Module #3

Reading assignment: Chapters 5-8

It's crazy to think that the Declaration of Independence was printed using Caslon font. Such a significant piece of U.S. history and it can be traced back to Benjamin Franklin and its European roots. It never really occurred to me how books or even the font we use in everyday writing got to this point in time. In order to write this blog post there were people creating these fonts and letters in wood blocks or metal at some point. It was printed on paper and then transferred to books in mass production. Then somewhere along the line it was transferred to the internet for everyone to use.

Declaration of Independence

Back then block printing was just getting started and books were rare and only for the rich. Most early books were of religious significance too. Now, eBooks are the next big thing. Yes, an electronic book is the latest version. Books were only available in paperback and now they are available online to download in minutes! Incredible! Imagine telling a scribe that one day he could download an entire books in minutes. Don't forget to mention babies are reading on iPads too. Completely insane and unheard of. The only big difference would be the internet. We would still be carrying around printed books just like the Italians in the Renaissance. Ours would be more modern but essentially they are the same thing. Now you can find people reading Kindles on airplanes. Don't forget audio books too! The Kindle is still so odd to me. How can you sit there and read a digital book? Don't your eyes hurt after a couple of hours? I already have glasses and reading a printed books hurts my eyes after a couple hours. Yet Amazon keeps coming out with new versions of the Kindle and it seems moderately popular in the U.S. My favorite part about this is not the current technology but the path it came to get here. Literacy was a small privilege in the 1300s saved only for scribes and priests. While they eventually lost their power to printing literacy still managed to rise and continues rising. The only people left who are illiterate mostly remain in third world countries that lack the money and technology or people who can't afford to get an education.

Books vs. Kindles

I went to a presentation at UC Berkeley yesterday and one of the professors was talking about books and how 10% of all books in use right now were published in 2012. That's ridiculous! Of all the books in circulation around the world 10% were made in 2012. I also looked up the statistic to double check. The rough estimate for the current number of books in the world is 210 million. The last official number was 129,864,880 million in 2010 (Skipworth). Google actually counted all the books in the world and created an algorithm to do so. Here's the link for the Google books blog. In 2012 the estimated total of books printed were 2.2 million so yes it's a little more than 10%. I couldn't find a credible source for these numbers though. I do believe these books are getting printed in high volumes. A couple million sounds about right. Whoever said print was dead was clearly mistaken. And yes I googled that too. Apparently it was said in Ghostbusters (1984). As a product of the 90s I should know this but I have no desire to watch the movie. Nor do I believe the actual quote is from a fictionalized movie. 

Front page of the NYT in 1912

Overall, I am amazed how far books have come. From woodblock printing to paperbacks to eBooks and kindles. Crazy stuff and the last part has only happened thanks to the internet! Oh internet you managed to change everything in such a little bit of time and you'll never stop. I never imagined getting electronic books as a kid. The idea almost seems as ridiculous as the idea of flying cars (still waiting for that to happen). There's just something about them that I can't handle. Maybe it's because I can't physically see them. HA! As a journalist I love print. I love newspapers. I love reading paperback books but I also love reading all my news online on my iPhone. It's a twist of modern world with old school methods. I've always enjoyed the fact that books and newspapers are portable but now eBooks and mobile phones can do it too so there's no excuse. Until then I'll keep waiting with a newspaper in hand for what the internet revolutionizes next.

Small side note

If you've ever wanted to purchase a new or used book I would recommend BetterWorldBooks.com. I'm not promoting them out of profit or monetary gain but for the work they do. They donate books and help raise money for literacy funding and libraries. Amazing if you ask me but it's all for a good cause!

Sources:

Skipworth, Hunter. "Google Counts Total Number of Books in the World." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 6 Aug. 2010. Web. 14 Oct. 2014. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/7930273/Google-counts-total-number-of-books-in-the-world.html>.

Image sources:

Declaration of Independence

http://www.newyorker.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Declaration_Engrav_crop_1.jpg

Book vs Kindle

http://cache.thephoenix.com/secure/uploadedImages/The_Phoenix/Arts/Books/main_kindle_480.jpg

2nd Book/Kindle image

http://kuwaitreads.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/kindlebook1.jpg

NYT front page

http://drama.imaginise.net/wp-content/uploads/NYT.jpg

Module #2

Reading assignment: Chapters 1-4

I absolutely loved Chapter 3: The Asian Contribution. There's always so much history when it comes to China. They created paper, they built the Great Wall and they invented fireworks! All American children should thank the Chinese for endless sparklers and lighting things on fire. The Chinese may be the world's first pyromaniacs, just kidding. But jokes aside the Chinese were always about new innovations and changing the world. Yet the most creative aspect in my opinion is their calligraphy. It's so intricate and beautiful! I can only imagine people spending countless hours dreaming of all the different ways you could draw or create a new character. With over 44,000 characters it's hard to believe that skilled calligraphers knew them all.

