The history of graphic design from symbols to shared systems

The history of graphic design is the history of combining text with images and concepts, most often for advertisements, publications, or websites. It is frequently traced from the onset of moveable-type printing in the 15th century, though earlier developments and technologies related to writing and printing can be considered part of the longer history of communication.

2 articles, 1 book · about 39 min of reading and viewing

The reading path

1. Read
   the history of graphic design · Wikipedia · 36 min read

   In the history of graphic design, Austrian social scientist Otto Neurath used graphic design to help people understand social and economic trends through statistical charts. The Museum of Economy and Society aimed to make complicated trends easy to grasp with intuitive, interesting charts. German printers introduced woodblock printing to produce playing cards during the 15th century. Lower production costs enabled the printed cards' quick exportation throughout Europe. CSS, proposed by Håkon Wium Lie in 1994, allowed graphic design elements like fonts, colors, and layout to be part of a website. The World Wide Web Consortium adopted the first standardized specifications for CSS, called CSS1, in 1996.

2. Read
   

   An Introduction to Graphic Design - DesignObserver · Design Observer · 3 min read

   Isotype, developed after World War I by Austrian educator Otto Neurath, was a hieroglyphic vocabulary of easily understood symbols that Neurath created with German illustrator Gerd Arntz and that have been assimilated internationally.

3. Book
   

   Graphic Design: A New History · Bookshop.org

   Graphic Design by Stephen J. Eskilson traces modernist styles and wartime politicization, then chronicles the Bauhaus, the International Style, and postmodernism alongside contemporary app design, social media, emojis, big data visualization, and animated graphics. Eskilson also addresses citizen designers tackling societal issues.

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