Jean Carlos Pichardo
ARTH 3311
Professor Trofimova
February 7, 2018
Assignment 1
History of Graphic Design has a lot of information to learn from the class itself and the lessons. For starters, the class will be offering lessons not only on graphic design but also the history of ancient writing. The class will have tons of writing and understanding the reasons behind each lecture. Finally, the professor will show us people who are well-known in the graphic design industries and their style of work.
The first day of class we learned the types of writing from ancient civilizations and how it relates back to today’s graphic design. In the lesson, we learn the different types of writing from hand paintings on caves to scripters on stones. They were not for artistic means. The carvings or scratches on these materials were used to keep records of the amount of supplies they had at the time, for ritual practices, or even to tell a story of what occur around them. An example would be the cave paintings in Lascaux at Dordogne, Southwestern France. The painting shows the amount of creatures the early humans encountered. It can tell the story of how they hunted these creatures for survival or an image to show what animals were more fitted for survival needs. We cannot fully say based on the painting alone, but it can give a glimpse of what they see through their eyes.
The class continue on with the invention of writing on varies materials such as clay, stone, and many others. The reasons behind it were to record information of what is happening at the time. An example would be the use of pictographs in Egypt and Mesopotamia around before 3000 BC. A few selected amount of people were about to learn how to write and read pictographs compare to today’s society where everyone write/type every day through text or assignments. As mention earlier, pictograph was used to keep records of livestock or documentations of trade or offers to the gods. This allow them to keep track of pass events and make their society last longer.
Also, the professor decides to include videos or images of people in the graphic design field. She wanted to discuss why they are in the field and how they become successful in their work. One person was shown of his works in creating covers for authors over TED. He explain how everything has to be mysterious but clear at the same time. It grabs the attention of the audience and give a clear message of what the book is about. He also explains how everything he created were from every day things around him and social media. How the ads in the subways are great and bad to the public and the use of simple imagery can really express the message to the audience.
This class has a lot to offer. From ancient writings to today’s graphic designers, I will be able to understand the reasons behind it. We can take something from the past and reform it to something more modern for people to read or see. It’s useful to have this tool in this field or any like architecture, interior design, or in writing. Simple descriptions or imagery can tell a whole story of what is portrayed to the public or to one individual.