VISUAL COMMUNICATION HISTORY BLOG

The opening of Japan in the 19th century after its isolationist Edo period caused an influx of foreign influence, including Western approaches to medicine. Woodblock prints from this era, often in the vibrant ukiyo-e style, captured this transition, with kabuki actors representing internal processes, and Buddhist deities battling cholera and measles. The University of California, San Francisco, has a particularly rich collection of over 400 o…

Flamsteed was born into a prosperous family and was largely self taught as he did not attend University due to poor health. His extensive studies in astronomy resulted in his being appointed the first Astronomer Royal by King Charles II, with the Royal Observatory at Greenwich being built for him to continue his observations of the heavens. Flamsteed was the first astronomer to sight Uranus in 1690, naming it 34 Tauri, as he believed it to be …

Alchemy entered into European popular culture in the late middle ages, with the translation of Greek and Arabic texts into Latin and the European vernaculars. Based on the tenets of the Corpus Hermeticum, a body of texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus and meant to date to the age of Abraham, alchemy, or al-kimya in Arabic, can be summarized as the attempt to decipher a divine presence in the material world. Hermetic philosophy taught its pr…

Eduardo Recife explains the origins of his remarkable art and design output as follows: "I´ve been drawing since I was little. At school I had notebooks filled with drawings instead of notes. I used to tattoo my buddies with a black ink pen. I used to draw on any kind of surface when I was bored... I believe it's what I do best. It's also the best way for me to communicate things I can't find words for... It's a therapy…

The first Christmas catalogue Edward Bawden (1903 - 1989) created for Fortnum's was in 1955. The 1958 catalogue is an extended pun on the word 'cat', and is full of witty and playful drawings. Cats were a passion of his, as they strut, dance, and grin their way through these remarkable pages. Part of his enduring appeal is his combination of modernism and tradition. He always believed that a good piece of design was as valuable as …

April Greiman is widely recognized as one of the first designers to embrace computer technology as a design tool. According to design historian Steven Heller, “April Greiman was a bridge between the modern and postmodern, the analog and the digital.” “She is a pivotal proponent of the ‘new typography’ and new wave that defined late twentieth-century graphic design.” Her art combines her Swiss design training with West Coast postmodernism. Gre…

More can be seen here > > > The entire collection of the Queensland Library on Flickr is a treasure trove. There is some graphic design, but the bulk of it is memorabilia and photographs, so nice that it is certainly worth a visit > > > . Located in Brisbane, Australia, the State Library of Queensland’s mission is to collect, preserve and make accessible the state’s documentary heritage. The State Library holds approximately 1.…

The Surname-ı Hümayun is the first masterwork of the Ottoman surname tradition. Sur (Imperial Celebration) and Surname (Book of Imperial Celebration) are traditions unique to the Ottomans. The first officially recorded imperial celebration is the imperial wedding of the daughter of Sultan Osman I, in 1258. Pictorial depictions in Surnames begin with a particular Sur, namely the circumcision feast of Sultan Murad's son Mehmed. Adorned by th…

Mucha was a regular artist for Lefèvre-Utile, the major French biscuit company founded in Nantes in 1846. He designed publicity posters and calendars for them and in 1896 was the first artist to utilise the company’s initials ‘LU’ as a decorative motif with his design for the advertising calendar for 1897. Around 1900 Mucha’s task was expanded to packaging design, which included labels, box tops and the decoration of biscuit tins. For Mucha,…

The pictures are from my own collection. They are scans from a book that I bought for the university years ago when I was putting together material for the history of visual communication course. Not exactly legal, I know, but I am very glad I had the foresight to do it anyway, since when I made a search for Brad Thompson's work online just now I was astonished by how slim the pickings were. Definitely one of the greatest graphic designers…