gazetta di mantova, 1664 the oldest surviving newspaper
it was good to meet and get a feel of the class. nothing like the real thing.
we left the low middle ages, moved to high middle ages, right now bordering pre-renaissance. we're at the point of Gutenberg's pivotal invention. the epoch is pregnant for a paradigm shift.
again: pick a theme and develop it. look for something that strikes your fancy (the more particular the better). research. no echo chamber.
this is a history class. we look at the past to learn about the present.
1. exhibit utmost curiosity (you absorb everything)
2. don't judge (your 2022 glasses don't work)
3. immerse yourself with the common folk doing what they do on a daily basis (start from the bottom to understand the top)
design is about marks. graphic design's mark is, well, typeface. thus,
typeface is to design what the atom is to physics.
19 comments:
What I found most interesting this week is how design is not necessarily facilitated or intentional. Namely in the case of gothic writing becoming longer in response to the same phenomenon in architecture. The transition from Greco Roman to gothic marked innovations in building taller structures, such as buttresses. The fact that this also manifests in writing is very interesting to me. It makes me wonder who really is avant-garde in the grand scheme of things? Are the seemingly most innovative individuals just like that because of changes already happening in other sects of society? For the writing example, the scribes aren’t really making new designs so much as they are reacting to what’s going on around them. Perhaps almost all innovation that occurs can be traced to a single field that did it first.
Andrew Dubinett
I find illuminated initials to be very interesting and a great attribution to personal marks. The seemingly unintentional font might have been what came standard or easily accessible, but the creator or artist felt the need to detail it. They took the time to create these illuminated initials and make it different and uniquely that authors. While choosing a font in and of itself was a statement, using italics because it was cheaper (and kind of look liked greek), serriffing letters, was all a way to create their marks on the world and put at this individual idea to be consumed by the masses and I think that those illuminations really is beautiful. These tiny individual strokes can completely change the feel and perception of writing.
sorry
-Mallory Harrington-Fei^^
I came to appreciate Erhard Ratdolt’s style of design as we looked at woodcut and lettering samples. It is clear from even just a glance that he had a knack for layout and typography, creating visually intricate narratives on a page or spread. Ratdolt and some of his partners worked together to introduce ornamental borders and modernized title pages, further revolutionizing book design during the Renaissance. Something I found particularly interesting was Ratdolt’s take on alchemy. Alchemy is a seemingly magical, secretive process involving transformation, creation, and/or combination. Alchemists were on a mission to transform normal metals into gold, finding cures for diseases, and potentially finding a way to prolong life. They were chemical magicians. Ratdolt captured this magical essence of design beautifully. Through experimentation, trial and error, and collaboration, he became an alchemist of design.
Melody Macias
Something I wanted to further research was paleography. In class we mentioned that it was the study of type and marks from the past. To then examine these types and marks within their surroundings to determine their historical development and creation. I started by looking at the definition of paleography and stumbled upon another area of study called epigraphy. Epigraphy is the study and interpretation of ancient inscriptions. I was confused by their difference, but from my understanding, epigraphy studies text as a collective, whereas paleography focuses more on the individual form of writing within the text/inscriptions. I was never good at English class or determining the meaning of text, but these forms of studies intrigue me because it highlights and studies our past through what many would consider an irrelevant artform. I know at the bottom of your turn description, it mentions that type is the creation of building blocks and creation of graphic design. Without these forms of study we wouldn’t have the understanding of text in modern culture today. We learn from the past in order to grow for the future, the same way that artists today reappropriate or study the arts and artists of the past. Studying the typography of the old bibles and writings will force current artists to continue to improve upon the past.
Marley Rubin
I found Dürer very interesting. He perfectly mastered all the techniques available at the time (painting, woodcutting, drawing, etc.). All of this was while he was in his 20’s. He was most famous for his painting, woodcutting, and printmaking. He also wrote a lot of theoretical books such as a book on measurements and linear geometry and a book on human proportion that talked about ideal beauty standards based on heights and sizes. He also wrote a book on the fortification of cities and one on fencing. He painted the first recorded color landscape the corresponded to a real place in 1495 while traveling through Italy and seeing the Alps. He is known for bringing the renaissance to Northern Europe and he travelled to and created major influence in cities such as Frankfurt, Strasbourg, Basel, and more. I found it very interesting that Dürer accomplished so many feats while being so young. - AJ Christian
Something that stuck with me from last class was the idea that the most recent science and technology advances this year will be archaic 100 years from now. Every new technological advance seems to blow our minds and make us wonder what could be created next. Right now the use of VR (virtual reality) is becoming popular due to its super-realistic environment. Since VR is something that so many people are fascinated by it will only be a matter of time until someone comes out with a new product that will shock society even further. For example, it’s predicted that in 100 years from now we will be able to communicate through our thoughts, and with DNA and robotic engineering, we will be able to create humans that are immortal. Just thinking about those two concepts seems surreal, but imagine how people from 100 years ago would feel about modern-day technology.
