COURSE DESCRIPTION
The history and theory of visual communication are presented in this survey course.
Significant events in the design of visual communication from pre-history through the present are covered with critical commentary in readings, presentations, field trip(s) and class discussions.
Social, cultural, economic, religious, technological, and political climates are addressed in historical context as they relate to the design of visual communication.
Concepts are covered in class discussions, class exercises, quizzes, tests, readings, lectures, and a research assignment which includes a student-designed poster.
GD315 WEEK-BY-WEEK CHAPTER HANDOUTS, READINGS, EXERCISES, ASSIGNMENTS
NOTE: bulleted items are .pdf links
Week One
• Exercise 1a "what is this song?”
Exercise 1b, Hieroglyphics
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Read: "Discovery of Egyptian Inscriptions Indicates Earlier Date for … Alphabet"
• Read: "From Christ to Coke"
Week Two
• Exercise #2, Albrecht Dührer, The Just Shaping of Letters
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Read: "The Curse of Literacy"
Week Three
• Exercise 3, "The Curse of Literacy"
• Exercise 3 Grade Sheet
Terrific web sites, re: Week Three class (these aren't linked, so copy-paste):
Incunabula:
www.symon.com/incunabula (especially click on 'milestones')
Ex Libris:
www.fisae.org/illustrations/illustrations.htm
www.bookplate.org/current%20issue/gallery.htm
Nuremberg Chronicle:
www.lib.umd.edu/RARE/exhibits/Nuremberg/
Polyglot Bible:
www.hds/harvarad.edu/libraary/exhibits/online/bible/3.html
Fraktur Typeface:
www.germanabout.com/od/readinggerman/a/fraaktur_2.htm
Early Typography (VERY GOOD reference site)
www.typographia.org
Codex Seraphinianus:
archimedes-lab.org/serafii/C_serafini.html
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili:
mitpress.mit.edu/e-books?HP/hyptext0.htm
• Chapter 9
Week Four
• Exercise 4, Bodoni's Manuale Typografico, Blake's Songs of Innocence
and Manutius' Hypnerotomachia Poliphili and 4B, van de Graff, Tschichold, Villard
• Exercise 4 A and B Grade Sheet
• Exercise 4C Grade Sheet
• Examples: Caslon, Baskerville, Bodoni
• Jan Tschichold, page proportions (pp 48, 49 The Form of the Book)
Week Five
• Exercise 5: Techniques of the Observer, The Old Way of Seeing, A History of Reading
• Exercise 5 Grade Sheet
• Chapter 11
• Chapter 10
* Read:“Fin de siecle poster design: objectifying national style, pleasure and gender”
Week Six
• Exercise 6, from “Fin de siecle poster design…” and Megg’s History of Graphic Design
Web sites, re: Week Six class (these aren’t linked, so copy-paste):
www.yaneff.com/html/gallery/artist_gallery.html
(on this site, look at : Cheret, Grasset,Mucha, Steinlen, Toulouse-Lautrec)
beardsley.artpassions.net
www.willbradley.com/work/pos/index.htm#1a
• Chapter 12
• Read: “Women in Graphic Design History”
Week Seven
• Exercise 7: Geometric Composition: Wright, the Glasgow School,, Moser, Krane, Behrens, Lauweriks
• Exercise 7 handouts
• Chapter 14 (excerpts)
Week Eight
• Chapter 13 (excerpts)
• Chapter 15
• Read excerpt,“Selling an Idea,” from Graphic Design in the Mechanical Age
Week Nine
• Reading/Research Assignment
• Chapter 16
• Chapter 17
• Chapter 18
Week Ten
• Chapters 19, 20
• The Man who Invented Graphic Design
• Pictures for Rent
• Stock Imagery
• Summer Fun
Week Eleven
• Dumb
WeekTwelve
• Chapters 21, 22
• Chapters 23, 24
Week Thirteen
Week Fourteen
DONNA STEPIEN (dstepien@aii.edu)
INSTRUCTOR, GRAPHIC DESIGN, NEW ENGLAND INSTITUTE OF ART
MFA University at Buffalo
MBA Canisius College
BA Daemen College