Graphic Design Timeline

By caneded
  • 38,000 BCE

    Cave paintings

    This is known as the first time that events and stories where told in pictures and art. These are also known as the roots of graphic design.
  • Period: 3300 BCE to 3000 BCE

    Sumerian written language

    This era is known as the first written language. It was used first in recording trader inventories to make sure that couriers weren't stealing any supplies. This later evolved into a widespread language and was used for communication in many forms. At one point, even informing the king of Lagash that his son had died in battle. This era was Logo-graphic meaning that the language was used with pictures and art.
  • Period: 200 BCE to 1040 BCE

    Chinese printing

    China used wood reliefs to print and stamp designs on silk clothes, and later paper in the begining of this era. In 1040, Bi Sheng invented the world’s first movable type printing press, more than 400 years before Gutenburg brought a similar technology to Europe.
  • 700

    Medieval calligraphy

    typography started to take off as humanity started expanding its knowledge into the letters and words themselves. Texts in this period were produced and replicated by hand, artistry made the books more valuable and set some scholars apart.
  • 1100

    European Heraldry

    Seen as the worlds first logos known as the coat of arms. These were used to represent families and territories. They used these as a means of showing themselves apart from the other families and territories.
  • Period: 1389 to

    Storefront signage

    This era is the one that marked the beginning of marking businesses instead of families or territories. At the beginning, this was used for only beer and ale houses. Later, this was a widespread tradition for most stores through this day.
  • 1400

    First logos

    The industry first used these logos but it was later adopted to be a way to show off your printing skills and show authenticity.
  • 1439

    Invention of the Gutenberg press

    Johannes Gutenberg invented the first printing press in Europe around this time. This invention was used to make books affordable and allow company production to be possible. This also made it easier to spread knowledge and teaching skills through books.

  • First print advertisements

    This is the first time that advertisements started showing up with graphics. Advertisements have been around since Egypt but this is where pictures started being incorporated into them.

  • Chromolithography

    This is around the time when color began to make its way into advertisements and book graphics making artistry much more interesting to look at and draw attention from the public.

  • The Wiener Werkstätte

    This is the first Agency to do graphic design. Many businesses found this to be a good money making business. Many other Agencies would form around this time and advance the progress of graphic design as a whole making it more available to the general public and large scale companies.

  • Staatliches Bauhaus founded

    This is another graphic design company that formed to work furthering what Wiener Werkstätte started. They set out to a Gesamtkunstwerk design, an artistic ideal that encompasses or synthesizes existing art forms into one perfect work. They succeeded making them the first modernist designers.

  • The term "graphic design" appears for the first time

    In his article “New Kind of Printing Calls for New Design” (printed in the Boston Evening Transcript, August 29, 1922), book designer William Addison Dwiggins first used the term “graphic design” to describe exactly what his role was in structuring and managing the visuals in book design.

  • Paul Rand publishes Thoughts on Design

    legendary designer Paul Rand helped lead graphic design into its current form. He posted his theories and ideologies in the seminal work Thoughts on Design, which largely shaped the future of the entire graphic design industry.

  • Modern graphic design

    Today, graphic design refers mainly to designing visuals for magazines, books, advertisements, and digital posters. This intensive branch of design involves the art form of communicating ideas through visuals and text. Graphic designers still use drawings and paintings in some cases, but much of graphic design today is completed using digital technologies. These modern graphic design skills can be applied to custom logo design, book cover design, magazine layouts, and much more!