Maggie Nusim
One thing I found really interesting about last class was how the mark (more specifically font) changes throughout time. Like the human body/mind, art is constantly evolving. In this case, different fonts changed throughout the course of time as a result in different styles artists and times. Bringing in another unique aspect from class I found it really interesting how different cultures interpret this art with different perspectives. Im taking a Nazi propaganda class this semester and we are discussing how Nazi Germany essentially despised modern art (degenerate art) due to the fact that Hitler believed it was a horrible representation of "German-life" simply due to the fact that it was done by jewish artists. Another interesting topic for discussion regarding German artwork and the mark is their embodiment of superior genetics through Greek-styled sculpting. Its amazing how art is a form of propaganda in the sense that German sculpting was intended to portray a "strong and idealistic aryan". Additionally other sculptures embodied women who raised these strong masculine aryans. What I find really interesting regarding this is how the mark is a universal language but carries different meanings in certain cases.
-Luke Shea
An important mark in American history is the development of suburbs. When automobiles made it possible to live outside cities in the 1920s, suburbs began developing. However, it wasn’t until the 1950s, after WWII and the depression, that they became really popular. This was a major structure and architectural shift in American landscape. One conversation from last class that stuck out to me was the impact of gothic architecture on fonts during that period. It made me think about the potential impacts of American architecture on type during periods they were developed. I did some research on popular fonts from the 50s and found a lot of them to be stumpy or spaced out. For example, fonts like, ‘optima’, ‘helvetica’, and ‘courier’, feature the lowercase ‘i’ at the same height as uppercase letters. Other fonts like, ‘univers’, contain lots of space between letters. As America's architecture flattened and became more spaced out, so did its type.
Clarke Weddington
Technology Is constantly evolving all around us. Back in the early 16-18th century at least one person in every middle-income home could play a few pieces on the piano. But back then they didn’t have the internet to just search up the notes, instead they only had music sheets. If a person wanted to obtain a copy of the music sheet, then they would need to go to the print house. I think this is very interesting because it shows just how much times have changed. Now we can just go on our phones, search up the song, and we find it right away. But back then it required more than a person just saying they wanted to play it. This shows just how much we have progressed and how technology has evolved with us.
Megan Alexander
What I found most interesting about last class related to the change in typography throughout the ages. The order and nature of the font and how they changed throughout the period, is a direct correlation to what was going on historically. For example, the font got more slender and taller during the visogothic period on to the textura quadrata but changed again to humanist and times. The visogothic is more exaggerated and slenderer, but luxeuil is far more baroque in nature. I thought this was interesting, especially the correlation to certain letters that become features in early medieval book scripts. Another thing I found interesting about class was the thought of how we can’t see into the past and judge them with our lens because it is completely different. The way of life in the past or in the future is completely different than what it is today, so we should prioritize the now and not worry.
John Dudzik
This week I enjoyed talking about the different changes in the typefaces and the changes that occurred in them throughout history. It was very fascinating to see all the pressures and changes throughout history and how it influenced design choices. One work I enjoyed was Tyndale’s Bible. Not only was it cool to learn about all of the phrases introduced from his work, some of the pages of his translations are very eye-catching. It made me curious what all the reasons were for taking extra time to make the pages unique. The reason for the design stemmed from that being the location of freedom of the designer/translator. Without a design on the cover, the first introduction pages would need to be the primary method of catching attention.
-Michael Wexler
An interesting aspect that was mentioned in the last lecture that stood out to me was the fact that Thomas Jefferson had completed the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence in only three days even when he had more time to complete it. When a person has a deep passion for any task, they will go out of their way and focus their energy on accomplishing that goal. Motivation is the fuel that keeps people driving their passions. It was not just Jefferson who wanted to complete the goal of achieving freedom, it was groups of people wanting to embrace liberty which in turn helped to cultivate more motivation amongst a community. It is interesting to note that there have been studies that show that when the outcome of a task is a reward, people tend to be more motivated to achieve that task. The fact that Thomas Jefferson and many others wanted their freedom so desperately that they did all they could in order to gain it, really shows how passionate they were about that reward. There has and are many trailblazers of the world that has progressed society forward. They were all fueled by their passions and motivation, such as Albert Einstein when he brought forth his theories to the world or Harriet Tubman when she made approximately 13 missions to bring enslaved people to freedom. Everyone who has a will to accomplish a goal is driven by an internal force that guides them to complete their task. Motivation is what will lead society to progress more than it already has.
