Describe what it is: This is a modern Victorian wallpaper designed by Marcel Wanders, the Dutch master of playful surrealism.
Describe its function: This new design is to be used as wallpaper, since it is wallpaper. Wallpaper, at least according to this blog, has been making a come back for the past five years due in part by new digital printing and an appetite for contemporary floral patterning. Describe where you saw it: I was searching on google for modern Victorian wallpaper and I found an image of wallpaper that looked liked puzzle pieces. Which then brought me to DWELL blog, that had a few interesting wallpaper images. I thought this image was the best representation of modern Victorian wallpaper.
Discuss the style of the design & typography:"Unbeige described it as “William Morris-goes-Eindhoven,” referring to the Dutch design school known for experimental work." It definitely shows the romantic floral design of the Victorian era. I think that the colors make it more modern and more updated. Discuss the quality of the artwork: The quality of the wallpaper is perfect, the floral designs are stunning and the colors are amazing.
Discuss what attracted you to the piece (use adjectives). Describe how it relates to what we have discussed or read: When I tried to figure out what I wanted my image of the week to be I remembered reading about William Morris, and recalling that he had over 500 designs in textiles, carpets, wallpapers, and tapestries. So I figured finding a William Morris inspiried wallpaper would be a good match. The wallpaper is very pretty, quite colorful, and designed very well, and it shows a modern-twist on an older design.
1. Name of graphic style (or topic) studied this session: Today was the first presentation, Amanda's topic was the Victorian Era. Her presentation was very interesting and really showed off her knowledge of the subject. We learned about the typeface designs during the time, originally fancy with curlicues then became bold block types because of the masses of people learning to read. She also talked to us about the general history of the time, Queen Victoria, Georgian and British reign, Henry Cole, etc. We then watched a few videos that related to the questions that some people had on the previous chapter (Chapter 10) which were on printing and making posters and other ways of using type printing. 2. Describe specific qualities of this style (or if it’s a topic-highlights of that topic) that will help you identify it in the future. The Victorian era was named after Queen Victoria, the typefaces and designs of the time showed beauty, love, and innocence. They typefaces started off with curls and swirls and used nature, but were not the easiest to read when put on paper, so bold typefaces were used like Egyptian type for the common people who were learning to read. 3. What is the most useful or meaningful thing you learned today? The actual mechanics of the printing press, being able to watch it in action and understand what it is the book has been talking about. Seeing it working in real time helps make it that much easier to understand.
4. State at least one question you have after the class. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.) Hatch's modern pieces are what exactly? I thought the owner said that they are just the remnants of the ink from previous uses being taken off from putting more paper through the press. How much would they sell for?
1. Sum up the reading in your own words in 1 paragraph. This chapter was on the Arts and Crafts movement, which flourished in England during the the last decades of the nineteenth century as a reaction against the social, moral, and artistic confusion of the Industrial Revolution. William Morris was the leader of the Arts and Crafts movement, he called for a fitness of purpose, truth to nature of materials and methods of production, and individual expression of both designer and worker. Morris originally wanted to enter the ministry, but realized that he would rather be an artist. He tried being an architect but found it to be dull. He struggled for a while trying to find his design vocation, while establishing a home with he wife, Jane Burden, he started to find it. He and a few friends established an art-decorating firm which included furniture and cabinet makers, weavers, dyers, stained glass window fabricators, potters, and textile designers. He created over 500 designs for wallpapers, textiles, carpets, and tapestries. Morris also began working with typefaces in 1888, his first typeface was called Golden. He then established Kelmscott Press, where he printed books and created two more typeface designs, Troy, and Chaucer. John Ruskin was an artist and writer who inspired the philosophy of this movement. Ruskin not only believed in reestablishing beautiful art into society he also advocated for improvements in housing for industrial workers, national education systems, and retirement benefits. The overall design concept of the Art and Crafts movement was to create beautiful objects that were not at all part of the mass produced goods that had lack of craftsmanship.
2. Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading. I really found William Morris to be very interesting, his whole story of becoming what he was was great. He was born into a wealthy family, wanted to originally go into the ministry, wrote poetry, decided to become an artist, and then established his own firm of art-decoration. He was very involved in his work, created hundreds of designs that were influenced by nature, worked with typefaces, and embraced socialism because of the over exploitation of the poor.
