Chapter Ten - The Arts and Crafts Movment and Its Heritage

As the age of the machine began to rise, it was noticed that in the production of machines not much thought was given to the athestics of mecognizums. John Ruskin pointed out that art and society had begun seperating at the begining of the Renaissance, and that the result was a decline in creativity, and a lack of aesthetic concern. Ruskin strongly belived the because something was beautiful that it was valuable and useful, becuase it was beautiful. Among Ruskin's followers, William Morris and his 'Red House' played a pivitol role in the evolution of design at the time. He created over five hundred patern designs for wallpaper, textiles, carpets, and tapestries. He used Ruskin's idea to reinovate the "tastelessness of mass-produced goods and the lack of honest craftsmanship." It was through this that the idea that art and craft could combine to create beautiful objects from buildings to shoes. They wanted workers to find pride in their work.

They talked a bit in this chapter about false advertising, what was some of the ads? Also, could we see some images of Red House. I think it's interesting to build and create EVERY part of a house.

After Class - Feb 15th 2009

Today we really summarized the industrial revolution and looked as some of the most important parts of the evolution. Nothing would have been possible without the creation of steam power, it took the man/animal power away and created a limitless source of power (as long as the person fueling didn't get sleepy). This eventually helped to create newer printing presses that became more and more typewriter-like (aka: line'o type). The main part of the typography of this time was developing specialized fonts for diffrent propmotions. Having a 'circus' font for a circus poster and so on. Lots of bold powerful heavy fonts that were streatched out and had a very tall x-height.

We then talked extensively about the development of photography and how it could be something so simplistic and artistic to something as powerful as civil war photography that can effect entire nations. My group in particular had issues with the earliest photography 'experaments.' In particular the image of the religious leader. We thought that the light exposed parts hardened, and thus when washed stayed on the metal. But it appears it was the opposite. Having, personally, an extensive background in photography I'd love to learn more and perhaps try my hand at some of these 'old time' ways of photography. In my photography class we actually built a camera out of cardboard and created the inverted images and then fliped them to created the correct shading. I'll have to remember to bring it back with me this weekend.

Chapter Nine - Graphic Design and the Industrial Revolution

As the industrial revolution settled into England (760 to 1840), the graphic designer became increasingly important when dealing with marketing factory output. As revolutions across France and America, people were becoming increasingly literate and now Graphic Artists could reach a greater audience. Leading people into the era of mass communications. Over the course of the nineteenth century the graphic arts began to separate design and production components. The range of typographic sizes and letterform styles exploded. And with the added bonus of photography, graphic design began to take on a whole new look. Broadsides and large letterforms became increasingly important. It was then that William Caslon began sand-casting large, bold typefaces. Demand for these block letterform was required of all sorts of clients, and so various kinds of thick block fonts were created. The design of these posters and broadsheets did not really involve a modern 'graphic artist.' All that was needed was basic organization.

A big part of the chapter talked about the changing views on children and their effect of typography. Victorian graphic design captured the values of the era -home, religion, and patriotism- in images of children, maidens, puppies, and flowers. Before this era, children really were treated as "Little Adults." But in this time period, there was a lot more development of toy books, basically colorful picture books, for preschool children. My favorite part of this chapter is the introduction of Japanese woodblock into Western culture. The beautiful basic images with simplistic coloring really are perfect for children's illustration. An art form, I personally adore.

My question for this chapter, why do graphic artists so negativily view victorian poster designs. Personally, I find the various font styles put together in a complex harmony beautiful and extreamly creative! What are the opinions and reasoning?

Image Three

This week we talked about more of the evolution of fonts and while wandering admits the wandering on the wilds of the web, I found this shirt! There were a bunch of more shirts with the different kinds of fonts. If you look farther down you can see the exact logo that even talks about Baskerville himself and the date at which the font was created. I think this is a really creative way to introduce fonts to people and the history behind them. Maybe even for geeky graphic designers. Good way to remember things on a test!

After Class - Feb 18th 2009

We mainly reviewed the previous chapter going into depth on the various fonts and men (mostly for now) who developed these new advances in the world of Graphic Design. The main focus of today's look at fonts was dividing it up into three type designs: old style, transitional, and modern. We discussed influencial people such as Casion, Baskerville, Didot and Bodoni.

My only question is clarification on the different serifs. I know that these are part of the clarification on the difference between the various styles, but I think we need a review.

Chapter Eight - An Epoch of Typographic Genius

The eighteenth century was a time of tremendous typographic growth and originality. In Paris, a committee of scholars was to established restore the quality of early printing by designing new letter forms using 'scientific' processes. To construct the new letter forms, a square was drawn, divided into a grid of sixty-four units. Each of these was only further divided into thirty six units, for a grand total of 2,304 itty bitty squares. The committee then began to create mathematical letter forms rather than those created by hand, this meant measuring out each form using drafting instruments. When creating italics, an even smaller grid pattern was used! The final production was called Romain du Rol. However, this new type face could only be used by the Royal Printers. So other typographers made similar fonts with distinct differences, to avoid confusion.

But the major problem with type was the fact that each committee had its own form of measurement. In 1737, Fournier le Jeune published the first table of properties and a specimen book. This presented over 4,600 characters and styles. What I would like to know is more about Jeune, in the book it states that he published his books at the age of thirteen! How could a thirteen year old publish such a powerful graphic design book?

Another intresting part of this chapter deals with the creation of the rococo style. Beautifuly lavished natural organic shapes decorated every page of text in the style of Louis XV, in pastel colors combined with ivory and gold. A good representation of the Sun King and his courty.

After Class - Feb 16th 2009

Today was actually pretty fun! We really got to participate more with exploring the information the text book gives us. After a quick review we divided into groups and attempted to promote a 'Renaissance Man' from the reading. We had Tory, pretty much the god of the written French Language. It was interesting to see how many different subjects he was considered a master in. It makes me look at modern society and how we have to pick ONE subject to major in. I love a variety of subjects, and yet I can only study one. How different would the world be if we could learn as much as we could! But I think we did a good job today on our presentation of Tory, so much so that the group voted him the REAL REN MAN! Woo hoo! It was hilarious hearing the other groups vote our man in. My group really worked well together.

But my question for today, is what should I make on friday, and how should it look?