on the Old Continent Adreas Bauer and Frederich Koenig invented the first printing machine using steam as a power source. The iron printing press from 1800 was a prototype for constructing the press with double cylinder steam that enabled to print record breaking amount of 1000 impressions per hour (according to statistics it increased the quantity by 500%). In the book 'Men of Invention and Industry' published in 1884 Samuel Smiles, Scottish reformer deducted to Koenig an entire fourth chapter entitled 'Inventor of the Steam-printing Machine'. The same year 1814, 'The London Times' (today just 'The Times' published since 1785) used the new device. Although the press meant economic and fast production it was not welcome by the people. Workers whose occupation was replaced by the machine more efficient than human hands were left unemployed without a perspective of a new job. It brought a light on the social issues that the Industrial Revolution initiated. 

Industrial Revolution had a great impact on not only the technology of the times but also the people who lived them. The Victorian era in Great Britain was the period of reign of Queen Victoria that spammed over 70 years (from 1837 when Victoria was 18 till her death in 1901). Because of relatively peaceful times (Pax Britannica 1815 - 1914) people advanced in agriculture, industry, technology, science and culture. An economic idea of the supply and demand explains the great amount of goods produced to satisfy enlarging middle class. Urbanization was followed by the higher standards of life. It was also the origin of a Victorian style that included new esthetics fulfilling the demand of 'things'. Victorianism is depicted in the decorative arts with cross cultural references from the Middle East, general splendor (earlier seen in Rococo), ornaments such as wallpapers, tapestries, fabrics. The arts and craft were influenced too. An introduction of scrap cards produced with chromolitic press around 1800 began a new trend of ephemera, collecting. Famous cards by Luis Prang illustrated typical themes for Victorianism, such as floral ornamentation, oriental animals, sweet and delicate children, decorative frames and backgrounds using the trompe l'oeil effect. Apart from the scrap cards the first toy books for children were introduced providing entertainment and vivid illustrations. Most famous artists were Walter Crane, Randolph Caldecott and female illustrator Kate Greenaway whose works engaged the negative space and relation between the text and image. 

The design started to have a greater impact on all branches of life, such as industry. First advertising agency was founded by John Hooper. Newspapers and emerging thematic magazines (e.g. 'Ladies Home Journal' introduced in 1850s) started to include paid advertising pages. The posters on the streets in a large format, flyers and leaflets of different products became a part of the city life. Commercial advertising was not the only implementation to the newspapers of the time. Political cartoons depicted the reality in a satirical way giving a chance for the common people to discuss and share opinions on such topics like politics, social issues, etc. Thomas Nest was one of the leading caricaturists known as the Father of American Cartoon. Among his works is a modern version of Santa Claus, Uncle Sam, the Republican elephant and Democratic Donkey. During his career in 'Harper's Weekly' he was involved in a serious case of Boss Tweed and lead to the downfall of American politician convicted for stealing up 45 million dollars from New York City. Nest's campaign against corrupted Tweed was based on his satirical cartoons. 

Another influencing figure of the time was William Morris, considered the Father of Arts and Craft. He was not only a writer, but also designer, painter, a true artists in each aspect of his life. The social movement he initiated was fighting against the mass production of low quality products during the industrialization era. Morris and his associates from the Pre-Raphaelite group, among others Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti deeply believed in a necessity of simplicity, beauty and nature in lives of contemporary people. He said:  

If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.

Morris married with Jane Burden, English model and ideal of beauty for Pre-Raphaelite circle. She was his muse and to her he dedicated the construction of the Red House. 

Morris' life showed in a movie was a very inspirational element of the class. I think it is a great dream that Morris had in his whole life to go back to the basics and bring meaning to the life. It seems a lot like nowadays life when people rushing to collect more 'stuff' forget about simplicity and what BEAUTY really means. In the times of industrialization people were confused and brain washed with the progress happening every day. So far they had survived based on the daily needs. Now, entering a city life they found themselves in a possession of money that not only gave them a possibility to buy things, but buy a social status. Morris saw all that around him. He saw how people were lost in the world where material things replaced artistic and emotional values. He had a very romanticized idea of changing the mentality of the crowds and opens their eyes on a real beauty. But could he succeed? I feel that in today world we need people like him as never before, dedicated and determined. 

 Victorian era, scrap cards

 Thomas Nast's political cartoon

William Morris

William Morris' wallpaper design

From Gutenberg to the Industrial Revolution

The history of graphic design goes further from the times of the printing press invention up to the days of the Industrial Revolution initiated in XVIII century in England. The movement spread to the other European countries and changed the face of entire world. However, before these alterations could have happened there were over 4 four centuries of development on social, political and technological fields, including the arts and graphic design. In the class we covered the material on the font evolution including the most ancient forms of writing up to the gaudy posters advertising commercial products.