3. State at least one question you have after the reading. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.) What happened to the other men that established the art-decorating firm (Morris, Marshall, Faulker and Company) with Morris? Did he buy them out? Or did they decide to do other things?
1. Name of graphic style (or topic) studied this session: Today we talked about the Industrial Revolution, the development of typography, and the progression of type faces. We discussed the changes in sizes, colors, thicknesses, and how typography was used. We also talked about photography and how that progressed. 2. Describe specific qualities of this style (or if it’s a topic-highlights of that topic) that will help you identify it in the future. I would probably describe the Industrial Revolution style as big, bold, and in your face for advertising. Type faces got thicker, bigger, bolder, and more colorful due to the fact that mass production was booming and people were trying to sell their item through advertisement.
3. What is the most useful or meaningful thing you learned today? The transition from early photography, camera obscura to more "modern" cameras, first Kodak camera. How cameras worked then, important photographers like Matthew Brady, and the use of photos.
4. State at least one question you have after the class. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.) What was the most popular font used during the time? What size was it? Were only certain colors used for that font?
1. Sum up the reading in your own words in 1 paragraph. The rise of the machine. This chapter was all about change and how the Industrial Revolution changed and or affected graphic design during the time period. Cities were sprouting up all over, which created a demand for mass production within the cities. Typography shifted from being religious based to being used for advertisement purposes. Friedrich Koenig introduced a steam-powered printing press. Phototypography spread words and pictures world wide, beginning the age of mass communication. Photography also started during with time with camera obscura with Joesph Niepce.
2. Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading. Phototypography was a really interesting part from the reading, in how it was able to connect the world through images and words. And how photography started up. 3. State at least one question you have after the reading. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.) Why was it called fat faces? I understand the concept but why the name fat faces?
Describe what it is: This is an image of a few different fonts being used in an art form. With the use of color and the overlapping you can barely tell that it is fonts, but if you look at it long enough you notice the different styles and designs within the image.
Describe its function: This image shows the changing variety of fonts and is most likely used as modern art, well that's what I'd use it for.
Describe where you saw it: I found this image at google, when I was searching under fonts. This image might not be the best representation of fonts but it is definitely very creative.
Discuss the style of the design & typography: The design of most of the typography is very loopy, fancy, and intricate... but a few of the fonts are more straight forward, average looking, nothing special about them.
Discuss the quality of the artwork: The image quality is very interesting to say the least. It is not meant to be seen very clearly, because it's more artwork then demonstrating typography. The colors of the image make it extremely interesting. The whole piece makes you want to look at it more.
Discuss what attracted you to the piece (use adjectives). Describe how it relates to what we have discussed or read: This image shows the use and progression of typefaces. It shows that older typefaces and modern typefaces can work together to create works of art. This also kind of reminded me of type families, even though I don't think these are actually a type family, it shows how one could work together.
1. Name of graphic style (or topic) studied this session: In today's class we focused on the remainder of chapter 7 and all of chapter 8. We discussed Renaissance ideas, the spread of it from country to country, and Laura answered some of our blog questions. We then talked about the main guys that contributed to the progression of Old Style to modern style type. Fournier le Jeune, Caslon, Baskerville, Bodoni, and Didot were the main people that we dicussed.
2. Describe specific qualities of this style (or if it’s a topic-highlights of that topic) that will help you identify it in the future. Thin and thick strokes, 90 degree serifs, progression from roman style (Old Style) to modern style, which men were involved in what part of the progression. Fournier le Jeune = Old Style, Caslon and Baskerville = intermediate, progression towards modern, and Bodoni and Didot = modern style.
3. What is the most useful or meaningful thing you learned today? The use of Caslon's type in the Declaration of Independence and how during the French Revolution common people used Romain du roi for their propaganda.
4. State at least one question you have after the class. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.) How did Playfair come up with the pie-chart? How did people respond to this type of graph? How were graphs in general received when they first came out?
