Aaron  Ball’s  Stylebook  

History of Graphic Design I

Professor Mandy Horton Online Summer Class

Table  of  Contents •  Pictographs •  Ampersand •  Ligatures •  Illuminated Manuscripts •  Calligraphy •  Woodprint •  Intaglio Printing •  Gothic Style •  Gothic and Romanesque comparisons •  Pointed Arches •  Flying Buttress •  Ribbed Vaults •  Logogram •  Relief Printing •  Drop Cap •  Initial Cap •  Trademark •  Ideograph •  Petroglyph •  Doric

Pictographs •  Pictographs convey meanings

through its own resemblance to physical objects. Pictographs can be considered an early art form. They also can be considered a written language. Me personally when I think of pictographs I think of pictures conveying messages through the picture itself and my first modern day example that comes to mind is a deer crossing sign because I see those a lot due to the fact I live near the country. The deer crossing sign is simply a yellow sign with a deer on it a running like stance to convey messages to us drivers to stay alert because a deer may run across the road.

Ampersand •  Ampersands are symbols that derived from the Latin word “et” . The

name comes from the term “and per say and”. To remember them both I try to be sure to remember that ampersand and ligatures are closely related. Ampersands are a representation of a ligature. Ampersand evolved into the commonly used and sign of today “&”. Today’s ampersand is more complex than in the past. There were five different ampersands prior to today’s ampersand.

Ligatures •  Ligatures are what make up

an ampersand because ligatures are a combination between two or more characters for example ampersand was derived from the Latin word “et” therefore a ligature is the name of the combination of those two characters. The “&” sign formed from “et” is a ligature. Another modern day example I thought of that wasn’t mentioned in the lectures is a cents sign. A cent sign is also two characters combined to form the cent sign.

Illuminated  Manuscripts

Illuminated manuscripts are highly decorated and have a decreasing scale of text. They also have what was called carpet pages. Carpet pages

was a term used back during these times which basically means a fully decorated page design with no white spaces and often had very little writing or sometimes none at all. Carpet pages also involved the use of boarders. These are all characteristics of carpet pages. The first modern

day example that comes to my mind when thinking of illuminated manuscripts would be brochure articles for example when I was looking for

new apartments to move in and I picked up a brochure from the apartment, I noticed many pictures throughout the brochure and very little

words here and there describing the pictures. This is a modern day illuminated manuscript.

Calligraphy •  Well for starters calligraphy is very

beautiful writing. Calligraphy is ancient Chinese art, based on the use of pictographs. Calligraphy was also a form to express people’s certain temperaments, character morals, and sentiments. All of this was expressed via lines. Calligraphy was one of several Chinese contributions to graphic design also my personal favorite. When thinking about it I see a lot of calligraphy now a days unknowingly. The best example I think I can use for calligraphy art would be tattoos. I see tons of people having sometime type of calligraphy tattoos expressing something via this Chinese art.

•  This tattoo here is an example of a Chinese Calligraphy that means “strength”.

Woodcut  Printing •  Woodcut printing is the relief

print made from woodblock. In this form of printing the areas not intended to produce ink are cut away with a knife or chisel. Woodprint is seldom used now except for handmade creations of books for example which would be considered limited edition. Woodprint has its own distinguished look and is easily recognized. The process is an intense amount of labor and very slow.

Intaglio  Printing •  Intaglio printing involves

cutting the design into the surface which is the complete opposite of relief printing. Intaglio printing also usually involves a metal surface. This process creates finer detail in its finished product. The picture to the right is an example of an artwork created using Intaglio Printing.

Gothic  Style •  The Gothic style emerged in France during the

middle of the 12th century. Gothic style stemmed from the earlier Romanesque style and begun to develop it’s own characteristics. The three key elements of Gothic style included pointed arch, flying buttress and ribbed reinforcements, and stained glass windows. The main purpose of Gothic style was to convince the viewer of glory to God

Gothic  and  Romanesque    (The  two  had  similarities  at  first  prior  to  Gothic  developing  its  own  characteristics)

Romanesque Gothic

•  Elevation-Modest height •  Main Trait-Rounded arch •  Support system- Solid

masonry walls •  Engineering- Barrel and

groin vaults •  Ambiance- Dark, solemn •  Exterior- Simple, severe

•  Elevation- Soaring •  Main Trait-Pointed Arch •  Support System-

Exterior buttresses •  Engineering-Ribbed

groin vaults •  Ambiance-Airy, bright •  Exterior-Richly

decorated w/sculpture

Pointed  Arches

•  Pointed arches are inspired by Islamic architecture and were used during the Gothic period. Pointed arches are structurally stronger than rounded arches. Rounded arches were Romanesque characteristics. The pointed arches were considered to be one of the significant characteristics of the Medieval Gothic style. Pointed arches are found in throughout cathedrals built during many different periods.

Flying  BuKress

•  Flying buttress gave Arched exterior support. These were Created during the Gothic period to support the walls that had more windows and were taller than the Romanesque period. These flying buttress prevented outward collapse of the pointed arches.

Ribbed  Vaults •  Ribbed vaults were molded stone ribs covering

seams of groin vaults. Ribbed Vaults always used columns to support of the weight. Mainly ribbed vaults were for the looks, giving it that different look then the Romanesque. I personally don’t think these were too significant.

Logogram •  To begin with I would say

Logograms are related to Calligraphy art. The reason I say that is because Logograms are a graphic character or sign that represents an entire word. Me telling myself that these two are related helps me remember them good because most if not all Calligraphy characters are logograms. There are many different modern day examples of logograms. The example I am going to use is the “plus” sign. The plus sign is a logogram because it’s a sign that represents to “add” to. Logograms were also one of the several Chinese contributions to graphic design.

Relief  Printing •  Relief printing was a Chinese contribution to

graphic design. Relief printing is basically you take an image and cut away all the spaces around the image to make it appear raised. Then the image was inked and pressed to paper making a mark. To simplify relief printing it is a modern day STAMP.

Drop  Cap •  Drop caps appear on so many things today in my opinion they are

overlooked all the time. A drop cap is basically were for example starting a sentence off with huge capitol letters and those letters not exceeding the height of the rest of the sentence. I think that is the easiest way to explain. Look below for a modern day example of a Drop cap. (You will see in this magazine article how the W is tremendously bigger than everything else yet it does not exceed the height of the first sentence)

Initial  Cap •  Initial Cap and Drop Cap can easily be confused

but once you learn what a drop cap is you can really conclude that an Initial cap is the opposite. With an Initial cap your still starting your sentence off with huge capital letters, only this time they’re just used with the text instead the whole of not exceeding the first sentence rule like drop caps, initial caps will stand over the sentence like so: (Look Below)

Trademark •  These are three different examples of “trademark”

which is a noticeable mark used to distinguish ones goods from another, rather it’s the merchant or the manufacture.

Ideograph •  Ideographs are similar to pictographs but unlike

pictographs being pictures of exactly what the picture is showing. Ideographs are what the picture is thought to be. For example an ideograph will be a picture or symbol conveying a message as to a pictograph the picture or symbol is the message. Below is an example of ideograph. This ideograph is conveying “No Dogs Aloud”

Petroglyph •  Petroglyphs are a form of pre-historic

communication. These can be either pictographs or ideographs. They are carvings on rocks that have meaning to them.

Doric •  Doric was one of the three architectural orders

created by the Greeks. Doric columns stood on flat surfaces and did not have bases. OF the the three orders Doric’s were the simplest.