Introduction

The history of graphic design is not only a study of what is past, but also we can extrapolate what will come in the future.  It is not only a study of an ancient culture, but rather how this ancient civilization created ways of seeing and communicating.  A practice that we still use in our societies today.  It really should be a study of how primitive humans or ancient civilizations came up with the their ideas of form and how we utilize the same ideas thousands of years later.  

Graphic Design as a Cultural Practice

In the beginning there were no 'graphic designers' only a primitive human who wanted to express or communicate to the rest of the tribe.  As the evolution of the graphic designer progressed, they became artisans, working with manuscripts and painted signs, then tradesmen working in print shops.  Now they are professionals with specialized skills and recently some have even reached celebrity status!  Although we may not recognize this fact, it is in everything we see on a daily basis.  Things we take for granted today follow a certain convention that was established long ago.  The most basic would be how our writing looks.  The letterforms individually may have evolved from Greek and Roman times, but the way we write, how a page looks, the spacing of the letters are constantly evolving.  Is it even possible for us to image a time when text read from left to right, then right to left written backwards?  Undoubtedly that would be a stretch for any person today.

Technology

The way we conduct our designs today is affected by the technology that is available.  Style choices are not completely controlled by the designer or the technology.  Rather it is a marriage of the two.  For example, when mass production was required, there needed to be technology that helped this process, therefore the high speed press was invented.  Sometimes technology advances much quicker than the style conventions of the day.  It is a relationship, if technology advances, then the designer has to learn how to utilize new ideas best suited for that purpose.

Style

The images or designs that attract us are often ingrained into our minds as beautiful or pleasing but every culture has their own particular styles.  Graphic artifacts have their own point of view and whether or not it is evident to the viewer is irrelevant.  The control the design has over the viewer is what is important.  It excites the viewer in good or bad ways, but either way the work elicits an emotional reaction.  It is unlikely that a person will look at an advertisement with absolutely zero reaction.