1. Sum up the reading in your own words in 1 paragraph. Throughout the chapter it talks about changes in graphic design type faces, layouts, sizes, printing and papermaking. From about the 1720s to the 1770s, rococo art and architecture flourished. Rococo was a very fanciful, ornate, and intricate design that was composed of S- and C-curves scrollwork, tracery in plant forms from nature. Romain du roi was the type used by royality. Louis Simonneau designed Romain du roi off of 2,304 squares. Fournier le Jeune pioneered standardization with typeface sizes. He created the Cicero size, which is the equivalent to the 12-point type, and created type families. George Bickham, an English writer and engraver was most celebrated penmen of his time. William Caslon was an Englishmen who reworked the Old Style roman typographic design. His typefaces were not particularly fashionable or innovative, but they were easily legible and had sturdy texture (friendly to the eye). John Baskerville broke the rules in design and printing. He bridged the gap between Old Style and modern type. His letters had thick and thin strokes, and his letters were wider. His paper had a smooth, glossy surface that was achieved with hot-pressed woven paper. Descartes created the first graph using X and Y axis, and plot points (Cartesian Coordinates). William Playfair used Cartesian Coordinates to graph statistical data into graphs like pie-charts. Louis Rene Luce designed a series of types that were narrow and condensed and used sharp serifs. Both Fournier le Jeune and Luce died pre-French revolution. Bodoni was an Italian who led to the modern style type who was inspired by Baskerville and Fournier le Jeune. He standardized the type sizes. He had thin and thik lines and used serifs at 90 degree angles. During Bondoni's time, there was a Didot family who did similar things. Bodoni had greater skill, Didot had greater scholarship. Shakespeare press was established in 1786 due to British national pride. William Martin was called to London to design and cut types. His types were a combination of Baskerville's proportions with modern fonts. Thomas Bewick was called father of wood engraving. William Bolmer used Martin's types and Bewick's wood engravings together in a series of volumes, which were like the designs of Bodoni and Didot.
2. Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading. The dispute between Bodoni and the Didot brothers on who influenced who and who was the originator. Even though they both were working around the same time, shared common influences, and had the same cultural milieu.
3. State at least one question you have after the reading. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.) Why were there so many different standardizations of print and type sizes?
1. Name of graphic style (or topic) studied this session: Today we talked about printing during the Renaissance, Albrect Durer, Martin Luther, and compared/talked about three Renaissance men; Tory, Manutius, and Ratdolt. Durer was the man who brought the Renaissance to Germany. Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses on the door of Castle Church. Tory was a French Renaissance man, Manutius was involved in the development in italics, and Ratdot explained eclipses.
2. Describe specific qualities of this style (or if it’s a topic-highlights of that topic) that will help you identify it in the future. Renaissance being the time of renewal and rebirth, this time was that for printing. Many changes came around and caused new ideas and products.
3. What is the most useful or meaningful thing you learned today? The whole Renaissance movement starting in Venice, spreading through the rest of Italy then affecting the rest of Europe. How the three Renaissance men we talked about changed printing and graphic design.
4. State at least one question you have after the class. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.) Why was Tory called the "Renaissance man" in the book, while the others were not given that title?
1.Sum up the reading in your own words in 1 paragraph.
Chapter 6: The German Illustrated Book
Incunabula means "cradle" or "baby linen" in Latin, which fits quite well because seventeenth century writers used the term as the name for books printed from Gutenberg's invention of typography until the end of the fifteenth century. Broadsides are a single leaf of paper printed on only one side that evolved into posters, newspapers, and advertisement. Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses on the door of Castle Church on October 31, 1517. His use of broadsides lead to theological disputes with Pope Leo X. In 1498 Albrecht Durer published Latin and German editions of The Apocalypse; a 32 page, 16 by 12 inch pages. Typography and printing shops flourished during this time period enough to were there were too many of them for all of them to have business. Illiteracy declined, abundance of books, spreading of ideas, and a standardization of scientific measurements were among some of the changes due to the spread and use of typography.
Chapter 7: Renaissance Graphic Design The rebirth of graphic design. During this time type design, page layout, ornaments, illustrations, and even a complete overhaul of books were rethought and redesigned by Italian scholars and printers. Geoffory Tory, the Renaissance man, was a very influential person during this time. He was a scholar, an author, a professor, a publisher, a designer, an illustrator, and a printer, just to name a few. The Renaissance started in Italy then spread to Germany because of Durer then to France, because of the war between France and Italy.
2.Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading. The disputing between Martin Luther and Pope Leo X showed how each man believed in his ideals and expressed his faith, which I think would have been interesting to see considering my beliefs on religion. (Ch. 6) Geoffory Tory was an interesting man that had many abilities and had a huge impact on the world of graphic design, it would have been amazing to watch him in progress. (Ch. 7)
3. State at least one question you have after the reading. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.)
How often did the woodblocks break down during this time period? (due to the many sheets that were being printed) Why was Geoffory Tory so good at what he did? Why were all of the Renaissance men so good at what they did?
