Department:
Art and Design
Course Number and Title: ART 2145, History of Visual Communications
Bulletin Description:
A comprehensive overview of the history of humanity’s effort to give visual form to ideas and concepts, to store
knowledge and give order and clarity to information through design and illustration.
Prerequisite(s):
Co-requisite(s):
NONE
N/A
Program Goals and Outcomes (applicable to course as indicated on curriculum map)
This course re-enforces the following goals for the BFA major in Graphic Design and BFA in Illustration.
BFA in Graphic Design Goal #1: Master Formal Visual Skills
Illustrate mastery of working with formal visual elements such as line, shape, texture, contrast, hierarchy,
composition and color. Master typographical skills, demonstrating and ability to make appropriate, project
specific, typographic choices.
BFA in Graphic Design Goal #3: Develop enhanced knowledge, skills and values consistent with the Core
Curriculum Demonstrate effective communication skills in a variety of formats and proficiency in the visual,
verbal and written vocabularies of design.
BFA in Illustration Goal #2: Develop the ability to structure visual narrative in singular & multiple
image formats. Demonstrate a structured sensitivity to storytelling through the creation of images in both
traditional and digital formats.
BFA in Illustration Goal #3: Mastery of Research and Planning Skills
Develop effective methodology including research, planning & refinement when completing Illustration
assignments and executing long-term projects.
Units of Instruction:
The History of Visual Communications is an introductory course that offers the student a history of the visual
elements and technological processes involved in an informed view of design and illustration from the
beginning of pictographic language to the present. The course attempts to cover four main areas of
investigation: an analysis of the evolution of formal or visual attributes; the relationship between design /
illustration and its audience; the study of the social and economic activity of design / illustration as it is
circulated in communities and across continents; and the effect of technology on the aesthetics of design and
illustration.
Upon completion of the History of Visual Communication Design students will be able to evaluate design
related texts both verbally and in written form as well as formulate their own judgments and critiques of the
author’s position and the content presented. Students will be able to identify artifacts as belonging to specific
times and movements in the history of graphic design and illustration and to write narratives that critically
evaluate artifacts and/or their creators within the context of the history of visual communication and the broader
scope of world history.
Units of Instruction:
1. The Invention of Writing
2. The Asian Contribution
3. Alphabets
4. Illuminated Manuscript
5. Printing Comes to Europe
6. The German Illustrated Book
7. Renaissance Graphic Design
8. Typography for an Industrial Age
9. Photography & Illustration
10. Popular Graphics of the Victorian Era
11. The Arts and Crafts Movement
12. Ukiyo-e and Art Nouveau
13. The Genesis of 20th Century Design
14. Pictorial Modernism in Illustration and Design
15. Bauhaus and the New Typography
16. Modern Movement in America
17. International Typographic School
18. New York School and Corporate Identity
19. Visual Information Systems
20. The Conceptual Image
21. National Visions and Global Dialogues
22. Postmodernism
23. The evolution of the Graphic Novel
24. The Digital Revolution
Bibliography:
Alcorn, John. The Push Pin Style. Paolo Alto, CA: Communication Arts, 1970.
Anikst, Mikhail. Soviet Commercial Design of the 1920s. New York: Abbeville Press, 1987.
Armstrong, Helen. Graphic Design Theory: Readings from the Field. New York: Princeton Architectural Press,
2009
Bayer, Herbert, Gropius, Walter, and Gropius, Ise, eds. Bauhaus 1919-1928.
New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1938.
Bennett, Audrey. Design Studies: Theory and Research in Graphic Design. New York: Princeton Architectural
Press, 2006
Brandt, Frederick R., Koch, Robert, and Meggs, Phillip B. Designed to Sell:
Turn-of-the-Century American Posters. Richmond, VA: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1994.
Brody, Neville. The Graphic Language of Neville Brody. New York: Rizzoli,
1988.
Broos, Kees and Heftig, Paul. Dutch Graphic Design: A Century. Cambridge,
MA: The MIT Press, 1993.
Bruce, David Jr. and Eckman, James, eds. History of Typefounding in America.
