Graphic Design History traces the social and cultural role of visual communication from prehistory to the present, connecting what designers do every day to a history of innovative graphic forms and effects. It offers a unique and exciting set of critical lenses for thinking about the cultural purpose and historical dimensions of the graphic designer's work, placing emphasis on the relevance of the history to the practices of designers today. Designed by the authors, the book is beautiful, spacious, and elegant. Clearly organized into three content-rich layers, it is informative yet lively and driven by ideas that offer ways of thinking about graphic design from a wealth of historical examples

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Preface Introduction Prehistoric Prelude to Graphic Design 35,000--2700 bce 2 Evolutionary foundations of communication Language and design Early graphic forms Communicating ideas and beliefs The invention of proto-writing Conclusion Timeline Tools of the trade Early Writing: Mark-making, Notation Systems, and Scripts 3000--500 bce 10 Mark-making Notation Varieties of early writing The spread of writing as idea and script The alphabet Literate culture Conclusion Timeline Tools of the trade Classical Literacy 700 bce--400 ce 28 Variations of literacy and the alphabet The function of graphic codes Models of writing: gestural and constructed Writing at the end of the Classical age Conclusion Timeline Tools of the trade Medieval Letterforms and Book Formats 400--1450 44 Medieval culture and graphic communication Graphic media and contexts The codex book Letterforms, manuscript hands, and pattern books Graphic forms of knowledge Publishing communities and graphic arts Conclusion Timeline Tools of the trade Renaissance Design: Standardization and Modularization in Print 1450--1660 68 Early print design Graphic communication in Renaissance culture Print technology and type design Graphic forms of knowledge Conclusion Timeline Tools of the trade Modern Typography and the Creation of the Public Sphere 1660--1800 94 Printed matter and the public sphere News books, broadsheets, and newspapers Politics and the press Graphic arts and design Modern type design On the edge of industrialization Conclusion Timeline Tools of the trade The Graphic Effects of Industrial Production 1800--1850 118 Industrialization and visual culture Illustrated papers Book design for mass production Printing images Advertising design and typography Fine art and graphic art Critical issues Conclusion Timeline Tools of the trade Mass Mediation 1850--1900s 140 Printed mass media Changes in print technology Changing patterns in the use of graphic media Media networks Graphic design and advertising Posters and public space Conclusion Timeline Tools of the trade Formations of the Modern Movement 1880s--1910s 162 Responses to industrialism Arts and Crafts publications Arts and Crafts dissemination Art Nouveau Jugendstil Viennese design Decadence and Aestheticism The private press movement and modern design Integration of design and industry Conclusion Timeline Tools of the trade Innovation and Persuasion 1910--1930 186 Visual culture and avant-garde design The graphic impact of Futurism and Dada From experiment to principles Propaganda and mass communication studies Graphic persuasion and its effects Institutionalizing graphic design Conclusion Timeline Tools of the trade The Culture of Consumption 1920s--1930s 212 Designing the modern lifestyle Modern style in graphic design Consumer culture The profession Conclusion Timeline Tools of the trade Public Interest Campaigns and Information Design 1930s--1950s 234 Public interest and education Photojournalism and documentary Wartime propaganda Wartime information Commercial and technical uses of information design Information analysis and design process Conclusion Timeline Tools of the trade Corporate Identities and International Style 1950s--1970s 258 Image and identity systems International style Style, systems, and graphic design concepts Technology The profession Conclusion Timeline Tools of the trade Pop and Protest 1960s--1970s 280 Pop culture and style Self-conscious graphic design Slick surfaces and high production values Counterculture and the alternative press Revolutionary culture and protest Changes in the profession Critical vocabulary Conclusion Timeline Tools of the trade Postmodernism in Design 1970s--1980s and Beyond 300 Postmodern styles Postmodern consumption and conservatism Critical theory and postmodern sensibility Postmodernism and activism Changes in the profession Conclusion Timeline Tools of the trade Digital Design After the 1970s 322 Digital technology: from punch cards and plotters to desktop computing Media transitions: type design and publications Fluidity and functionality The myth of immateriality and challenges of digital design Conclusion Timeline Tools of the trade Glossary 343 Credits Bibliography Index

Author Biography

Johanna Drucker is the Breslauer Professor of Bibliographical Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. She has been on the faculty of Yale University, SUNY Purchase, Columbia University, and the University of Virginia, as well as holding a Mellon Faculty Fellowship at Harvard, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a Getty Fellowship. Her previous publications include "The Alphabetic Labyrinth" (1995), "The Century of Artists' Books" (1995), "The Visible Word" (1994), and "Sweet Dreams" (2005). She is also known for her work as a book artist and visual poet. Emily McVarish is Associate Professor of Graphic Design at California College of the Arts, where she teaches experimental typography and writing, design history and theory, and topical studios. A writer, designer, and book artist, she has maintained a hybrid practice in San Francisco since 1990. Her work has been exhibited internationally, published by Granary Books, and collected by Harvard University and the British Library, among other major libraries and museums. Her writing has been featured in "Visible Language" and "Design and Culture."