Chronologies : Type, Production and Distribution Lecture

Type is an obsession and is what language looks like .
Is more illustrative than is Graphics.
The craft of showing human language with a durable visual form.

It all started in Mesopotamia (3200 B.C.E)

Language exists if there is an agreement amongst the people
As mathematic symbols, letters are also symbols .
The first alphabet was the Greek alphabet.
Pictograms lose its original form becoming letters.

Definitions of Typography :

• Art and technique of printing.
• Composition printed material
• The arrangement and appearance  of printed matter.

Johannes Guttenberg (1463)

He changed our type printing process 

The motivation to publish more writings at that time was mainly  to produce more Bibles and reach every part of the world.

Classification of types: 

- Classic (1450-1700)

- Transitional (1700-1790)

- Modern (1790-1870)

- Bauhaus (1870-1960)

- Contemporary (1960-2000) 

William Foster ( 1870)

Introduced elementary education 

Entire population started to know how to write and read ,and were more interested in general culture and being able to understand it .

It was a huge impact on our history .

Walter Gropius (1919 )

Gropius started to look to function and form of typography .

This happened on the Bauhaus (1919-1933).

First time crafters and typographers worked together, designing industrial mass production typography, in order to promote and sell industrial mass production around the world 

Max Miedinger (1957) 

He designed  the Helvetica type.

The aim was to create a neutral typeface able to reach to every audience . 

This meant the birth of Modern type.

Arial typeface ripped off by Microsoft 1982 

Steven Jobs ( 1990) 

introduced Macintosh, a new more affordable computer for more people.

Also introduced the first mouse .

1990  was the birth o type Design .

Vincent Connare ( 1960) 

Worked for Microsoft 

Enemy of the typography 

As practitioners, is our duty and responsibility to think about typography not just in form and function , but how to reach to the audience effectively .

Discuss the role that illustration can play during periods of political/social upheaval

 "Anonymous"

After a week of considering one of the questions for the essay we were given last cop session, I
finally decided which one Im going to based my essay on during this course.

From all the questions from the list, this one is the more atractive and the one with more similarities between what can I offer  to illustration.

Is about the important role played by illustrations, when the political and social  situations in that specific country are rather chaotic and unstable. Theses illustrated images at that specific time of controversia can help society, directly or indirectly,  to 'wake up', make them aware of the issues of the country or even start a revolution if is needed. The illustrations during this harsh political situation, are filled with such a power and strong menssages, that they can change the path of a nation by make the people to gather around and being one together.


I've been researching about the question and I found some strong images that help to understand and support this question. These are some examples:

 

 

 "Alternative Banking is a group of people who are disturbed about the current state of finance and financial regulation. Many of us have experience or expertise in the financial industry and are all-too-familiar with the way that the industry exploits “dumb money” and manipulates financial regulation to its benefit. We are open to everyone who would like to understand what has gone wrong with the banking industry, Wall Street and the political and regulatory process and work to fix it."

I found this incredible collective who gathered around to create a total of 52 illustration card/deck style based on their unpleasing disagreement about the financial issues by Wall Street. The illustrations talk by themselves. Strong and aggressive message. No mercy with the content they want to express. Names and actions being illustrated  in a nasty but revolutionary way. Shameless of say it to the world. These illustrations are power to the people, feeding them with strength to fight for.

http://52shadesofgreed.com/

Rodchenko  

One of my favourites artists from the Modernism movement, and more precisely one of the foundators of the russian Constructivism. His art work was very influenced by political background and helped 'Mother Russia' to movilise  the country as 1 unique nation. Is it very interesting how graphic design at the very early stage, had a powerful media and helped to unify society, when nowadays its function passed to help marketing, advertising and brands development in general.
Different times, different ends.

Study Task 1 - Image analysis

On the following task, we were asked to write a comparative 500 words critical analysis between these two images:

To start with , by looking at these two images the first impression is that they have no that much  in common, due to the fact that one shows Uncle Sam, which made us think of America, and the other one about Africa due to the figures shown (natives) and the savannah background, typically from Africa. Two completely different places on the map , but by looking at them more closely, some similarities start to make sense.

In the first image, the font used is a very Wild West style (1876) used in numerous publications, articles and propaganda poster. In addition, the illustration's quality shows what it seems a screen-print from that time. The excessive use of blues, reds, whites, stars and bars on the image is probably used intentionally looking for a specific audience, in this case, North Americans, and being more specific patriots of the country. On the other hand, the other two images are sharing a very simple font, but the media and quality of the painting is much more artistic if is compared with the other one. It might be for the influence of the european culture. These bright flat colours without strong lines it reminds me of some of the european art movements such as the Fauvism (early 20th century, France) which is accurate comparing both dates.

