Graphic Design 111

Graphic Design History from 12,000 BCE to 1950 CE

Period: 12,000 BCE to 1950

Petroglyph: The Graffiti of Addaura

11,000 BCE

• Location: Palermo, Sicily
• Designer: Unknown
• Innovation: Rock carvings; durable representations of objects, ideas, and feelings.

Historical Tidbit - Petroglyph vs Pictograph

9500 BCE

Crafting either a petroglyph or pictograph was typically determined by availability of a "paint," hardness of the rocks, and availability of tools to create the design. (King, n.d.).

Pictograph: Cave of Swimmers

8000 BCE

• Location: Gilf Kebir Plateau of the Libyan Desert
• Designer: Unknown
• Innovation: Cave paintings; archiving real-life events, objects, and ideas.

Cuneiform: Old Babylonian Cookbook

1850 BCE

• Location: Akaddian, Babylon
• Designer: Unknown
• Innovation: Wedge imprints; used for contracts, accounting, and records.

Historical Tidbit: Cuneiform Security

1800 BCE

Mesopotamian cylinder seals, which applied cuneiform, were used to provide a forgery-proof method for sealing important documents, and in some cases sealing house doors to prevent burglaries. (Meggs & Purvis, 2011, pp. 12).

Phoenician Alphabet

1500 BCE

• Location: Ancient Phoenicia
• Designer: Unknown
• Innovation: Early Linear script; used simplified pictographic symbols, but without any pictorial meaning.

Sarcophagus: Sarcophagus of Tuthmosis IV

1390 BCE

• Location Discovered: Thebes, Egypt
• Designer: Unknown
• Innovation: Ancient coffin; used for ceremonial burial tombs.

Cartouche: Cartouche of Tutankhamun

1325 BCE

• Location Discovered: Theban Necropolis, Egypt
• Current Location: Egyptian Museum, Cairo
• Designer: Unknown
• Innovation: Oval frames; used to encase Egyptian glyphs of royal family names.

Hieroglyphics: Fragment from the Tomb of Seti I

1279 BCE

• Location Discovered: Kurna, Egypt
• Designer: Unknown
• Innovation: Sacred Egyptian picture writing; ancestor of major modern scripts.

Stele: Merneptah Stele

1208 BCE

• Location Discovered: Luxor, Egypt
• Current Location: Egyptian Museum, Cairo
• Designer: Egyptian Scribes
• Innovation: Stone or wooden slab; used to inscribe and commemorate key events and government laws.

Historical Tidbit – Origin of the Word “Alphabet”

850 BCE

The word Alphabet originates from the first two letters from the Greek alphabet, alpha and beta. (Meggs & Purvis, 2011, pp. 22).

Greek Alphabet

800 BCE

• Location: Ancient Greece
• Designer: Ancient Greeks
• Innovation: Geometric structure and arrangement to create symmetry.

Latin Alphabet

600 BCE

• Location: Ancient Rome
• Designer: Ancient Romans
• Innovation: Early form of traditional alphabet with only 21 letters.

Kufi Character Script: (Surah 48: 27–28) Qur'an.

600 BCE

• Location: Kufa, Iraq
• Designer: Muslim Academy at Kufa
• Innovation: Vigorous curving, horizontal Arabic script.

Historical Tidbit: Golden Age of Athens

500 BCE

The golden age of Athens (c. 500 BCE) was the high point of Greek culture, when democracy, or “people rule,” began to be practiced period Aristotle called democracy “a state where freemen and poor, being in a majority, are invested in the power of the state” The vote of the majority became law. (Meggs & Purvis, 2011, pp. 27).

Capitalis Monumentalis: Roman Pantheon

120

• Location: Rome, Italy
• Designer: Ancient Romans
• Innovation: Roman capital letter script; thick vertical strokes and geometric square proportions.

Capitalis Quadrata: Vergil's Aeneid

400

• Location: Unknown
• Designer: Unknown
• Innovation: Square capitals; thick and thin strokes with majestic symmetry and clear readability.

Capitalis Rustica: Vergilius Romanus

450

• Location: Vatican City, Rome at the Biblioteca Apostolica
• Designer: Unknown
• Innovation: Early calligraphy; narrow, flowing script to allow for a larger quantity of writing.

Historical Tidbit – Embargo leads to Unexpected Progress

500

Ptolemy V of Alexandria and Eumenes II of Pergamum were engaged in a fierce library-building rivalry. Therefore, Ptolemy placed an embargo on papyrus shipments to prevent Eumenes from continuing his rapid production of scrolls. Parchment, a writing surface made from the skins of domestic animals was invented to overcome embargo. (Meggs & Purvis, 2011, pp. 31). Parchment was much more durable than papyrus and was not as susceptible to environmental decay.

Codex: Codex Zacynthius

550

• Current Location: Cambridge University Library
• Designer: Unknown
• Innovation: Ancestor of the modern book made from folded and stitched parchment.

Uncial: Book of Kells

800

• Location: Columban monastery, United Kingdom
• Designer: Unknown
• Innovation: Broad, rounded letter script using all capital letters.

Hangul: Hunminjeongeum Haerye

1446

• Location: Korea
• Designer: Jiphyeonjeon (Hall of Worthies)
• Innovation: Korean scientific writing system; letters inside an imaginary rectangle forming syllabic blocks.

Jean-Francois Champollion

1800

• Innovation: Deciphered hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone.
• Designer: Léon Cogniet, portrait painter.