14: Research and Inspiration

I like this design because when I first looked at I immediately started from the top left and made my way down the page in a "Z" shape without even meaning too. It's simple yet gets the point across.

I like the use of the diagonal zig zag lines  and how they lead the eye into the main object/ text

Visual Organization

Eye Movement 

• not directing the audience through the design is misdirecting them 
• the typical eye moves left to right and top to bottom 
• controlling the eye movement within a composition is a matter of directing the natural scanning tendency of the viewer's eye 
• the eye tends to gravitate towards areas of complexity first. in pictures of people, the eye is always attracted to the face and particularly the eye 
• light areas of a composition will attract the eye, especially adjacent (next to) to a dark area 
• diagonal lines or edges will guide eye movement 
• optical center: the spot where the human eye tends to enter the page. optical center is slightly above mathematical center and just to the left 
• it takes a compelling element to pull your eyes away from this spot
• Z Pattern: our visual pattern makes a sweep of the page, generally in the shape of a "Z"
• Effective page design maps a viewer's route through the information. The designer's objective is to lead the viewer's eye to the important elements or information. 

Fonts

• no more than 2 fonts in one composition 
• make sure they compliment each other
• avoid all caps 
• choose the right font to fit the tone of your project
• do not overuse fancy or complicated fonts (scripts and calligraphy)
• www.typography.com/email/2010-03/index.HTML

Visual Hierarchy:

• Establishes focal points based on their importance to the message that's being communicated 
• A crucial part of the design process is to establish an order of elements, a visual structure, to help the viewer absorb the information provided by a design 

To Establish Visual Hierarchy ask yourself...

• what do I want my viewer to look at first
• what do I want my viewer to look at second, third, fourth, etc..

The Grid:

• a way of organizing content on a page
• uses any combination of margins, guide lines, rows and columns.
• instituted by modernism (1950s)
• can assist the audience by breaking info into manageable chunks and establishing relationships between text and images
• distinct set of alignment based relationships
• every design is different; therefore every design will require a different grid structure....one that addresses the particular elements within the design 
• a grid is used to help clarify the message being communicated and to unify the elements

"Early Computers | 1930s - 1980s AD"

What is an abacus?

In 1936,  Zuse invented this type of computer?

Post a photo of the 1944 Mark Computer.
In 1944, Aiken and Hopper designed the Mark Series of computers to be used for what?
Post a photo of the UNIVAC Computer.
In 1951, Eckert and Mauchly designed the first commercial computer for whom?

What does UNIVAC stand for?

In 1953, IBM enters the scene. What does IBM stand for?

What is FORTRAN?

Post a photo of the first mouse.
In 1964, how did Engelbart change the way computers worked?

What is the significance of ARPnet?

In 1971, Intel introduced this? Post a photo of it.

In the same year, IBM introduced this? Post a photo of one.

In 1973, Metcalf and Xerox created this?

During the next several years, the first consumer computers were marketed. Post photos of the Altair, Apple I, Apple II, TRS-80, Commodore PET. Label each.

In 1981, Bill Gates and Microsoft introduced this package?
Post a photo of the Lisa computer.
In 1983, who introduced the Lisa computer?

What is GUI?
Post a photo of the computer mentioned below.
In 1984, a more affordable home computer was introduced. Name the computer and the company that marketed it?

The commercial only ran one time. When?

In response to the Apple GUI, Gates and Microsoft introduced this?

Two men are known for their development of the Apple I computer. Who are they?

When was the internet that we know, world wide web, developed and introduced?

Over the years, Apple has included "easter eggs" within their software. What is an "easter egg"?

Search for easter eggs in Photoshop and Illustrator. List a few in this post ... and try to find them in the applications.

Where do you think computers will take us in the next 10 years?

"Photography | 1839 - 1960s AD"