The purpose on the first image it might be confusing at the first look, because there are too many details to look at, and perhaps that was the first intention of the image maker, to hide a strong message under a familiar and comfortable dinner appearance. However, the intention of this illustration was to sell a product to the market, an Uncle Sam's Cooker although the way to present it is rather a bit overwhelming  by all those American symbolism like the eagle. That said , plus all the countries listed on the paper by the "Earth" it kinds of shows to the world how powerful and self-sufficient America is at this moment.

On the other hand, the second image, thanks to the combination of these two illustrations together, it makes much easier to describe at the very first look. In the first part, it shows an African tribe, working as a family, notwithstanding  any  technology advance, just their regular methods. But when looking at the second image something has changed. The african tribe is no longer working for their survival and own benefit, but helping the "White man" with their goal. Having in mind the dates when these images were made , the theme is clearly about the colonisation  period of european countries over Africa. Assuming the characteristic cloths of the white man , it might be England who was behind this image. The true message could be shown as how beneficial  the colonisation process is , not just for England , but for the African people who can now have a real opportunity to develop technology. Also developing the country itself,  becoming more "civilised" thanks to other countries.

Both images are trying to express how beneficial developed countries are for the rest who are not yet.

Digital and traditional print-making

Today as part of a group task , we were given some time to go to the library and research about digital and traditional printmaking ( that was our topic from the list , luckily we didn't have postmodernism). We also had to bring a couple of images and explain to the rest of the class what was our researching about.

These are the books we found more relevant about the topic.

At the beginning of the twenty first century computer technology is creating a revolution in mark making and by extension, other media as well. Digital technology seems to have revolutionised not only the field of print making but also the way in which some artists are looking the world. 

Lino-print Untitled (traditional print)

New technology allows for a range of outputs from a set of given data. As consequence of these possibilities, processes are leading to new ideas.

Nuclear Winter ( digital print)

Visual Literacy Lecture

On  the past lecture, we were taught about some of the main concepts and fundaments which are directly linked to illustration and some other disciplines as graphic design, advertisement and animation. These are some of the key words and terms shown in the presentation.

• The power of visual communication is based on a very strong concept which is the process of sending and receiving messages by using images.
• Visual literacy is in charge of interpret, negotiate and make meaning from information presented in form of an image.
• Syntax is the set of rules, principles and processes that makes a image readable.
• Semantics help us to interpret images of the present, past and between different cultures.
• Semiotics study the meaning of symbols and is formed by sign ,symbols and signifier.

"Pictures can be read too" 

These are some images showing the power of visual literacy

Note: It was fun to see that everyone could recognise these two symbols straight away when Fred showed them to us on the lecture, but afterwards, he showed us the same symbols but swamping their colours, and it took a while. It might look a simple/stupid example, but was enough to realise the content of the lecture.

OUIL401 Preparatory Task

Find a definition, quote, image and photograph for each of the following words:

Social: The term social refers to the interaction of organisms with other organisms and to their collective co-existence, irrespective of whether they are aware of it or not, and irrespective of whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary.
Quote: “The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow.” By H.G Wells.
Image:

(John Holcroft)

Photograph:

                                              (Occupy Oakland riot of Nov. 3, 2011)

Cultural: The term cultural came from culture and refers to the complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.
Quote: "Culture is the arts elevated to a set of beliefs". By Thomas Wolfe.
Image:

(Brighton Tattoo Convention 2012 poster )

Photograph:

(London Tattoo Convention)

Historical: Of or concerning history or past events.
Quote: "History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon." By Napoleon Bonaparte.
Image:

(The Mona Lisa By Leonardo da Vinci , 1503-1506)

Photograph:

(Hiroshima, August 1945, Japan)

Political: Of relating to, or dealing with the structure or affairs of government, politics, or the state.
Quote: “Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.” By John F. Kennedy.
Image:

(J.M Flagg's poster, Uncle Sam 1917)

Photograph:

(King Kim Jong-un, North-Korea)

Technological: Of relating to the collection of techniques, skills, methods and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives.
Quote: “I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own” By Nikola Tesla.
Image:

(Da Vinci's Flying machine scheme, 1485)

Photograph:

(Tesla Coil created by Nikola Tesla, 1891)