History of Graphic Design Exam 1

Why did the International Committee of the Red Cross develop different logos for the same cause?

The connotation of the cross and crescent moon logos were negative in some of the countries they serve, so they needed to come up with a new one so they could work there.

Describe the final judgement in the Egyptian Book of the Dead

The god Anubis weighs Ani's heart against a feather which symbolizes purity. If he is not pure, the monster Ammit will eat him, if he is pure, he will continue on his journey to the underworld.

After the Death of Alexander the Great, Greek culture spread through the Western world and possibly to Japan. This era was named the

Hellenistic period

What is the difference between cuneiform and hieroglyphics?

Hieroglyphs were pictoral and literal whereas cuneiform in its most developed form was abstract

Who deciphered the Rosetta Stone and how did he do it?

Jean-Francois Champollion deciphered it by figuring out the cartouches and direction of the writing, then translating the rest

The Sefer Avid or "Book of Love" is an example of what type of illumination?

Judaic

List 3 graphic conventions of Judaic and Islamic Manuscripts

Judaic - word was more important (illustrations were secondary), illustrations were detailed, gold calligraphy on a blue background Islamic - no images of living beings (aniconism), modest design at first then became more elaborate, geometric patterns

What calendar, produced in France by the sons of a Dutch wood sculptor, reversed the Gothic tendency toward abstraction and stylized presentation (and therefore signaled the coming of the Renaissance.)

Les Tres Heures du duc de Berry

This example of Celtic illumination uses the graphic convention of diminuendo. It is also the oldest completed illuminated book from that part of the world predating the Book of Kells.

Lindesfarne gospels

In Funerary Papyri, how were men and women drawn differently?

Men were drawn darker and women were drawn lighter

Who was the mastermind behind ISOTYPE?

Otto Neurath

How is parchment made and what is it used for?

Parchment was made using the skins of animals. The skin was washed first, then the hair was removed. The skin is then stretched tightly on a frame and scraped to remove all the flesh and hair. It is then smoothed and whitened so that it could be used as a substrate for writing.

What inspired his design for the CBS Eye?

Pennsylvania Dutch Hex

Another form of writing developed in Egypt several thousand years after the first hieroglyphs and was not pictographic, but alphabetic in that it's symbols represented sounds, not a word or phrase.

Phoenician

Who were the WMCA Good Guys?

Radio station in New York that promoted DJs over music - used a smiley face as their logo

Textura is the name of the lettering style often seen in this style of illuminated manuscripts

Romanesque and Gothic

What is Susan Kare's contribution to graphic design history?

She created the first user-friendly interface as well as the icons to go with that interface

What are uncials? Who invented them?

uncials are rounded letter forms invented by the Greeks

As a graphic designer, why is it imperative that you understand the connotation or secondary meaning of a symbol or sign?

To understand the reaction you are going to receive from your audience so you can manipulate them into reacting to your message

What were the two forms of writing dominating the ancient world and date back nearly 4500 years ago?

cuneiform and hieroglyphs

Which ancient alphabet was first used by tribes from Aram and became the predecessor to the Hebrew and Arabic alphabet?

Aramaic alphabet

How far back does the concept of a trademark go?

As far back as the beginning of civilization in Mesopotamia

Why were cylinder seals considered to be the earliest form of printing?

Because they were easy to reproduce

How is Celtic Illumination different from Spanish Pictorial Illumination?

Celtic Illumination - interlaces (woven knots) and lacertines (woven knots with animal heads) as well as ornate borders and diminuendo Spanish Pictorial Illumination - more illustration, geometric shapes (Islamic influence), bright colors, stylized figures

This emperor was more concerned with education and reading than fighting battles

Charlemagne

The two Greek letters used to write Christ, _____,______, were used in the illuminated manuscript of the Book of Kells

Chi Rho (XP)

How did format (scrolls and codices) become an indicator of religious affiliation in medieval Europe? Who tended to use what?

Christians and Pagans used different formats. Christians tended to use codices while pagans used scrolls

What is William Golden known for?

Creating the CBS eye and for establishing the standards for corporate identity design.

What is the lineage of our modern alphabet?

Cretan pictographs Phoenician Early Greek Classical Greek Latin Modern English

How did Cuneiform writing evolve?

Cuneiform started out ideographic and pictographic. They originally were written vertically then switched to being written from left to right. The stylus was then pushed into the clay instead of dragging it, so then cuneiform became abstract instead of literal.

