In Pursuit of Excellence - Great Designers Forge Ahead

The  following ten field journals were completed while taking the on-line class, GID 01: History of Graphic Design in the Fall of 2012.  This class was taught online by Professor Kent Manske at Foothill College in Los Altos, California.  The field journals were compiled as a result of reading Meggs’ History of Graphic Design as well as from lectures and the viewing of images from Prehistoric to Post Modern times.  The many other art history classes I have previously taken were taught purely from a fine art perspective. This class has been a delightful, riveting and a completely eye opening experience. 

One is likely to think the entrepreneurial spirit of mankind is a recent convention, yet the reading this quarter shows innovation is deeply rooted in the human experience. The need to communicate has been a driving force behind the development of written language and graphic design.  It is amazing to see that in 15,000 years, humankind went from having no written language to currently having infinite typefaces in hundreds of alphabets. In just 5000 years letterforms moved from one substrate to the next: from stone to clay, to papyrus, to parchment and vellum, to paper and now to light reflected from an RGB screen.

Through this need to visually communicate, I have noticed a reoccurring theme - the continued pursuit of excellence among designers.  One can see it in: 

Johannes Gensfleisch zum Gutenberg’s unrelenting pursuit to create a moveable type printing press (c.1398 -1468)

Gutenberg Press

 

Nicolas Jensen’s commitment to creating legible fonts (1420-1480) 

Nicolas Jensen

 

Giambattista Bodoni’s clean, repeatable standardization of letterforms (1740-1830)

Bodoni serif font

 

Vincent Figgins foray into designing modern style romans and sans serif (1766-1884)

Vincent Figgins sample font

 

William Morris’s call for pristine workmanship and his influence on fine book design  (1834-1896)

From William Morris' the Ideal Book

 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec revoutionary use of flat color shapes (1864-1901) 

Poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, La Goulue au Moulin Rouge, 1891

 

 

Jan Tschichold’s application and evangelization of the New Typography (1902-1974)

Sample drawings

Käthe Schmidt Kollwitz prints and drawing that reflect human suffering (1867-1945)

Kathe Kollwitz, Die Mutter, 1921, Woodcut

 

Hermann Zapf’s pioneering of new typeface forms for the 20^th century (1918 -living)

Palatino, by Hermann Zapf

 

April Greiman’s determination to explore and maximize use of digital age tools.  (1948-living)

Wilshire Vermont

 

Their passion and persistence forged new roads of design excellence and innovation. 

The U.S. is in an economic crisis. We have moved from a manufacturing based economy to a service based society. Our country desperately needs to build back its manufacturing base. Good manufacturing starts with great thinkers and designers. Students in the Bauhaus were prompted to tinker, to be exposed to new materials and to invent elegant design solutions. This same spirit can be fostered in K-12 school by good teachers and at home by good parents. Education is the great equalizer. As the divide between rich and poor continues to grow, particularly in California, we can make a difference. School and community classes can make up for parents who don’t nurture the creative spirit. To think of all the William Morrises, Johann Gutenbergs, and other great designers to come…we can’t miss those opportunities. I encourage everybody in this class to help foster the creative spirit in one child, especially those with huge opportunity gaps. 

Two areas I am intrigued to study further:

The evolution of roman letterforms

Graphic design used as positive propaganda such as Guerrilla Girls work
I also want to attend the Maker Faire   Bay Area, Date: May 18^th & 19^th, 2013, San Mateo Event Center