2. • Graphic design – Visual presentation of information
– the goal is communication of a specific message
– Usually trying to sell something or give directions
• Sometimes called commercial art
– At SIU they call the degree a communications
design
3. Examples of things that are designed
before production
• Books • Book jackets
• Newspapers • Magazines
• Advertisements • Packaging
• Websites • CD covers
• Road signs • Logos
• Television & film credits
4. How old is graphic design art?
• Since the beginning of civilization
• Written languages
• Symbols
• Today’s graphic design is rooted in
– Invention of the printing press, 15th century
• Reproduction and distribution
–Industrial Revolution, 18th-19th centuries
Increased commercial applications
– Prior, most products were local
– After, mass manufacturing
5. symbols
• Most basic level of communication
• Letters are symbols
Ω Ж Φ Ш М
• Even arrows had to be developed
→ Δ
6. yin yang – dynamic balance of opposites,
explains existence
female/male
being/nonbeing
light/dark
action/inaction
opposites are
mutually
interdependent
both are
necessary to
make the whole
7. Symbols have no meaning in themselves,
they are given meaning by society.
The swastika dates back
to Neolithic Europe,
up to 5,700 yrs ago. Svastika = Sanskrit for good luck.
India
10. typography
• The arrangement and appearance of letters
• Calligraphy • Font, typeface
• People began to pay special attention to this with the
invention of movable type, 1450
• Sometimes designers will create their own lettering
• Sometimes designers use a combination of typefaces
12. layout
• Blueprint for how an extended work such as a
book or magazine should look
– The way a page or a pair of pages are balanced
• Using smaller and larger shapes
• Using darker and lighter colors
• Generally asymmetrical
• Looking for a visual appeal
13. posters/ads
• Color lithography (19th century) brought about
eye-catching posters
– Color wasn’t practical in magazines or newspapers
• Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
– Flat simplified forms influenced by Japanese prints
– Immediately collector’s items
16. Constructivism – a graphic
design art movement after the
Russian Revolution of 1917
They had high hopes to create a
new society, wanted to make
art for the masses, not the elite.
They used bold compositions.
During the 1930s, the Soviet
gov’t abolished independent
artist groups, the gov’t
demanded all art to be clear,
easy to understand & realistic.
Poster for the 1930 film "Earth"
by the Stenberg brothers
18. illustration
• An image created to accompany words
– Books - Poems
– Magazines - Newspapers
• Illustration is a different kind of environment
for artists
– Tight deadlines
– The work is usually thrown away
• Illustrators usually find ways to work quickly but still
create striking images
19. Norman Rockwell
did about 6 covers a year for
The Saturday evening Post for over 40 yrs.
He did 322
covers for
TSEP
33. Sculpture
• Sculpture is 3D, the third dimension is depth
• One of the most ancient art forms
– Still very exciting today
• New materials
– Metal, wood, stone
– fiberglass, fabric, actual light, flowers
• Installation
– incorporates the entire exhibit space
34. 4 basic methods for making sculpture
• Modeling
Additive process
• Assembling
Additive process
• Carving
Subtractive process
• Casting
Liquid is poured into a mold to harden
35. Modeling
• The most direct sculpture method
• Most common material is clay
• The pliable material is shaped and
formed with hands and tools
– Pinching, smoothing
– Gouging, scratching, making textures
• More material can be added
• While kept wet, clay can be worked
and reworked indefinitely
39. Casting
• Very indirect method of forming sculpture
– Sometimes an artist never touches the finished work
• Bronze is the most common association with
casting
– the metal can be superheated until it flows easily to
be poured into a mold
– It hardens to extreme durability
42. lost-wax casting
• 5000 year history
• Simple and ingenious
• Textbook, pg 254
• http://www.andresteadsculpture.com/casting.php
• Sometimes sculptures are cast in pieces and then
assembled, welded together over an armature
• Usually the mold is reusable & multiples are made
• The sculptures are not solid
• Other materials besides metal can be used for
finished cast artworks: fiberglass, resin,
46. carving
• More aggressive than modeling, more direct
than casting
• Sculptor begins with a block of material
– Wood, stone, plaster
• Jade is too hard to be carved, can only be shaped
through abrasion
• Basalt – a volcanic stone used by the Olmec
– The grain must be considered when carving
47. Dagger with horse head pommel. India, Mughal dynasty, 17th
century. Blade: Damascus steel inlaid with gold; hilt: jade with
carved decoration, inlaid with gold and semi-precious stones.
53. assembling
• Assemblage - Individual parts can be placed on
or near each other
• Construction – the pieces are joined together
• Sometimes the parts are called “found objects”
62. Sculpture
• Low relief – the subject projects very slightly from
the background
– A coin, carved doors, an Egyptian tomb wall
• High relief – the subject projects much more
boldly from the background
– Projects at least half its depth
• sculpture “in the round” – the viewer can walk
completely around the sculpture, the view from
all sides is interesting
– Sometimes there is still a front and back
63. Pharaoh Akhenaten with his wife Nefertiti and daughters.
Sometimes called sunken relief or intaglio