What was the purpose of a cylinder seal?

Cylinder seals were a way to trademark yourself. You would roll it on your goods to people knew your product and would come back to you.

Who were the first people to produce illuminated manuscripts?

Egyptians

Who is the poster child for corporate brand design?

Frank Stanton

Compare and Contrast Gothic Illumination to Late Medieval Illumination

Gothic - flat, stylized images Late Medieval - atmospheric perspective and realism

According to historians, who is the original creator of the smiley face?

Harvey Ball

In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, what is the fate of Ani should he fail the test where his heart is weighed against a feather?

He will be eaten by the monster, Ammit

How does gothic caligraphy/lettering difer from uncials and insular script of other manuscripts we've studied?

uncials and insular script was more rounded. the blackletter (textura) was thin and pointed and took up most of the white space on the page

Boustrophedon

"to plow an ox" - writing method where every other line reads in the opposite direction

Spain's manuscript design was influenced by which culture, using flat shapes and intense color

Islamic

With this particular style of illumination, humans and animals were rarely, if ever, illustrated because of the religious belief that humans should not create idols to worship (aniconism)

Islamic

What is aniconism?

The belief that you cannot draw living beings for fear that they will become idols over the one, true God

The fear of the end of the world 1000 years after the death of Christ manifested visually in this illuminated style, such as in the image of the Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse

Spanish Pictorial Expressionism

What are the two theories for the invention of serifs in ancient Roman lapidary and writing?

That they were the result of the chiseler trying to flatten the bottom or when the letters were painted on, the brush splayed out

Funerary papyri were created as road maps for the ancient Egyptians to navigate the underworld. Collated, these funerary papyri became _______________________

The Book of the Dead

Charlemagne unified Europe, and part of his reform was to standardize page layout, writing style, and decoration. What is one of the innovations from that period that has changed the way we write today?

The Caroline Miniscule - the letter forms that came out of this period, they are the forerunner for our lowercase alphabet

What is the Caroline Miniscule and why is it important?

The Caroline Miniscule is the writing script of the Carolingian revival. It is the forerunner to our lowercase alphabet

What do historians consider to be the first logo?

The Vienna Workshops Trademark 1903

Concept of Rebus Writing

Using pictoral images to represent spoken sound.

List 3 Graphic conventions of Celtic manuscripts

carpet pages ornate capitals interlaces and lacertines (lots o'knots)

With manuscripts from the Caroline revival scribes and illuminators looked to what time period and culture for inspiration?

classic antiquity

What substrate did the ancient Sumerian people write on to record information?

clay

Code of Hammurabi

collections of laws that spelled out crimes and their punishments - established order and justice (Mesopotamia)

Roger Cook and Don Shonosky of Cook, Shanosky and Associates are credited with creating what?

creating a universal language of pictograms for traveling

The Ras Shamra script shows signs that resemble what ancient writing system?

cuneiform

The Phoenicians developed their own alphabetic system of writing where symbols stood for sounds? However, they were influenced by what two developed writing forms from the ancient world?

cuneiform and hieroglyphs

What was diminuendo and in what period was it formed?

diminuendo is a decreasing scale of graphic information and was formed in the period between the collapse of Rome and the 8th century

List the rules Paul Rand declared necessary for effective logo design

distinctive visible usable memorable universal durable timeless strategic (Janis Dougherty)

What contribution did Gerd Arntz make to graphic design history?

his wood block style helped shape the look of ISOTYPE - still used today

Explain the attitude of ancient cultures towards writing and those with the ability to write

it was seen as a divine skill and those who were able to write were seen as elites

What resulted from the Carolingian revival?

literacy and order emerged from the Dark Ages. writing was standardized and records were logged. the caroline miniscule = the beginnings of our lowercase alphabet

What is Chi Rho?

most famous page in the Book of Kells that is elaborately decorated and portrays the gospel writers as symbolic beings

pictograms

pictoral symbols of a word/phrase

What purpose did writing in ancient Mesopotamia serve?

record keeping

The term hieroglyph is Greek for

sacred carving

In ancient times, having this skill made you a part of an elite class of people

scribes - writing

ideogram

symbols that represent a complete idea or concept

Who were the Limbourgh Brothers?

the creators of the Les tres riches heures du duc de Berry