Until the 1880s, how were news stories illustrated?
Engravings or woodcuts were used.
What is a camera obscura?
An optical device that projects an image of its surroundings onto a screen.
How did scholars and artists utilize the camera obscure?
It was used to observe solar eclipses and phases of the moon.
From where did the photographic camera develop?
The portable box version of the camera obscura.
Who first used the term "photography"? Where was is derived from?
Sir John Herschel first used the term "photography". It is derived from the Greek words for light and writing.
Who is credited with making the first successful photograph?
Joseph Niepce
Who invented the Daguerreotype process? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the process?Louis Daguerre invented the Daguerreotype process. The process reduced the time needed to make photographs. However, the process was expensive, and the image could not be duplicated.
Who invented the Calotype process? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the process? William Fox Talbot invented the Calotype process. An unlimited amount of duplicates could be made, but the quality of the image was affected by experimentations.
Who invented the Wet Collodion process? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the process? Frederick Scott Archer invented the Wet Collodion process. The process reduced the exposure time and costs. A much sharper image was produced. Darkrooms and other equipment had to be portable.
Who invented the Dry Plate process? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the process?
Richard Maddox invented the Dry Plate process. The disadvantage was that this process still made photography too complicated for the general public. The advantage was that the gelatin still is the base of film even today.
Who is George Eastman? What company did he establish? George Eastman is the inventor of roll film, a photographic medium that is coated on paper rolls. He established the Eastman Kodak company.
In 1888, he produced a camera that use his flexible roll film. How did he make this camera/photography accessible to the public?
He introduced the camera called the 'Brownie'. It just sold for $1.
What is Edwin Land best known for? What company did he establish? Edwin Land is best known for inventing instant photography. He founded the Polaroid Corporation.

How long did the first Polaroid camera take to produce a photo?
60 seconds.
What was Eadweard Muybridge known for? He was known for starting motion picture photography.
What is the Zoopraxiscope? A device used to show images in successive pages of motion.
How did Muybridge settle the debate and photograph a horse in motion? He set up a system of cameras that were triggered by a thread when the horse was in motion.
In 1880s, the development of the motion picture camera allowed this? It allowed for the capturing of several individual images on a single film reel.
Post a photo of a motion picture projector.
What is a motion picture projector? A device that shines a light through a piece of film and magnifies a "moving picture" onto a screen for an audience.

Post an example of a camera obscura.

Post an the first photograph.

Post an example of a Daguerreotype image.

Post an example of a Calotype image.

 Post an example of a Wet Collodion Process image.

Post an example of a Dry Plate Process image.

 Post an example of The Kodak Camera from 1888.

Post a photo of the first Polaroid camera.

Post a photo of the Zoopraxiscope.

 Post a photo of Muybridge's horse in motion.

"The Linotype Machine | 1886 AD"

Who is credited with the invention of the typewriter?
Christopher Sholes
What is a "stenographer"? A person skilled in transcription of speech

Post an example of Shole's typewriter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why did Sholes send a prototype of his typewriter to Clephane?
Because he realized that stenographers would be among the first and most important users. Clephane was one.
After the typewriter began production, why did Clephane pursue another machine?
Because he realized that it took too long to typeset and copy the words with the typewriter. He made an invention that would bridge the gap between the typewriter and the printed page.
Who spent a year redesigning Clephane's typesetting machine?
Ottmar Mergenthaler helped them.What is meant by "typesetting"?
Arranging or generating the type for a piece of text to be printed.

Post an example of Linotype Machine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How does the Linotype Machine differ from the typewriter?
The Linotype Machine allowed type to be set mechanically rather than by hand. It produced a solid line of type by casting hot lead into a series of molds that corresponded to individual letters. The name comes from the fact that it produces an entire line of metal type at once.
How did this machine change the newspaper industry?
It changed radically making it possible for a small number of operators to set type for more pages on a daily basis.

Post an example of a Linotype keyboard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

How did the keyboard of the Linotype Machine differ from keyboards that we use today?
It had a 90-character keyboard and there was no shift key, so the uppercase letters had separate keys from lowercase letters. Also, the arrangement of keys was based on letter frequency. The keyboard had the same alphabet arrangement twice. On the left, the black keys were lowercase. On the right, the white keys were uppercase. The blue keys in the middle were for punctuation, digits, small capital letters, and fixed width spaces.

Post an example of a Linotype slug.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is a slug?
The machine assembled matrices or molds for the letter forms. The assembled line of type is then cast as a single piece, called a slug. The process allowed for faster typesetting and composition than by hand.Post an example of a person operating a Linotype Machine.
Why is the Linotype Machine the greatest advanced in printing since movable type?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The machine changed the newspaper industry drastically. It made typing easier and faster. It was awarded "Grand Prix" at World Expo in Paris, and exported to many different countries over the world.

"The Gutenberg Press | 1450 AD"

What is Johannes Gutenberg credited with?
Post a photo of the Gutenberg Press.
How did the printing press work?

What motivated Gutenberg to find a better way of creating books?

Why did Gutenberg experiment with metal type versus wood type?
Post an example of movable type in a type case.
What is moveable type?

What is a matrix?

What ink did Gutenberg develop that he used specifically for the printing press?

What is paper made from? Where did paper originate?

What is a "substrate"?

Who did Gutenberg seek to help with the invention of the press? Close to the end of the 5 years, what happened? 
What was the first book he printed?Post an example of this book.

How did the Gutenberg Press impact communication?

Who introduced the printing press to England?