Melanie Bergunker
I was fascinated by the discussion about the Nuremberg Chronicle, not only as the first illustrated world history and incunabulum, but also as the first widespread illustration of mythological creatures and fantasy. The breadth of information included in the Nuremberg Chronicle is extraordinary, and most of it was curated by Hartmann Schedel, who is believed to have been a fountain of knowledge. While he did not create the illustrations himself, as they were completed by Michael Wolgemut who went on to mentor the young Albrecht Durer, it is clear that the two were captivated by the rich mythological content of the bible, and felt compelled to bring it to life on print for the world to see. This was an incredible advancement for creativity as the fiction that had been passed on for generations in the minds of believers was finally brought to life on paper, effectively making it also the first mythological compendium. I believe that the importance of this feat cannot be overlooked, as the creatures composed by Wolgemut surely served as massive inspiration for countless creative thinkers of whose influence we see in pop culture today. The combination of fact and fiction is what makes the most creative works of fiction so very compelling, and I believe this was the cornerstone for that very concept.
Sophie Amador
The point that stood out the most to me during this weeks class was the point you brought up about gothic being an accident. You said it was not planned, just merely the natural selection of the mark. This reminded me of Leonardo da Vinci and how he urged artists to search for inspiration in dirt walls or in patterns in stones. This encouraged viewers to look for meaning in chaos and led to the beginning of deliberate accident in art, and the creation of the accidental blot. The accidental blot is a naturally occurring stain, or a mark made by chance that can be the starting point for extraordinary art. This goes back to myths about the origin of art in accidental shapes. Alexander Cozen once noticed that his landscape painting was unconsciously affected by marks on the soiled page, although faint, the marks influenced his painting heavily. Soon Alexander Cozens was urging his students to turn blots into landscapes and a new way of painting landscapes was born, by accident.
Jordyn Simon
With the refinement of handwriting and the importance of scribes in early human history, from that birthed handwriting letters as an art form. In China, calligraphy had a major role in society. Chinese writing was first found on oracle bones, which were typically turtle shell or animal bones. As the writing evolved, brushes also became commonly used, and with China’s invention of paper calligraphy became an art form as important as painting. Men that were educated were expected to be good at calligraphy, as well as women in the court. Calligraphy and painting also had a close relationship. The brushstrokes and materials would influence landscape paintings. Poems in calligraphy would be used in negative space to balance a landscape nature painting.
Will Neugebauer
The creation of the printing press and being able to disseminate the mark of one’s thoughts was a very important aspect of last class to me as it was truly a revolutionary invention that changed the world forever. Of the many feats the printing press was named for, the role of the printing press during Martin Luther’s time and the Protestant Reformation was huge. Luther’s utilization of the printing press allowed him to become the first to publish his message so widespread against the church. While his theses were meant to help condemn the selling of indulgences, this collaborated with the massive influx of the selling of the printing press itself. This allowed for Luther to actually become the very first, “World’s Best Selling Author.” His writings accounted for almost 1/3 of all books sold in Germany from 1518 to 1525. Now a days it seems like becoming the best-selling author can be achieved by almost anyone with enough power on social media and no longer needing to condemn the church for their actions by stapling papers to the church doors.
Adeeb Ahmed
What I found most interesting about last class is how type face has changed over time. We discussed how back then in old books type face seemed to be more elegant in a way. Even the way the type was spaced out in these books differ to what they look like now. For example, when looking at older works, we can see that the type is much more smushed together rather than it being equally spaced out as it is now. I find that now, much like the style of even our homes, everything has been more modernized, or in a way simplified. Everything is much more too the point and not as elaborate or designed as it was before.
Gianna de Landaburu
one of the things I found interesting is how do we foster beliefs in society and expose people to a mark's representations, the way certain marks are associated with certain people or news channels as mentioned on the website. The way we can distinguish the news channel from the logo or an anchor, this idea was passed on through time. I also was fascinated by the idea that prints and marks have different meanings and the repetition of them makes a huge difference. prints brought many changes to societies and the world, and not only was it used to spread information but to gain power and authority either through advertising, spreading opinion to influence society, or spread hate which all exist if we took a look back at history, in my own opinion I think this is a very great example of soft power that not everyone has access to.
Mohammed Aladwani.
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