Anthony
Chertudi
Design History &
Theory
The Importance of the Past, Present, and Future of Graphic Design
Those who cannot remember the past
are condemned to repeat it. This well-known
quote seemed to echo through my mind as I read “good designers learn from
history”. The purpose of this paper is to explain what graphic design is, how
it came about, why it is important to me as a designer, and finally how I plan
to allow graphic design of the past to make an impact on my development as a
designer.
To begin, graphic design “is the
renewal of type and image to convey a message to the audience through an
objective on to a surface (Larry Clarkson).” Graphic design incorporates one or
all of the following: type, image, sound, and motion. These elements work alone
or together to achieve the heart of the idea.
Graphic design came about when the
need for symbols was used to convey thoughts, ideas, and emotions. The visual need to communicate goes
back to the early development of our species, hence the birth of graphic
design. Early history refers to
the cave paintings of Southern Frances Lascaux, these paintings date back 17,300
years. The primitive and beautiful
images of Lascaux highlight line and form. The craft of design waxes and wanes through history and
directly reflects culture, and that specific culture’s enlightenment. The
examples are limitless, and range from the Paleolithic cave paintings of the
world, to the introduction of writing and calligraphy, which then morphed into
books, scrolls, poetry, playing cards, war propaganda, politics, posters, and
websites.
The history of graphic design is
important to me because it would take me thousands of years to get to where we
are now, so it would be easier for me to learn the well-established ideas that
communicate clearly. I must learn from the past of what won’t work and what does
work. It is imperative that we keep the history of graphic design alive to
reflect on histories great design achievements and blunders.
Distinguishing fads from proven
timeless design is the key in making graphics with great impact. Knowing how and why design principles
came about will give me a tool box of understanding that can be drawn on at any
time with my ideas. The more
knowledge I can acquire the more sophisticated my objective will be due to the
fact I am not chained to foolish and fleeting fads.