The story of graphic design : from the invention of writing to the birth of digital design / Patrick Cramsie

Object Details

Author

Cramsie, Patrick

Contents

Introduction : graphic design & style -- Design and sign : the origin of the alphabet, c.34,000-1,100 BC -- A classical education : Ancient Greece & Rome, c. 2000BC-c.AD350 -- Spreading the word : illuminated manuscripts, c.350-c.1500 -- The black art : the birth of printing & early German printing, c.1455-c.1530 -- Back to the future : Renaissance Italy & France, c.1460-c.1600 -- Popular publishing : Dutch Renaissance & popular prints, c.1530-c.1700 -- Purity in print : Rococo, transitional & modern, c.1700-c.1820 -- The tools of trade : display types & Victorian design, c.1800-c.1880 -- Manufacturing the Middle Ages : Neo-Gothic & the arts and crafts, c.1840-c.1910 -- The style of the street : Art Nouveau, c.1880-c.1914 -- The simple art of war : Sachplakat & First World War graphics, c.1880-c.1920 -- The isms of art : Futurism, Dada, De Stijl & Constructivism, c. 1900-c.1930 -- Form and function : Bauhaus & the new typography, c.1919-c.1933 -- The weight of tradition : traditional typography, c.1910-c.1947 -- Good design is good business : commercial Modernism, c.1920-c.1960 -- Systems and signs : Swiss typography, c.1945-c.1972 -- Handmade and homespun : illustrated Modernism & Psychedelia, c.1950-c.1970 -- Tearing it up : punk, c.1975-c.1985 -- Less is a bore : New Wave & Postmodernism, c.1970-c.1990 -- Printing with pixels : digital Expressionism & postscript, the digital future, c.1984-

Summary

This comprehensive illustrated history begins with the origins of the alphabet itself and carries the reader through the first handwritten books, the invention of printing in the Renaissance, the explosion of graphic styles (and printed media) in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the impact of digital technology on design today. This work explores the evolution of styles under the pressure of social, cultural, and technological change, accompanied by a comprehensive selection of illustrations of key works in typography and design since the invention of writing. It covers a number of topics, from the art of the medieval manuscript to the birth of advertising to the workings of modern mass media. The author is able to bring a designer's eye to the analysis of visual communication. This is a book for designers, historians, and students, and those who are interested in the visual arts or concerned about the future of the printed word.

2010

Type

Books

Physical description

351 p. : col. ill. ; 26 cm

Smithsonian Libraries

Topic

Graphic arts--History

Graphic design (Typography)--History

Commercial art--History

Record ID

siris_sil_963663

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0