Passport

DESIGN HISTORY

TIME TRAVEL

PASSPORT

YOUR NAME: ASSOCIATE DEAN:

OVERVIEW CHALLENGE BEGINS:

December 22, 2014

CHALLENGE ENDS: January 5, 2015

COMPLETED PASSPORTS DUE: January 6, 2015

WINNERS ANNOUNCED: January 9, 2015

QUESTIONS OVER THE BREAK?

Check w/ the IU Facebook page.

WELCOME. My name is Lisa and I am the Dean of Graphic Arts. Welcome to the Graphic Arts Design History Time Travel Challenge, our holiday break activity! First let me say that participating in this is TOTALLY OPTIONAL. If you would like to participate (and I’d strongly encourage you to as I think it’s going to be a good time!) here’s how it works: Use this passport as a guide to learn about four different important eras in design history. In each era there are websites to visit, videos field trips and tours to take, and activities to complete. Once you have finished your journey, send your completed passport to your AD who will pass it along to me.

On January 9, the first Friday school resumes, we will be holding a drawing for four (4) $25 Amazon gift cards.

Everyone who completes the challenge will be eligible to win!

So….ready for the challenge? If so, have fun, travel safe, and looking forward to seeing you back in school the the first week of January!

ADVENTURE BEGIN

NS IN

DESTINATION 1: PRE-HISTORY / EARLY WRITING [15,000–500 BCe)

15000b.

PRE-HISTORIC GRAPHICS Though graphic design as we know it today is a relatively new field, the roots of graphic design can be traced back to early human history when people first began drawing.

In our first stop we are going to go back several thousand years before Christ to the first recorded marks by humans, the cave paintings of Lascaux France.

Let’s begin our time travel by going back to 15,000 BCE to Lascaux France.

.c.e.

LASCAUX EXPLORATION QUEST INSTRUCTIONS Click on the link below to take a virtual tour of the Lascaux Caves where you will find the answer to the following questions.

LASCAUX: A VISIT TO THE CAVES 1. In the unicorn room, the

was used to paint the head and body of the Great Red and Black Horse.

2. How many figures are in the Hall of Bulls?

3. On what panel is the “Small Black Stag” located?

4. In what gallery is the “Panel of Chinese Horses” located?

5. What does the passageway link?

6. Where is the “Panel of the Great Black Cow” located?

7. TRUE or FALSE: Felines are often depicted in Paleolithic art, particularly Paleolithic cave art.

8. What percentage of the figures in the Chamber of Felines are located within the first several meters of the passage?

9. Which section of the cave contains over 1,000 figures?

10. On the “Panel of the Wounded Man” what small creature is located right under the prone man?

EARLY WRITING Early iterations of writing also began during this era. Originally used as a way to represent spoken language with a series of signs pictures, the earliest examples of writing are thought to be lists or records.

Please click on the tablet below to scan a selected chapter in Graphic Design History to be transported to the Middle East and Asia where you will learn more about the origins of writing. Once the website loads, click on the gray arrows to turn the pages.

(CLICK HERE)

SYMBOL EXPLORATION QUEST INSTRUCTIONS Use the chapter from Graphic Design History to translate the classical Sumerian characters below into their appropriate modern English meanings.

PERSONAL REFLECTION

Early civilzations used symbols to codify common or important elements of their own cultures. If you didn’t have the alphabet and could not write the names of objects that are important to you what would you do?

In this reflection, tell us what three symbols would you use to codify things that are important in your own life. Why would you choose these symbols and what significance do they have?

Describe what would the symbol look like.

Use the space on the next page to write your reflection.

For example: Because my little puppy is such an important part of my life, I would come up with a symbol that meant “puppy.”

This symbol would be an outline of my dog and have some sort of heart shape in the center.

FURTHER EXPLORATION This has only been a surface exploration of all that is out there regarding the pre-historic roots of graphic design. If you would like to explore more on your own, I would encourage you to click on each image to the right for more information. For example, take a virtual tour of the British Museum in London as well as the Metropolitan Museum in New York City.

Searching with the key word “Ancient Tablets” will produce some fascinating results!

