MEGGS History of Graphic Design chapter 9

William Caslon IV

1816, offered for sale the first commercially produced sans serif. type was called "Two Lines English Egyptian"

Industrial Revolution

life expectancy and average income substantially increased. 1800s Transition into modern economy where advertisements focused on grabbing attention and showing off nice things (classic capitalism)

chromo-lithography

litho: stone, graphy: print, chromo: color

Crystal Palace

meanwhile, in the UK, Queen Victoria created this building in celebration of her reign. It was made out of glass and iron and was 800,000 sf interior & exterior. Showcase of cast iron as a structural environment is a big deal. Burned down in 1936 by melting.

children

now are becoming a target audience/ market that Greenaway & Pyle are responding to

Stereotyping machine

printing press would spin, 2,400 sheets per hour, 1 print every 1.5 seconds, half of a circle of type for paper to press into, large web press- create a stereotype for newspaper on a circle and roll paper over it.

12 Lines Pica

biggest type possible produced on a metal plate. 2 inches tall

Woodcut Type

great for large type because it is light, dimension-ally stable compared to metal, easy to cut, inexpensive. People were looking for the biggest sized fonts at this time to grab people's attention so this was perfect!

Bitumen of Judea

A type of asphalt, when dissolved in a solvent, made a varnish that was sensitive to light. It was a tar that would harden if exposed to sunlight and then you would wipe off everything else that was unexposed.

Lord Standhope

all cast-iron printing press 1800s easier to pull crank, 1 print every 15 seconds, 250 sheets per hour (quicker than Gutenberg!)

Prang & Company

printed calendars, people would hang them in their homes, the common man could have a calendar

Darius Wells

1827 invented a lateral router that enabled the economical mass manufacture of wood types for display printing. Carves letter in wood relatively quickly, lateral means it would move up and down and side to side, relatively inexpensive. Founded D. Wells Co in 1835 which eventually became Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum today.

First Daguerreotype

1837, Daguer developed this machine 10 years later. Used oxidation- hardening in some areas liquid in other areas. Original photo (no negative or positive film). Photo of Martin Van Buren in 1849 was a lifelike representation in photos are now possible. This was less expensive than having a portrait painted of yourself

Harriot Myer

She was a nanny and an amateur photographer. One man found her undeveloped photos after she passed away and he made a career off her work.

Kate Greenaway

children's books illustration. The role of children is changing- they used to be small adults & cheap labor. Late 1880s childhood= innocence. She set the tone for childhood, created a book for kids: people have discretional funds, children are different from adults, created an aspiration/ ideal childhood. Style of her books: lots of white space, chromo- lithographic prints, borders/ margins, letterpress type

Techniques to grab attention

clever carving, visually more complex, try to attract attention in a positive way

William Leavenworth

combined the pantograph and router so that it can be any size you'd like it to be. You have a master letter and adjust the arms of router to make another sized type. Faster than hand carving!

lithography

created by Aloys Senefelder. up to this point we only had relief printing- engraving or letterpress. This technique was a completely flat print, not pushing into paper, you can use thinner paper, have the freedom and convenience of replication on the stone. Oil and water is the real take-away point here. At the beginning of the creation, this was used as an art but it will become a dominate form of printing

Vincent Figgins

created egyptian typeface/ slab serif. Serifs are roughly the same thickness as letters. Egypt was the trend at the time. Also created 7 lines pica (fat face- super thick & super thin) and french canon. He was a type designer NOT a punch cutter. Figgins sons continued making sans serif.

Aloys Senefelder

created lithography which is a printing development that changed everything. Smooth polished piece of stone, drew or painted onto the stone with waxy pencils. Slightly wet the stone (the wax part would not get wet) and then roll over oil passed ink. The ink would stick to the wax and then you would roll onto paper.

Mergan Thaler

developed lineotype machine

Lineotype machine

disruptive technology! This eliminates the way all printing was done before. Marc Twain lost a lot of money investing in its competitor. Type a line of type, letters would fall down and the machine would pour metal and create a line of type. It was a nosier machine and many of the operators went deaf. Put many people out of jobs.

Matthew Brady

early photographer that was famous for photos of the civil war. Photographer as a journalist not as an art. He was taking photos to document events

Thomas Nast

editorial cartoonist considered to be the "Father of the American Cartoon". He would publish his political cartoons in Harpers Weekly which was a great new way of attracting attention.

Joseph Niepce

first photographer in 1826 (almost 200 years ago). Bitumen of Judea was his first photograph

Half toning

photos were currently being turned into a woodcut illustration in order to print in the newspaper until this new technique came around. (1) photo would be engraved by exposing the metal to light (2) acid etching- acid bath would etch into metal. The metal plate would now be used in printing process. The metal screen mesh was pressed to the metal plate. light would go through though some screens and it would not go through other screen. This would print the actual photograph.

Cylinder Press

rolling paper over letterbed. 1 print every 9 seconds, 400 sheets per hour (quicker than Standhope!)

Expression

show your creative vision in a printed medium- goal: grab people's attention. Ability to print on tin cans as well.

Woodblock print and letter press unite

they would not go down without a fight but the art work was just not as good as lithography. they printed huge lifelike posters

Color printing

today we use CMYK, cyan, magenta, yellow, black/ key (outines). Then you did not mix color but instead you build it up. This requires a lot of labor. Hand drawing colors.

The Great Exhibition of 1815

took place in the Crystal Palace. Product booths for people to shop showing off the top talent in the British empire. Creation of consumerism- showing off trends, wealth and prosperity

Howard Pyle

wrote & illustrated adventure stories like Robinhood and Treasure Island. Attempted to be accurate in the costumes of the characters with the time period they lived in. He did paintings- pirate on the tilted ship with waves and a burning boat in the background (you feel like you are there). Wrote for young boys/ children

William Henry Fox Talbot

wrote the pencil of nature in 1839. This was a book of photographs that figured out negatives; prints of negative- repeatability