Phoenicians later Greeks and Romans developed the alphabet based on the system of letters that replaced the pictographs used by Sumerians (called cuneiform) and hieroglyphs typical for the Egyptian civilization. Initially the letters had a rectangular shape but within the time they got simplified with round and smooth forms easier to write and read. In the Middle Ages an example of the developed form of type can be seen in Celtic Book of Kells, illuminated manuscript containing the New Testament written by Celtic monks around 800 AD. At approximately same time in continental Europe Charlemagne, the King of Franks was crowned as Emperor of the Roman Empire (768 AD). A new standard of writing called Carolingian minuscule introduced under the reign of Charlemagne unified the Roman alphabet (so that all regions of the Empire could use it) and turned them into blackletter type, typical for the Medieval scripts. Later, with the beginning of the crusades to the Holy Land in 1095 not only the type but also the material on which it was written changed. So far the most common surfaces were animal skins and parchment, expensive and time consuming to produce. However crusaders discovered a new medium used by the Arabic writers, the paper. After the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg the text became even more popular due to its fast and economic (comparing to the previous methods) production.

During the times of Enlightenment characterized with the quest for knowledge and humanist thoughts, books provided the people with a possibility for education, spreading ideas, new streams of thinking in religion, philosophy, politics, etc. Also the great discoveries opened paths that we had never dreams of before. Europeans started to introduce their culture and laws on new territories brining language, customs, technology. Steven Daye, a simple merchant was the first to bring printing to the colonies in 1638.

In XVII and XVIII century a new movement called Rococo pushed the boundaries of good taste. Over decorated style with a great fondness for gold, floral ornaments, mirrors, light was also reflected in the texts printed at that time. Louise XIV, king of France and an exemplary character of Rococo, introduced the royal font used only by his court. Although Rococo was an artistic movement it exposed political and social issues that turned into French Revolution in 1789. The Declaration of Independent in the United States in 1776, in Poland in 1791 (it was the second declaration of independence in the world, few months before France) and Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in France in 1791 were documents that marked the modern era.

Neoclassicism was introduced taking over the playful Rococo style and turning to the masters of Enlightenment. In 1764 Pierre Simon Fournier le Jeune published Manuel Typographique, later in 1771 Giambattista Bodoni wrote Saggio Tipografico followed by works by the Didot family in France. People looked at print as a powerful form of fighting political and philosophical opposition and show new ways of thinking in the essays. New technology, rapid growth of human population, interest in politics by common people gave a start for the Industrial Revolution, initiated in England in XVIII century by James Watt who constructed the first steam engine in 1778. Major changes in industry, agriculture, technology, transportation and culture also influenced the print. Not only more people became literate so that the necessity for books was greater, but print took a new exciting form exposed to even greater public in a form of a poster. People moving to the cities needed more manufactured products advertised through posters.

In my opinion the most interesting period discussed in the class was XVIII century, the time of great changes. The print became a tool for other fields, like politics and philosophy. The possibility to spread the ideas on paper so everybody could have an access to it through books, essays, posters, pamphlets made it very powerful. In the event the public aware of a real situation in a country such as France revolted against a ruler to fight for their rights. I think it shows how inspirational the written word could be and thanks to the previous development of type, printing press and paper the human history changed its way.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, 1791

Manuel Typographique byPierre Simon Fournier le Jeune, 1764/68

The Beginnings

That was the first class of the History of Graphic Design. It has started with the story about the times before the actual graphic history. In the very beginning it was the pictographs from the Lascaux caves that depicted an intention of an anonymous author (e.g. the hunting scenes, animals). Later with the development of Western civilization the text was carved out from the stone blocks and in this form it was displayed to the public (e.g. in Roman Empire). After centuries the stone was replaced with the vellum, the mammal skin that served as a paper before this material was introduced in Europe. The hand made manuscripts written and beautifully decorated with Gothic calligraphy were performed usually by the monks who were literate and spent their time on copying the books, focusing on the religious texts, e.g. the Bible, devotion books for the clergy and people. This tedious work and expensive materials meant that only the richest people could afford to posses a book. Even the smallest mistake could stop the working process so copying even a short text was very time consuming. In the XVth century one man, Johannes Gutenberg, turned upside down the evolution of the written text. Although it was the time of experimentation and development in the calligraphy and manuscript art it was Gutenberg who completed an innovative machine in around 1439. Thanks to his movable printing press, more and more people had a chance to posses the books, learn how to read and in a cheap and fast way distribute the books. The technology spread over the whole Europe and nowadays many historian mark the date when the printing press was invented as a transition between the Middle Ages and the time of Enlightenment.. The major work the inventor was focusing on for years was the Gutenberg Bible, completed in 1455.

Johannes Gutenberg

Gutenberg's printing press in XV century