One of my favorite parts about calligraphy is the beauty in the strokes. They look effortless. There's so much precision yet it almost looks like a lazy person was just making things up. I love that in the early stages of chinese writing the characters are pictographic. Just like the early cave paintings these inscriptions are simple sketches created to tell a story. You can spot out a couple that look like stick figure people. I liked the idea that calligraphy was more personal and used feelings to tell a story. Looking at the photos of all the early examples of Chinese writing I tended to go towards the pictographs. It might just be the child in me but the images are easy to relate to since they have the child like quality. You can imagine children drawing these images because they don't know how to spell yet so they use images to explain themselves. Compared to later examples of Chinese writing the characters are not as easy to read and if you don't read Chinese then they're just strokes of ink.

Example of chin-wen inscriptions

I was able to connect my learning to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. The logo for the Olympics has a calligraphic feel with its pictographic image. The image is a person or a stick figure to makes things simple. They use block printing techniques to make it look like a chop was used for imprinting the image. The font selection looks like modern calligraphy with it's clean strokes but also making it readable. The font has the stroke appearance and looks like a real calligraphy pen was used to write it. For the posters below the logo you can see in the background the simple image mimicking the body of the athlete. They're essentially pictographs of the sport. The one in the middle is doing martial arts and the pictograph behind them is also doing a high kick motion. In my opinion it looks like a modern take on ancient Chinese writing with modern images.

Posters from the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Overall the techniques used for ancient Chinese writing are relevant today. All these ancient pictographs are used in modern texting. Take emoticons/emojis for example. They use images as symbols of different emotions to tell a story. Instead of writing about your emotion you can just pick a face that explains how you feel. Even simple tasks like texting can be attributed to the earliest form of writing. I feel really appreciative of the innovations from the Chinese. The more I read and learn about the origins of graphic design and writing the more I notice things. Little things like paper don't seem so simple anymore.

Image sources:

Chin-wen inscription

http://classconnection.s3.amazonaws.com/968/flashcards/27968/jpg/01081327555229237.jpg

2008 Beijing Olympics logo

http://digitalpostercollection.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/2008-Beijing-Summer-Olympic-Games-Logo1.png

2008 Beijing Olympics posters

http://en.visionunion.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/olympic-games-posters3.jpg

Module #1

The reading assignment for Module 1 is to look at every picture in the book. After doing this, reflect on your initial thoughts and observations.

This book was massive when I got it in the mail! Reminded me of the art history class I took and the huge book I had to carry around. I'm assuming all art textbooks will be quite large as well. Flipping through the pages and looking at all the images was fun. I was a little worried in the beginning because I didn't recognize anything. The hieroglyphics were standard. I loved The Horse in Motion (1883) on page 160. The sequence photography really captured my attention. I also just love the motion to it. I did recognize some art nouveau pieces. Like in any history book my attention gets drawn to war propaganda, especially the Nazi Party. I have quite the fascination with Nazi Propaganda. Yes I'm a horrible person for being fascinated by Nazis but they're just so interesting I can't help myself! I also try to imagine how these words and posters persuaded people into thinking genocide was a good idea. Overall, I enjoyed the textbook and thought it was very well put together.

To be honest I don't think I knew what graphic design really was. Yes I've heard it before a million times but I didn't know the definition and what it was all about. I just imagined graphic designers as people who work on designing and creating websites. I always connected graphic designers to the internet and online design but after my first week of graphic design classes my views have changed dramatically.

As a journalist I know all about visuals and how infographics can add to your story or just be your entire story. I'm a sucker for infographics too. I can read articles and look at infographics all day. I even was the art director for our magazine class and I kinda loved it. I've always considered myself an artistic person. My father has always influenced us with art as young children. My father absolutely adores Salvador Dali and he has a couple prints lying around the house. I use to look at them for hours as a kid and try to find as many scenes as I could. Even sometimes creating a story to go along with it. When my sister was studying abroad we even went to Italy and visited all the museums. Even had the chance to go to Rome and visit the Vatican and the ultra beautiful Sistine Chapel. Easily one of the most beautiful things I have ever laid my eyes on. Yet never made the connection between the art and graphic design.

Never thought as photography as graphic design either. All those clever marketing campaigns and logos? All graphic design. Packaging at supermarkets and department stores? All graphic design. The countless items that I bought because the packaging was cute and my favorite color? Graphic design. All those times I've spent $50+ at Mac Cosmetics because their packaging was so cute I couldn't pass it up? Graphic design once again. I was so naive to what it really was. And yes the textbook showed different forms of art but they all have graphic design aspects. I also feel a little dumb while writing this because how could I have not noticed all along! Everything in front of your eyes is graphic design. From the street signs to the movie posters to the covers of books and magazines. All of it! I could call this my graphic design awakening. And no I'm not trying to be an over achiever and just write anything to get an A. I am being completely honest. I'm really happy with my decision to take some graphic design classes. You can never have too many degrees and while I'm applying to grad school for journalism I do plan on continuing with graphic design. Possible career choice? Definitely maybe.