What was the early form of newspapers?

When was the first news weekly published? What was it called?

What kind of press was built in the US in the mid 1800s?
Post an example of a 1930s printing press.
By the late 1930s, presses had increased in efficiency and were capable of 2,500 to 3,500 impressions per hour. What is meant by "impression"?

Which printing process is the Gutenberg press an example of? Briefly describe the process?
Post an example of an intaglio press.
What is intaglio printing and how is ink transferred?
Post an example of a screen (porous) printing press.
What is porous printing and how is ink transferred?
Post an example of a lithography printing press.
What is lithography and how is ink transferred?
Post an example of a offset lithography printing press.
What variation of lithography is used by the commercial printing industry today?

How do printing presses used today compare to the Gutenberg Press?

Describe four-color process printing using CMYK?

"The Codex and the Illuminated Manuscript | 1st century AD"

Post an example of a scroll.

 

What were the drawbacks of the scroll?They only allowed sequential usage.

Post an example of a codex.

What is a codex?A covered and bound collection of hand-written pages.

"Codex" is derived from the Latin meaning "block of wood". Why?Because it had compactness and sturdiness.

What is the difference between "sequential access" and "random access"?Random- one can go to any point to find information.

Sequential- one must go through the scroll to find a certain passage.

What were the advantages of using the codex?Easier to organize in libraries.

What helped spread the use of the codex?The bible.

What replaced papyrus? Describe the process used to create it?Parchment, made from animal skins. The hair was removed and skin was smoothed out, hide was soaked in water, calcium, flour, and salt were added, skin was stretched out, flattened and dried.

What is vellum?Finer qualities of parchment made from cat skins.

Name several examples of current technology that utilizes the format of the codex?Kindle, iPad, digital books.

What led to a period of cultural and economical deterioration?The decline of the Roman Empire resulted in fewer books being created.

Post an example of an illuminated manuscript.

Who began creating books by hand, taking the creation to an art form?

Monastic monks

What does "illumination" refer to? What was included in this ornamentation?Refers to the borders, illustrations, and ornamentation added to each page of text.

What tool was used for creating the illuminated manuscripts? Natural quill pens.

Why were these manuscripts reserved for religious purposes?Because the work was laborious.

What is craftsmanship? Why is it important?

The skill in an occupation. It's important because these manuscripts were very elegant and needed to be perfect.

"The Greek Alphabet | 800 BC"

How did Greeks come in contact with the Phoenicians? The adaptation of the phoenician letterforms, traveled to greece

How was the Greek adaptation of the alphabet different from its predecessor? Much less suitable for Greek languages, several of the consonants were adapted as vowels, additional letters were added.

Why is the Greek alphabet considered to be the world's first true alphabet?It has given rise to many other alphabets including the Latin alphabet.

Name several similarities and differences between the Greek and modern English alphabets?
A lot of the letters are the exact same except for some letters with overall or slight changes.
Post an example of the Greek alphabet in visual form.

"The Roman Alphabet | 7th century BC"

What was the basis of the Roman uppercase alphabet? -Variant of the Greek alphabet

What were the purposes of the formal and informal styles of lettering?
-Informal was used for quick writing and used for letters and routine writing.
-Formal script was used for important manuscripts and official documents
Why is the Roman alphabet the most widely used and what contributions did it make?
-Serifs originated with the carving of the words into stone, institution of the baseline in typography and penmanship, Romans insured that the type was perfectly aligned into rows

From where did serifs originate?
-From when the writers didn't want the letters to slip when they were wet and drying
When and where did lowercase, or minuscule, letters develop?
-They were created by the Latin people because they found some of the letters and decided to make them all smaller like that

What is a ligature and why were they utilized?
-Something that is used to bind something tightly

Post an example of the Roman alphabet in visual form.

"The Phoenician Alphabet | 1050 BC"

The Phoenician alphabet is based on what principle? one signe is based on one spoken sound

Describe the shape of the letters and what tool created them? was created with a stylus and the shapes were mostly angular and strait. typically writen right to left.

What two reasons made the Phoenician alphabet so successful? it contrasted with other scripts that were dificult to learn, their trading culture spread the use of the alphabet into north africa and europe.

What long term effects on the social structures of civilizations did the Phoenicians have with the creation of their alphabet? its simplisity allowed it to be used in diffrent languages and it also allowed common people to learn how to write.
Post an example of the Phoenician alphabet in visual form.

"Hieroglyphics and the Egyptians | 3,000 BC"

In the sixth century BC, what three civilizations invaded Egypt?
Persians, Greeks and Romans.
Post an example of the inside wall(s) of an Ancient Egyptian temple.
What was discovered on the inside of the temples? Hieroglyphics.