Curious what your name might look like in transposed hieroglyphics? Check out the “Write Like an Egyptian” website. No guarantees of its accuracy, but it is a lot of fun to explore the world of hieroglyphics!

When you are finished exploring, time to board up for the next phase of our journey!

WRITE LIKE AN EGYPTIAN

BRITISH MUSEUM

METROPOLITAN

MUSEUM

AND NOW TO MOVE F

FORWARD

DESTINATION 2: 1450 TO THE EARLY 1900’S

1450c.

.e.

THE PRINTING PRESS Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of movable type revolutionized both book production and distribution. Books once had to be produced entirely by hand which made them only available to the very wealthy. Now with the printing press and movable type, books could be mass produced, mass distributed, and were much lower in cost.

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Fast forward 400 years to 1850 and we hit the Industrial Revolution. Like Gutenberg’s press The Industrial Revolution allowed goods and products to be widely manufactured and distributed. This new abundance of consumer goods made way for new things like product packaging, marketing, consumerism and competition and...the field of graphic design was born!

Though the Industrial Revolution had many negative aspects to it (poor labor policies, mass pollution, etc.) overall the opportunities that it afforded for a new consumer class changed the world forever. As designers we really do owe our livelihood to events that happened in Britian in the late 1700’s.

EXPLORATION QUEST INSTRUCTIONS Click on the videos below and reference them as you answer the following questions.

VIDEO 1: THE PRINTING PRESS VIDEO 2: INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 1. Before Gutenberg, who “owned” knowledge?

2. Before the industrial revolution, how many shirts did the average person have?

3. In what country did the technology of pressing images into paper originate?

4. Access to books caused a huge boom in what?

5. Who developed the spinning machine?

6. True OR False: Before Gutenberg, many books had transcription errors in them.

7. What sort of type did Gutenberg use in his printing press?

8. What sort of literature did the early post-Gutenberg books contain?

9. What small accessory did Arkwright base his spinning machine on?

10. Though the Industrial Revolution had a dark side, according to the video, what additional feature defined this period?

ARTS+CRAFTS Though the Industrial Revolution changed many things for the better, everyone was not pleased with the new machine-made aesthetic and the manufacturing philsophy that was takin gover culture. In the late 1800’s the Arts and Crafts movement began as a rebellion against industry. Proclaiming to recapture the spiriti of Medieval craft, attention to detail, and affirmation of the human spirit, the Arts and Crafts movement touched all aspects of daily life with its anti-industry and antiindustrial message.

ARTS + CRAFTS EXPLORATION QUEST INSTRUCTIONS Click on the video below and reference it as you answer the following questions.

ARTS AND CRAFTS: DESIGN IN A NUTSHELL

1. What machine did people get fed up with?

2. What faded away during the Industrial Revolution?

3. Who led the charge in the Arts and Crafts movement?

4. TRUE or FALSE: Morris rejected all machines.

5. What sort of reform did the Arts and Crafts movement bring?

SOFTWARE CHALLENGE One of the key elements of the arts and crafts aestehtic was repeated patterns based on nature.

These patterns were made by hand and used on wallpaper, fabric, and even carved into wood or printed in books. In our time, Adobe Illustrator allows us to create patterns digitally.

Click on the button below to access a simple seamless pattern making tutorial in Illustrator. When you have created your own pattern, post it as an image to the FB group or send it via email to Lisa.

SEAMLESS PATTERNS

IN ILLUSTRATOR

IU DESIGN CLUB

FACEBOOKPAGE

ART NOUVEAU The final movement we will look at while in this destination is Art Noveau. Art Nouveau was born in Paris. Art Nouveau literally means “new art.” Fed up with what was seen as the overly staid, rigid styles of the nineteenth century, Art Nouveau embraces organic curving shapes, plant motifs, and highly stylized illustrations and typography.

In addition Art Nouveay brings a whimsical elegance and fantast to art and design through it’s colors, shapes, and structures.

ART NOUVEAU EXPLORATION QUEST INSTRUCTIONS Take this virtual tour created by the National Gallery of Art then match the art pieces with their creators.