Describe what it is: This image is of black and white letter and symbol magnets. But since they all are grouped together they look like modern art.
Describe its function: Besides being pretty and interesting to look at, these are magnets! You can use them to decorate your refrigerator and hold important pictures and notes too.
Describe where you saw it: I saw this image on this website, hollysplate.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_archive.html, which I found from google. She took the image from cb2. She also had a lot of other interesting images.
Discuss the style of the design & typography: This is a modern twist on the alphabet. The design and font of the magnets are black and white; white background with black letters and symbols or the reverse. The font is quite bold and the design is the images cropped to be more interesting.
Discuss the quality of the artwork: The art work is of good quality. Everything is very neat and crisp. Even though the letters and symbols are cropped and may not be legible, they create an overall modern art feel.
Discuss what attracted you to the piece (use adjectives). Describe how it relates to what we have discussed or read: I was attracted to this piece the same way the blogger from hollysplate.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_archive.html was. It is a modern twist on the alphabet and old magnets that were used during the 70s. Its very modern and interesting to look at. And it's not like little kid colorful magnets... they are designed well and are very striking.
1. Name of graphic style (or topic) studied this session:Class today focused on illuminated manuscripts, because we hadn't discussed it on Wednesday. We also had a guest speak (Andrew Llyod Goodman) in class, he showed us some graphic design stuff that had to do with motion. It was a really interesting class, because it was like having two professors there they us all about illuminated manuscrpits, and some of the pieces back stories. But we also did talk a little on gutenburg from chapter 5.
2. Describe specific qualities of this style (or if it’s a topic-highlights of that topic) that will help you identify it in the future. Different forms and types of illuminated manuscript ranging from classical, Celtic, Spanish, Islamic, Judaic, Romanesque, Gothic, and late medieval. Changes in font, changes in letter sizes, changes in illustrations, and changes in overall composition.
3. What is the most useful or meaningful thing you learned today? The background stories on certain pieces such as the Romanesque one with Jesus in an almond shaped center, and the back story on the Revelation illustration.
4. State at least one question you have after the class. (if you state none here, you'd better have more detail done above to offset the work.) What other ways did the church mix pagan ideas into their manuscripts, religion, and illustrations? (If that happened for the last two, which I think it did.)
1.Sum up the reading in your own words in 1 paragraph. Chapter five: Printing Comes to Europe was mainly about Gutenburg's movable type and his creations. He developed the printing press the late 14th century in Mainz, Germany. There was somewhat of a race between countries and the two front runners were the Germans and the Dutch. The chapter also talked about Gutenburg's life and his hardships that he faced before, after, and during the development of the 42-line Bible. With 1,282 pages in a two-volume work, the Bible was a fantastic first in the production of typographic books. Gutenburg didn't get to finish his masterpiece because of financial problems with his business partner, Johann Fust. The chapter also went into block printing a little bit, talking about playing cards and block printed books. And at the end of the chapter the topic of copperplate engraving was discussed. Some people believe that Gutenburg could have had a hand in the this field as well, because of some of the illustrations used in both. The question now is, "Was Gutenburg striving to perfect the printing not just of scribes' lettering but of magnificent ornamentation and illustrations of the medieval manuscripts as well?"
2.Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading. What I found to be most interesting in this chapter was the smaller litter pieces of information, like the first water mark was created in 1282 in Italy. Or how playing cards were made of different material depending upon your status. Or that there was like a movable type/printing press race mainly between the Germans (Gutenburg) and the Dutch (Coster).
3. State at least one question you have after the reading. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.)
If Gutenburg didn't technically finish the 42-line Bible then why was he credited for it? Was it because he started it and basically came up with the movable print process?
1. Name of graphic style (or topic) studied this session: Today's class discussion was on Chapters 3 & 4, Chinese calligraphy and Illuminated manuscripts. Mainly we did online quizzes the whole hour, but towards the end of class we went over questions from previous chapters and touched on a few questions from chapter 3. Chapter 4 was not touched, but I'm assuming we will next class period.
2. Describe specific qualities of this style (or if it’s a topic-highlights of that topic) that will help you identify it in the future. Changes in Chinese calligraphy from "bone-and-shell" to "bronze" to "small-seal" to "regular" fit with the name that was given to that type of calligraphy. Different forms and types of illuminated manuscript ranging from classical, Celtic, Spanish, Islamic, Judaic, Romanesque, Gothic, and late medieval. Changes in font, changes in letter sizes, changes in illustrations, and changes in overall composition.