Scholars believe that Ancient Egyptians were inspired and influenced by which written language?
Cuneiform.

What is the difference between logographic and alphabetic elements?Logograms are visual symbols to represent objects.
Alphabetic came later to document writing.The term Hieroglyphic derived from what two Greek words?
Sacred engravings.

What is a scribe?


Who else was trained to read and write? Why?
Students and Military personnel.



Post an example of hieroglyphics on papyrus.

What is papyrus and how was it made?
Substrate made from reeds. Wet reeds are placed, flattened and dried. Rubbed with flat stones until smooth.

What is a substrate?
Natural stone/surface.

What were the Books of the Dead?
Instructions on how to reach the afterlife.

How did Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics become a forgotten language?
The Greeks and Romans overtook Egypt and after a while, few egyptians could actually read the hieroglyphics.


Post an example of the Rosetta Stone.

What is the Rosetta Stone? Where was it discovered?
A slab with three different languages.

What three languages are included on the stone?
Egyptian, Demotic, and Greek.

Why couldn't the text on the Stone be deciphered?
The texts are not completely complete.

Who finally deciphered the text? What was his breakthrough?
Jean Francois Champollion. He was able to decipher the text.

Why does the interpretation of the Rosetta Stone have such significance?We now know about the ancient egyptians.

"Cuneiform and the Sumerians | 3,000 BC"

The Sumerians were one of the earliest types of this kind of civilization? What does that mean?
-They were known to have migrated to Sumer around 3500 BC

Why is the region of Sumer considered the Cradle of Civilization?
-Where cuneiform was created. (the world's first written language)



What could the Sumerians practice year round because of the regions climate?
-Agriculture 


Post an example of early Cuneiform (Sumerian pictograph).

Why was Cuneiform created?
-To help track all the business transactions


What medium was used to "write" Cuneiform? Explain the process of preparing and writing on this surface?
-Clay tablets
-They would wet the clay, form it into flat surfaces and use a wedge shaped stylus made from reeds to make impressions into the clay surface then lay them in the sun to dry and harden


What did Cuneiform begin as a series of?
-pictographs





Post an example of evolved Cuneiform (wedge-shaped).

After it evolved over time, what shape did the characters of Cuneiform evolve into?
-a wedge shaped language


Post an example of Akkadian Cuneiform.

After the Akkadians conquered, what happened to the Sumerian culture and written language?
-adopted the sumerian culture and their written language, Cuneiform.


What is a pictograph?
-pictures which resemble what they signify


Why did the creation of Cuneiform allow the Sumerians to become a sophisticated culture?
-because pictographs became more abstract and the number of characters began to grow

"Cave Paintings | 35,000 years ago"

What are cave paintings?
-Beautiful, detailed and colorful representations found on the inside of cave walls and ceilings


Name several common themes found in cave paintings?
-Larges animals, tracings of human hands, abstract patterns


How were these paintings created (tools, pigments)?
-Paints were made form mixing water, plant juice, animal blood, soil, charcoal, hematite (a form of iron oxide)
-Brushes were made by putting together sticks, small stones, leaves, and animal hair.


What is the most famous cave painting site? When was it discovered and by whom?Post an example of cave painting(s) from this cave.
-Lascaux, France
-In 1940 by 4 teenage boys


Why did this cave have to be closed? 
-The paintings were being damaged by the carbon dioxide emitted from the tourists


What was done to satisfy public curiosity?

-The French Government created Lascaux II - A man made replica next to the original


Post an example of cave painting(s) from Altamira cave.

In Altamira cave, why do most of the paintings have a red hue?
-The red hue is caused by the red clay in the soil 


Who discovered this site? How old are the paintings confirmed to be?
-Marceline Sanz De Sautuola and his daughter Maria


What is the oldest known cave painting site? When was it discovered and by whom?
-Chauvet-Point Arc
-1994 by 3 speleogists: Eliette Brunell Deschamps, Christian Hillaire, Jean-Martin Chauvet


Post an example of cave painting(s) from this cave.

What was different about the painting techniques at this site?
-The walls were scraped clear of debris, 3D effect was created by etching around the edges, found fossilized remains and items such as sticks and small stones which appear to have been fashioned into paint brushes


What is "speleology"?
-is the scientific study of caves and other karst features, their make-up, structure, physical properties, history, life forms, and the processes by which they form (speleogenesis) and change over time 


What three reasons do archeologists and historians believe prehistoric man created cave paintings?

1. To tell a story or recount and event that already happened
2. As an instructional visual aid to help teach about hunting techniques
3. Created for magical or religious reasons