History of Graphic Design | Midterm Test Terms (Lectures 1-18)
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Covers Doug Scott's History of Graphic Design midterm test terms, as outlined on the in-class handout.
52 Terms
Cuneiform — What was it? Where was it started? Who used it? Why was it used?
The first great writing system, started in Mesopotamia by the Sumerians. It was primarily used to keep track of transactions.
What did Cuneiform look like?
Pictorial
Hieroglyphics — What was it? Where was it started? Who used it? Why was it used?
Hieroglyphics were the next large writing system after Cuneiform, started in Egypt and used by the Egyptians. It was used to document taxes, resources, and generally communicate.
What did Hieroglyphics look like?
Pictorial and Phonetic
What were three differences between Cuneiform and Hieroglyphics?
Cuneiform was on clay, Hieroglyphics were on tablets.
Cuneiform was pictographic, Hieroglyphics were pictographic AND phonetic.
Cuneiform contained different languages, Hieroglyphics were just in Egyptian.
How was paper made in China? (+ What was distinct about it’s texture?)
Bamboo pulp was soaked and strained onto a screen, then laid flat to dry. The texture depended on what surface it was dried on.
How was paper made in Europe?
Europeans wrote on parchment, made from animal skins, primarily that of which belonged to pig, sheep, and cows.
What is Heraldry?
Symbols made for families by heralds, commonly used by knights, who laid fabric with their herald over gear they used/wore in battle.
What is Mon?
Mon is heraldry specifically in Asia. Mon identified both families and clans.
What is typefounding?
The process of casting metal type. The term is also commonly used by manufacturers of movable type.
Who was Johannes Gutenberg? Name five things he did/made.
The inventor of the printing press.
Punch/Matrix System
Movable Type
Printing Press
Oil-Based Ink for Printing
The Gutenberg Bible
What are the eight total type classifications, in order from oldest to newest? Name one example each.
Blackletter - Textura
Old Style - Garamond
Script - Mistral
Decorative - Troy
Transitional - Baskerville
Modern - Bodoni
Slab Serif - Rockwell
Sans Serif - Helvetica
What is lithography?
Using greasy crayons on stone, then pouring water and ink over it to determine where the ink stuck to the stone. Paper was then pressed onto the stone to create an image.
What were Cabinets of Curiosity?
Collections of items inside a cabinet (i.e. coin collections) kept by wealthy people or museums.
Who was William Playfair?
William Playfair was the inventor of the pie chart.
Who was Charles Minard?
Charles Minard designed the “greatest piece of information design",a chart depicting Napoleon’s army marking to Moscow.
What is linotype? How was it made?
Linotype is a method of printing type.
Information was typed at a keyboard similar to a typewriter.
Matrices for each letter fell through the linotype machine into a line to create slugs with molten metal.
Slugs were stacked to make paragraphs of text.
What were Hell Boxes?
Bad slugs of type, typically with typos, were thrown into Hell Boxes to be melted back into molten metal.
What was the Arts and Crafts Movement?
An international movement against machine and factory production of crafts, or an attempt to reform design and decoration.
Who was William Morris?
William Morris primarily made furniture and textiles. He spearheaded the Arts and Crafts movement and revolutionized Victorian taste.
Who was Jules Cheret?
A French painter and printmaker, often called the “father of the modern poster.” He mastered color lithography and his work often had women as the centerpiece subject.
Who was Henri Toulous-Lautrec?
A printmaker inspired by Cheret and Japanese prints, primarily. He commonly featured women as subjects, much like Cheret, but often depicted Paris Nightlife as well.
Who were the Beggarstaffs?
Brothers and postermakers that utilized “bold simplicity” and silhouettes in their work. Their names were not actually the Beggarstaffs, it was just an artist name they shared.
What was Art Nouveau? What does it mean? Why was it popular? What two forms did it come in?
The first worldwide art movement. It meant “new art” and pieces were defined as “total work[s] of art.” It was a reaction to the past century of eclectic and academic art. Art Nouveau was either Rectilinear or Curvilinear.
What does “Rectilinear” imply and what art movement is it linked to?
Rectilinear Art Nouveau was geometric and straight-lined. It utilized machine-like forms.
What does “Curvilinear” imply and what art movement is it linked to?
Curvilinear Art Nouveau was asymmetric artwork inspired by nature. It utilized organic, flowing forms.
What was Expressionism? Give a good example of expressionist artwork.
A painting movement that pictured feelings and nonphysical concepts. “The Scream” is an example of expressionist artwork.