3. What is the most useful or meaningful thing you learned today? The most important thing I learned today was the changes in Chinese calligraphy styles throughout the years.
4. State at least one question you have after the class. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.)
Why did/do the Chinese pretend that there is a box around their characters? Is it to be more esthetically pleasing? And why was illuminated manuscripts such a big thing? Is it because people back then like pretty, shiny things as much as people do today?
1.Sum up the reading in your own words in 1 paragraph. The chapter on Asian contributions talked about how the Chinese calligraphy changed styles over the many years. Starting with chiaku-wen or "bone-and-shell" script then the next phase was called chin-wen or "bronze" script, the third phase was hsiao chuan or "small-seal" style and the final step in the evolution of Chinese calligraphy is chen-shu or "regular" style. The earlier styles were pictograph like and were easily understood while the "regular" style was more of an abstract form. Chinese characters are logograms, which are graphic designs that represent an entire word. The chapter also talks about the invention of paper, which was supposedly invented by Ts'ai Lun. And it talks about how paper was made and that the process didn't really change until the nineteenth century. The remainder of the chapter taked about printing and the different forms of prinitng and how it has changed.
Chapter four was dealing with illuminated manuscripts, which were popular from the ending of the Roman Empire to the beginning of the Renaissance. The production of this illuminated manuscripts were time consuming and costly. Celtic book design used intricate geometric design and shimmering colors in the production of their manuscripts. Two books that were mentioned in great detail were the Book of Kells and the Book of Durrow, which were amazingly beautiful illuminated manuscripts that showed the use of uncials and half-uncials. Half-uncials were the precursor to lower case letters. During the reign of Charlemagne standardization of page layout, writing styles, and decoration was attempted. Spanish manuscripts had a great deal of Arab influence, since the Moors mingled Christian traditions with Islamic motifs. The chapter then talks about the evolution of Romanesque manuscripts into Gothic manuscipts, and the difference in those manuscripts from others. A little section of the chapter was dedicated to Islamic, Judaic, and late medieval illuminated manuscripts.
2.Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading. One thing I found really interesting in chapter 3 was how the Chinese calligraphy changed throughout the centuries. But it was still basically the same thing just made more abstract and less pictograph like.
Something I found interesting from chapter 4 was that there was so many different styles of creating illuminated manuscripts. And how each region and time period had their own way and style of manuscripts.
3. State at least one question you have after the reading. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.) Chapter 3: Why was movable type so hard to get people to use in China? Why was it so hard to use? Chapter 4: What did the colors used for manuscripts look like? How vibrant were they? And why did Florentius ask the readers to "remember the unworthy Floentius."?
1. Name of graphic style (or topic) studied this session: Today's class we learned about the progression of the alphabet and how it's styles changed from region to region and from diferent time periods. Starting of with the Cretan pictographs to the Greek and Latin alphabets.
2. Describe specific qualities of this style (or if it’s a topic-highlights of that topic) that will help you identify it in the future. From each alphabet there were different styles and was in doing their alphabet. The Phoenician alphabet was more fluid and organic while the Greek and Latin alphabet was more geometric and solid.
3. What is the most useful or meaningful thing you learned today? The most useful thing that I learned today was being able to see and understand the changes from alphabet to alphabet. Seeing how they were similiar in ways and really different in others. An example of the similiarities would be the letter 'A'; and how it used to be a ox head and then it was turned upside to form the letter 'A".
4. State at least one question you have after the class. (if you state none here, you'd better have more detail done above to offset the work.) Why were some of the letters lost? And how exactly were they lost?
1.Sum up the reading in your own words in 1 paragraph. This chapter focused on the development of the alphabet. Minoan/Cretan pictographs that could have possibly influenced the development of the North Semitic alphabet (Phoenician) which then in turn influenced Aramaic, Greek, and Latin alphabets. The chapter also discussed the Korean alphabet, which is much different then any of the other alphabets mentioned. You could read it either read it horizontally left to right or vertically from top to bottom, depending upon the vowel's direction. The chapter leads us to realize that there were many different ways in writing down the alphabet and that the development of our current alphabet to a long time to evolve. 2.Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading.
