VISUAL COMMUNICATION HISTORY BLOG

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…