NOTE: The audio does not work, thus you will have to browse the transcripts.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART: ART NOUVEAU EXHIBIT

B A

C

D

E PAUL SIGNAC OTTO ECKMANN JULES CHÉRET RENÉ LALIQUE WILLIAM H. BRADLEY

PERSONAL REFLECTION Art nouveau was heavily influenced by nature and organic shapes. In your own design work, what are you influenced by?

Please list three things from which you draw inspiration in your own design work and how they inspire you.

MOVING FORWARD ONLY

A FEW YEARS....

DESTINATION 3: THE BAUHAUS // 1919–1933

1919c.

.e.

BAUHAUS As we enter the twentieth century, design becomes less about mass movements and more about key figures who pushed new ideas forward and truly transformed visual culture. One such place that was hugely influential in producing these new thinkers was the Bauhaus. The Bauhaus was a school in Germany that pioneered a new way of teaching the arts. Please click on the image below to watch the short video below to learn more about the Bauhaus.

Browse the following interactive website created by the Museum of Modern Art to accompany their Bauhaus exhibit and answer the following questions.

Start with the “Behind the Scenes” video which will give you a good backstory into what the graphic designers who created the visual look and feel for the exhibit were thinking.

Next, check out the various timelines so that you can see the many different examples of Bauhaus work.

Finally, check out “Life at the Bauhaus” where you will see how people lived and recorded their experiences via photography.

BEHIND

THE SCENES

TIMELINES LIFE@ BAUHAUS

BAUHAUS EXPLORATION QUEST INSTRUCTIONS Click on the links below and reference them as you answer the following questions.

PAGE 1: BEHIND THE SCENES (WATCH THE GRAPHIC DESIGN VIDEO) PAGE 2: BAUHAUS TIMELINES PAGE 3: LIFE AT THE BAUHAUS 1. Who was the director of the Bauhaus during the Berlin years?

[FROM TIMELINES] 2. After the school closed, what began flying outside its windows?

[FROM LIFE @ BAUHUAS] 3. What was the Bauhaus building in Berlin used for before van der Rohe rented it? [FROM LIFE @ BAUHUAS] 4. What years was Otto Lindig head of the Weimer Ceramics Workshop? [FROM LIFE @ BAUHUAS]

5. What shapes formed the basis of every preporatory sketch for the exhibit? [FROM BEHIND THE SCENES] 6. True OR False: The legacy of the Bauhaus has a very strong influence in American education. [FROM BEHIND THE SCENES] 7. What did student Marianne Brandt create in 1928–1929?

[FROM TIMELINES] 8. What common element does the Bauhaus typeface created

by Herbert Byers lack? [FROM BEHIND THE SCENES] 9. In what Workshop was the 1919 painting “Der Traum” created? [FROM TIMELINES] 10. What was the name of Gropius’ daughter?

[FROM LIFE @ BAUHUAS]

SOFTWARE CHALLENGE! Kandinsky, a Bauhaus instructor, was influential in creating the Bauhaus preliminary color course. In this course, Kandinsky assigned the three primary colors: red, yellow, and blue to three basic shapes: square, circle, and triangle. From these humble elements a deep world of color theory and spatial relations opened up.

For your final Bauhaus-era activity, open Adobe Illustrator and replicate the text on the followinge page using only these three shapes and three colors.

When you are finished, email your file either to Lisa or post it to the Facebook group. Remember to play with opacity and anchor points to get the nuanced look of the text.

IU DESIGN CLUB

FACEBOOKPAGE

COPY THIS TYPE USING ILLUSTRATOR: NOTE: YOU WILL ONLY USE THREE SHAPES BUT WILL HAVE TO WORK WITH ANCHOR POINTS AND OPACITY.

ANO OUR FINAL STOP

P

DESTINATION 4:

MODERNISM 1945 – TODAY

1945c.

.e.

MODERNISM The Modernist movement in graphic design history began in the mid 1940’s and continues on even today. Emphasizing clean lines, sans serif typography, geometric shapes, and a “form follows function” aesthetic, designs influenced by Modernism have been used to represent anything from corporations to products to people. Because Modernism is such a broad topic we will close our journey by examining one facet of it, the Swiss Style or as it later came to be known, the International Style. Swiss Style was one of the first examples of Modernism and contains the core elements that most later iterations reproduced.