The part of the reading that I found most interesting was the part on the Latin Alphabet. I liked how it talked about how it was influenced by the Early and Classical Greek alphabet and by the Phoenician alphabet. Mainly I liked the discussion about the Roman Empire; the rise and fall of a great Empire that stretched from the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf. And how written language (the alphabet) made it so much easier to keep this large empire under control. 3. State at least one question you have after the reading. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.)
I don't completely understand how the 'j', 'u', and 'w' came to be in the Latin Alphabet? I know that they talked about it in the chapter, but I still don't understand how the 'j' is an outgrowth of 'i' to indicate the use of a consonant? And the same thing for 'u' and 'w', they were variants of 'v', but 'u' was the softer version and 'w' was the combining of two 'v's.
Describe its function: Telling people that if they are walking their dog it must be on a leash and that it can't poop in the park, or that if they do the owner must pick it up and throw it away.
Describe where you saw it: My family and I saw it when we went to Boston/New York in the summer of 2006, it was in one of the public parks by the Capital.
Discuss the style of the design & typography: This would probably fall under the category of pictograph. No typography, but we can understand what it is saying with the circle with the slash through it. It's on a brown painted piece of wood with white as the pictograph color, all on a white pillar.
Discuss the quality of the artwork: The artwork looks as if a 3rd grader could have drawn it. Very elementary like, not very detailed.
Discuss what attracted you to the piece (use adjectives).Describe how it relates to what we have discussed or read: When I first saw this park sign I laughed, because it's so elementary and to the point. The sign stood out because it was on a white pillar with a good contrast color (brown) as the background for the pictograph/sign. This piece relates to what we learned this week because it is a basic for of communication; a pictograph with little or no detail and to the point.
1. Name of graphic style (or topic) studied this session: Today's class discussion was on Chapter 1: The Invention of Writing. We talked about early writings, cuneiform, hieroglyphics, Mesopotamia, and Egypt. The main topic was on pictographs and the progression of them to other forms of writing such as: petroglyphs, cuneiform, and hieroglyphs.
2. Describe specific qualities of this style (or if it’s a topic-highlights of that topic) that will help you identify it in the future. Elementary style drawings = pictographs, turned on their side then sketched very quickly (dashes) = cuneiform, Egyptian combination of pictures and words to communicate = hieroglyphics
3. What is the most useful or meaningful thing you learned today? Understanding how cuneiform came to be; people wanted to speed up the writing process and made the symbols/pictographs less complex.
4. State at least one question you have after the class. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.) Why would they turn the symbol/pictograph on it's side? How did the demotic form come to be?
1. Sum up the reading in your own words in 1 paragraph. This reading was about the development of written language. The chapter talked a lot about Mesopotamia and that it was the beginning point for recorded history on clay tablets. How writing styles could have been written vertical, horizontal, left to right, or right to left. The chapter also mentioned how Egyptian hieroglyphs combined words and pictures to communicate information. During the Egyptian section of the reading, the development of papyrus was described and proven to be very significant from recording important royal proclamations to daily accounting. New technologies/utensils were being created to improve and speed up the process of writing. From cave drawings to Egyptian hieroglyphs, written language has been evolving to become more efficient.
2. Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading. There was a few things that I found to be really interesting. One was the fact that Napoleon found the Rosetta Stone, and that people were able to interpret it and translate it into their language. Another was that the Mesopotamian's created a forgery-proof method for sealing documents with the invention of the cylinder seal. People would wear them around their wrists as a status symbol that was unique personal signature.
3. State at least one question you have after the reading. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.) Some questions I have after reading this chapter is how did Jean-Francois Champollion figure out the Egyptian hieroglyphs? How did he know what each cartouche meant? How did he realize that some of the signs were alphabetic, some were syllabic, and that some were determinatives?
1. Name of topic we looked at this session, dealing with history: Cave drawings, how difficult it had to have been to communicate, how they were able to use color, what was the sources of some of the colors.
2. What is the most useful or meaningful thing you learned today (from class Wednesday)? The clay exercise was very helpful today, because it showed how hard it is to communicate without color, how hard it is to show what you are trying to say exactly, and how hard it is to show a certain place or certain person (proper nouns).
3. State at least one question you have after the class. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.)
How can historians today know exactly what was trying to be depicted in cave drawings? How many cave drawings (estimated guess) were lost due to bad conditions when historians found them? What is the oldest know cave drawing? What other cultures/regions have cave paintings?
