The purpose of this blog is to be the field journal of my
weekly exploits in delving into Meggs’ History
of Graphic Design by Phillip b. Meggs and Alston W. Purvis, to explore my
perceptions as I participate in my Graphic Design History course, and to
divulge interesting findings in research beyond my textbook. This first post is
dedicated to reflect upon my thoughts after perusing the entire catalogue of
images in Meggs textbook.
Flipping through five hundred plus pages of image and text
can become very cumbersome on the eyes and I had to take several breaks in
order to ingest all the information I was receiving in just the pictures. I
would also get stuck on some of the images that intrigued me and would have to mark
them for further research. There is so much information in this book that it
seems nearly impossible to be able to tackle all of it in one quarter, especially
when there are so many interesting designs to critique. I feel with the amount
of time we will only be getting our feet wet with the rich history of graphic
design. Yet I will remain diligent and told myself to enjoy this and I will.
My exploration of the images showed me characteristics which
ring true of graphic design throughout history. Graphic design is purposeful.
From early Sumerian pictographs, to illuminated manuscripts, to modern day websites,
all were and are used to communicate thoughts and ideas. Some are simply accounting
of owned goods and others have a wider spectrum, but they are all to convey information
to an audience. There is also always a driving force behind graphic design. Whether
it is politics, commercialism, raising awareness, or even purely aesthetics,
graphic design is always motivated by the need to communicate these ideas. And,
the ideas and means of communication were always of consequence by each period’s
climate and the successes of technology.
It is easy to say that this course has me a little scared
and excited at the same time. Regardless, I will still be looking forward to
gaining all the nuggets of info this class has to offer.
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