New York: The Typophiles, 1981.
Bruckhardt, Lucius. The Werkbund: History and Ideology, 1907-1933. New
Barron’s, 1977.
Chanzit, Gwen Finkel. Herbert Bayer and Modernist Design in America. Ann
Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1987.
Chwast, Seymour. The Left-Handed Designer. New York: Abrams, 1985.
Clifford, John. Graphic Icons: Visionaries Who Shaped Modern Graphic Design. San Francisco, CA: Peachpit
Press, 2013
Davis, Meredith. Graphic Design Theory. London: Thames & Hudson, 2012.
Diringer, David. The Book Before Printing: Ancient, Medieval, and Oriental.
New York, Dover, 1982.
Drucker, Johanna. The Visible World: Experimental Typography and Modern
Art. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994.
Drucker, Johanna and Emily McVarish. Graphic Design History. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson,
2012
Eisenstein, Elizabeth. The Printing Revolution in Modern Europe. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Eskilson, Stephen. Graphic Design: A New History, second edition. New Haven Connecticut; Yale University
Press, 2012
Green, Oliver. Art for the London Underground: London Transport Posters from
1908-present. New York: Rizzoli, 1990.
Gomez-Palacio, Bryony & Armin Vit. Graphic Design, Referenced. Beverly, Massachusetts: Rockport
Publishers, 2011
Grieman, April. Hybrid Imagery: The Fusion of Technology and Graphic Design. New York: Watson-Guptill,
1990.
Grundberg, Andy. Brodovitch. New York: Abrams, 1989.
Jury, David. Graphic Design Before Graphic Designers: The Printer as Designer and Craftsman: 1700-1914.
London: Thames & Hudson, 2012
Lois, George, and Pitts, Bill. The Art of Advertising: George Lois on Mass
Communications. New York: Abrams, 1977.
Lowance, Mason I. Jr. and Bumgardner, Georgia B., eds. Massachusetts
Broadsides of the American Revolution. Amherst: University of
Massachusetts, 1976.
Lupton, Ellen. The ABCs of Bauhaus and Design Theory. New York:
Princeton Architectural Press, 1995.
Meggs, Philip and Alston Purvis. Meggs' History of Graphic Design. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2011
Moholy-Nagy, Laszlo. The New Vision and Abstract of an Artist. New York:
Wittenborn, 1947.
Neuwirth, Waltrand. Wiener Werstatte. Avant-garde, Art Deco, Industrial Design. Vienna: Neuwirth, 1981.
Rand, Paul. Thoughts on Design. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1970.
Remington, Roger and Hodick, Barbara J. Nine Pioneers of American Graphic Design. Cambridge: MIT Press,
1989.
Scher, Paula. Make it Bigger. New York: ED1, 2001.
Simon, Howard. 500 Years of Illustration: From Albrecht Durer to Rockwell. New York: Dover Fine Art,
2011.
Stansky, Peter. Redesigning the World: William Morris, the 1880s, and the
Arts and Crafts. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985.
Thompson, Bradbury. The Art of Graphic Design. New Haven: Yale, 1988.
Twyman, Michael. Printing 1770-1970. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1970.
Weitzmann, Kurt. Late Antique and Early Christian Book Illumination. New York: Braziller, 1977.
Zapf, Hermann and Dreyfus, John. Classical Typography in the Computer Age.
Los Angeles: University of California, 1991.
Websites and other resources:
Illustration Then to Now:
http://www.fabulousnoble.com/a-brief-overview-of-the-history-of-illustration
Illustration History:
http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/illustration.htm
APPENDIX I: NEW YORK STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT REQUIREMENTS
APPENDIX I: NEW YORK STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT REQUIREMENTS
New York State Education Department (NYSED) Requirement: NYSED requires that there be 15 hours of
instruction and 30 hours of supplementary assignments for each course credit.
Students are expected to complete 90 supplementary hours of research and class work per semester.
APPENDIX II: RATIONALE FOR A UNIVERSITY-WIDE CORE CURRICULUM
N/A