ARMIN HOFFMANN Armin Hoffman was one of the influential creators of the Swiss Style. An educator at the Basel School of Art and Design for many years, Hoffman strove to distill ideas down to their most simple and basic. This often meant geometric shapes, black and white, and simple sans serif typography. Hoffman believed a strong concept could speak on its own and always encouraged his students to strip away and find the essence of their message.

(RIGHT) LOGOS CREATED

BY HOFFMANN (LEFT) POSTERS CREATED FOR STADT BASEL THEATER

JOSEF Müller-Brockmann Josef Müller-Brockmann, our second father of Swiss Style, was a strong proponent of grid-based organization in graphic design, minimal color schemes, and a deep purity in all aspects and elements. Like Hofmann, Müller-Brockmann was also an educator. One of Müller-Brockmann’s great contribution to design are his grid-structured posters. By breaking each poster into a cohesive grid, every element placed acheives a purposeful functionality, an ideal proportion for comprehension, and a unified composition.

(RIGHT) BOOK COVER & POSTERS CREATED BY MULLER-BROCKMANN (LEFT) POSTER CREATED FOR ZURICH TOWN HALL CONCERT

AFTER LEARNING ABOUT THE SWISS STYLE, PUT AN X UNDER WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING POSTERS REPRESENTS THE SWISS STYLE.

MODERNISM EXPLORATION QUEST INSTRUCTIONS Click on the articles below and reference them as you answer the following questions.

ARTICLE 1: HEROES – ARMIN HOFMANN ARTICLE 2: REPUTATIONS: JOSEF MÜLLER-BROCKMANN 1. By what other name is the the Swiss Style of design known?

2. What year did Müller-Brockmann establish his Zurich studio?

3. Was Hofmann or Müller-Brockmann the first systematically to outline the history of visual communication?

4. How many years did Hofmann work at the Basel School of Arts and Crafts?

5. What does Müller-Brockmann regard as his best work?

6. True OR False: When he was young, Müller-Brockmann’s dream was to be a graphic designer.

7. What magazine made the Swiss School known throughout the world?

8. Was it Hofmann or Müller-Brockmann who formally react against the “trivialization of colour”?

9. What museum in the States has several of Hofmann’s posters on display as part of their permanent collection?

10. According to Müller-Brockmann, all design work has a

PERSONAL REFLECTION The Swiss Style relied heavily on spare and simple typography, limited color schemes and geometric shapes. In your own design practice, do you tend to embrace a Swiss aesthetic or are you drawn to another era? Why?

FURTHER EXPLORATION Again, we have only explored a very small sliver of all there is to learn about Modernism.

Please click on the links to the right so you can browse more resources.

In the first link, you can try your hand at generating your own Swiss-style poster.

Though Mßller-Brockmann would cringe that random code is generating what he spent hours constructing by hand, it is still a fun exercise to try! If you strongly resonate with this era, I’d encourage you to watch the movie Helvetica at some point over break to learn more about the typeface that really is emblematic of what it means to be Modern. It is available for rental or purchase online or via Netflix.

Finally, check out the poster library curated by Carnegie Melon. Poster production was a hallmark of early Modernism. This collection is an outstanding visual resource.

DIY IT

SWISS POSTER

HELVETICA THE MOVIE

POSTER RESOURCE

IMPORTANT DATES CHALLENGE BEGINS:

December 22, 2014

CHALLENGE ENDS: January 5, 2015

COMPLETED PASSPORTS DUE: January 6, 2015

WINNERS ANNOUNCED: January 9, 2015

QUESTIONS OVER THE BREAK?

Check w/ the IU Facebook page.

WRAP-UP As we wrap up and you return to your own unique time and place, I would challenge you to allow all that you have learned in these different eras to influence the work that you will produce in 2015. What era resonated with you most? Can you make a personal design piece in that style for your own portfolio? What era resonated with you the least? Why is it and what do you not agree with?

Remember...as a designer you are part of a rich heritage that does indeed trace back to pre-history! It is a noble call to shape visual culture and an exciting community.

Looking forward to 2015 and seeing how you use your voice and your gift to bring good to the visual world through your work.

Adventure awaits!