What was the Weiner Werkstatte? What does it mean? What impact did it have?
The “Vienna Workshops” Organization, a group of artists from the British Arts and Crafts movement. They made crafts, primarily based upon rectilinear art nouveau, and sold them in stores owned by the organization. This art was exclusive, yet affordable, and brought artwork into average households.
What was the Werkbund? What country did it exist in? Why was it important to this country?
A state-sponsored artists association that embraced machinery. Society worked together to get the Werkbund to succeed so Germany would be competitive globally in the arts scene.
What was/is AEG? Why was it’s design significant?
AEG was/is a German Electrical Company that made any electrical item you could think of. It was known for it’s logo and type design, created by Peter Behrens.
Who was Peter Behrens?
The logo and type designer for AEG. He was the prime model of an Art Director and was a foundational member of the Werkbund.
Who was Lucian Bernhard? What did he make?
Lucian Bernhard made object posters, primarily for advertisements. He is often referred to as “the father of the modern advertising poster.”
Who was Ludwig Hohlwein? What did he make?
The pioneer of the Sachplakat style and an object poster artist. He often depicted people and objects with flat textures.
Who was Leonetto Cappiello? What did he make?
Leonetto Cappiello, often referred to as the “Father of Modern Advertising,” made object posters depicting bright subjects against dark backgrounds. This was a bold, new way of designing posters.
Why was there a lot of pressure on WWI propoganda poster artists?
If their poster wasn’t successful, they were failing their nation.
What were five objectives/topics of WWI propoganda posters?
Dehumanizing the enemy
Raising money for war bonds
Depicting the homeland for sentiment
Showing citizens why their country would win (“look at this cool tank we got yooo”)
Honored women that made war materials like ammunition
What were the six primary art movements?
Cubism, Futurism, Abstraction, Suprematism, Dada, and Surrealism.
What are three facts about Cubism?
Always figurative
Lacks realistic perspective (depicted multiple at once, typically!)
Inspired most art movements afterward, which were attempts to abstract from Cubism
What are two facts about Futurism?
Characterized by Futurist evenings
Like Cubism, but more focused on depicting movement
What are two facts about Abstraction?
The first generation of people to move out of figurative to abstract ideas
Some semblance of objects, but something was drastically changed to make something new
What are two facts about Suprematism?
An offset of abstraction that focused on the “zero degree” of art
Aimed for total non-objectivity through basic shapes
What are three facts about Dada?
Loosely-knit, chaotic groups of anti-war artists
A lot of them claimed to have created Dada, which was a very Dada thing to do
Mostly poetry and performance-based art
What are two facts about Surrealism?
Derived from Dada when the movement ended and was mostly comprised of former Dada artists
Depicted “impossible things you can think about", but have never seen,” and were dream-like in nature.
What are five facts about Constructivism?
It isn’t a branch of art, it’s art as a whole.
The building of things through any and all available means, focusing on their practical purpose.
Construction, not form, as form has its origins in construction
The mechanization of means of working, like type and photography, for example, because it eliminates artist’s bias and offers complete objectivism.
Economic use of material, no left over materials allowed! Form should rely on how much material is available.
What are five facts about De Stijl?
“The Style”, the other half of constructivism outside of Russia and Germany
Could only use three colors: primary (red, blue, yellow) and greyscale (white, grey, black)
No curves or nature-like forms
The Schroeder house is considered the most important piece of De Stijl
Eventually influenced the Bauhaus, much like constructivism eventually did.
Who was El Lissitzky? Why was he important geographically?
He was a typographer that taught at the VKhUTEIN in Moscow. He was known as the connection between the Eastern and Western art worlds.
What was the Bauhaus?
An arts and design school, much like what we see today.
What did the Bauhaus initially teach? What did it switch to?
Initially expressionist, then turned constructivist.
What two schools did the Bauhaus come from? Who merged them?
Walter Gropius merged The Weimar Academy of Arts and the Weimar School of Arts and Crafts to create the Bauhaus.
Who was Herbert Bayer? What did he create?
A student turned teacher at the Bauhaus that taught brand design with Joost Schmidt, among other classes. He made the Proposal for a Universal Type.
Who was Joost Schmidt?
A student turned teacher at the Bauhaus that taught brand design with Herbert Bayer. He designed the poster for the 1923 Bauhaus Exhibition in Weimar.
Who was Lazlo Moholy?
The man that brought constructivism to the Bauhaus. He took over Gropius, who didn’t like him. Because of that, he initially had to teach students out of his apartment.