Journal 1- Meggs’ History of Graphic Design

In the preface by Alston W. Purvis, he says “Although graphic design is obviously closely related to illustration, photography, printing, and computer technology, it was not feasible to provide a thorough presentation of these related fields within a single volume.” As I was reviewing all of the pictures in the text book, these words kept playing in my mind, especially as some of the images were already familiar to me. I had seen them in my education thus far. I have a BA degree in History with minors in Art History and Law & Society.

The first picture in Chapter 1, Cave painting from Lascaux (figure 1-1) I remember from my prehistoric art history class in the early 90’s. My professor spent several days lecturing about these cave paintings and showing slides. She was so passionate about them. I remember that the paintings told a story for all to learn.

Another familiar picture is Eadweard Muybridge, plate published in The Horse in Motion (figure 9-46). I remember this sequence of horse images from my black and white photography class at Foothill College in 1999. These images captured the idea of motion.

My favorite picture is the Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen poster “Tournee du Chat Noir de Rodolphe Salis” (figure 11-30). I have this poster in my office, which I purchased at an antiques faire. I have a black cat. This poster is for a troupe of cabaret performers in Paris.  

What really struck me as I looked through all of the pictures were all the different fonts that had been created. I work with fonts every day, but I know little about them. I have not taken the typography class yet. As a Technical Writer I use fonts every day, but I am given a template or stylesheet for my manuals. I have to follow these; I do not get to pick the fonts to use.