- Introduction
This collection of 10 journals is an amalgamation of everything I have learned from this class during the quarter. This blog is a chronicle of my blood, sweat and tears over this past couple months and in it I analyze art movements, break apart design theories and apply liberal amounts of my own opinion into the mix. I hope you enjoy reading these posts as much as I enjoyed writing them.
- What did you learn? How do you see things differently as a result?
What I had initially hoped to achieve by attending this course was a greater understanding of the graphic arts and how it had evolved throughout the span of human existence. In a shallow sense, this was accomplished. This was more evident to me in the first couple chapters of the book as it described the origin and growth of written language. I found it interesting how the textbook painted a picture of graphic, representational art evolving alongside language, from the cave painting of our ancient ancestors to the illuminated manuscripts of the medieval era. I had never really considered the origins of language as the beginning of graphic design and I definitely found it an interesting theory.
- What did you not learn? Why was the class not valuable to you? How could it have been more valuable?
I now only have a very shallow knowledge of typography as it relates to graphic design, while I realize that this is not a typography course, it would have been nice to have a less scholarly (boring), and more hands on approach to all the terminology and variables that go into fonts. The book itself was not the most interesting of textbooks, and along with being rather dry at points, it also straddles the line of being far too opinionated at others. I found the author to be very biased for and against certain artists, which is not really what I expect from a history text. A new more engaging book, plus assignments in which we actually analyze the works by the artists would have been much more valuable to my learning experience.
- What new connections did you make regarding graphic design and the evolution of human culture?
I came to a realization about how society has used limiting information as a means of control and the route to power. As the spread of certain types of information evolved the playing field leveled a bit, but there are always those who limit the spread of information and so carve out for themselves an advantage. We see clear evidence of this in ancient Sumeria with the advent of city-societies. Even as reading and literacy became more of a vehicle for the masses by which they could educate themselves, society evolved a counter with which they could maintain a degree of control over people, advertisements. This was especially marked in the industrial era as factories needed to peddle their wares to their consumers. Looking at ads, and the governmental version of them, propaganda, there is a strong use of emotional manipulation for the majority of these works.
- What new interests might you have based on what you've been exposed to?
Though I studied Egypt a lot as a younger man, if feel as if there was an aspect of it that I was missing, and the Books of the Dead I feel may be interesting to research and perhaps read. The act of inventive story telling as opposed to the chronicling of events has always been fascinating to me and perhaps I can learn something from those who have done it before me.
- How will you apply what you've learned to experiencing life, your understanding of other disciplines, your future career?
I'm going to apply the different methodologies and concepts at the heart of the art movements we've learned about and apply them to my own work. I hope to broaden my range as a creative force and perhaps by imitating the past and combining it with my own interests and focus I can synthesize great works and vastly improve my skills.
- What is the future of graphic design?
I feel that in the future this will become more prevalent as information now is catered directly to us using our habits and locations to target us directly as advertisements. The future of the graphic designer will be using these technologies and creating a seamless, aesthetically pleasing experience for the user. Think of it as web design for the mobile information junkie.
- What new interests might you have based on what you've been exposed to?
Though I studied Egypt a lot as a younger man, if feel as if there was an aspect of it that I was missing, and the Books of the Dead I feel may be interesting to research and perhaps read. The act of inventive story telling as opposed to the chronicling of events has always been fascinating to me and perhaps I can learn something from those who have done it before me.
- How will you apply what you've learned to experiencing life, your understanding of other disciplines, your future career?
I'm going to apply the different methodologies and concepts at the heart of the art movements we've learned about and apply them to my own work. I hope to broaden my range as a creative force and perhaps by imitating the past and combining it with my own interests and focus I can synthesize great works and vastly improve my skills.
- What is the future of graphic design?
I feel that in the future this will become more prevalent as information now is catered directly to us using our habits and locations to target us directly as advertisements. The future of the graphic designer will be using these technologies and creating a seamless, aesthetically pleasing experience for the user. Think of it as web design for the mobile information junkie.
