The Roman Alphabet | 7th century BC

What was the basis of the Roman uppercase alphabet?it was basically a variant of the greek alphabet

What were the purposes of the formal and informal styles of lettering?
Formal was used for religion and important documents, but the informal was quicker and used for letters, and more trivial writings

Why is the Roman alphabet the most widely used and what contributions did it make?it solidified the art of handwriting/ calligraphy

From where did serifs originate?stone carvers not wanting their chisels to slip, carved little notches on the end of letters

When and where did lowercase, or minuscule, letters develop?they were developed by the romans during the roman empire in rome

What is a ligature and why were they utilized?it is the joining of two letters in order to prevent awkward spacing.

Post an example of the Roman alphabet in visual form.

The Greek Alphabet | 800 BC

How did Greeks come in contact with the Phoenicians?regular travel, and trade agreements

How was the Greek adaptation of the alphabet different from its predecessor?
several consonants were adapted as vowels, and more letters were included

Why is the Greek alphabet considered to be the world's first true alphabet?
 it has inspired and given rise to many other alphabets

Name several similarities and differences between the Greek and modern English alphabets?
the sounds are in somewhat of the same order, and some of the letters look the same, but there are also some letters that we have nothing like at all
 
Post an example of the Greek alphabet in visual form.

The Phoenician Alphabet | 1050

The Phoenician alphabet is based on what principle?egyptian hieroglyphics

Describe the shape of the letters and what tool created them?They were angular straight shapes, created with a stylus

What two reasons made the Phoenician alphabet so successful?It was simple and the Phoenician trading tendencies quickly spread the language

What long term effects on the social structures of civilizations did the Phoenicians have with the creation of their alphabet?
disintegrated class divisions, allowed common people to learn to write

Post an example of the Phoenician alphabet in visual form.

Hieroglyphics and the Egyptians | 3,000 BC

In the sixth century BC, what three civilizations invaded Egypt? Persians, greeks, and romans

Post an example of the inside wall(s) of an Ancient Egyptian temple.


What was discovered on the inside of the temples?carved and painted images

Scholars believe that Ancient Egyptians were inspired and influenced by which written language?sumerian cuniform

What is the difference between logographic and alphabetic elements?-visuals to describe things
-symbols to represent sounds

The term Hieroglyphic derived from what two Greek words?hiero meaning sacred, and glyphic meaning writing

What is a scribe? someone who went to school to read and write

Who else was trained to read and write? Why?military personnel so that they could communicate in battle

Post an example of hieroglyphics on papyrus.


What is papyrus and how was it made?it is what scrolls are made of, and it is made by weaving native reeds, flattening them and then drying them

What is a substrate?the surface of an organism

What were the Books of the Dead?instructions and spells to help find leaders to their afterlife

How did Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics become a forgotten language?roman christians shut down any non christian temples, and over time every one who knew the language died out

Post an example of the Rosetta Stone.



What is the Rosetta Stone? Where was it discovered?It is a translating document, basically, that was discovered in Rosetta Egypt

What three languages are included on the stone?
German, ancient Egyptian, and Demotic

Why couldn't the text on the Stone be deciphered?Large chunks of all of the languages were missing

Who finally deciphered the text? What was his breakthrough?Jean Francois Champollion, he matched up the greek symbols and egyptian hieroglyphics for Pharoah Ramses

Why does the interpretation of the Rosetta Stone have such significance?
 We learned a lot about egyptian hieroglyphics and egyptians themselves

Assignment 14: Research and Inspiration

Research

-according to wikipedia, a poster is a print designed to be hung on a vertical surface
-they are used most often by advertisers, also used for propaganda and protests
-used to communicate a message of getting people to do something (persuade)
-Max Gallo said, "for over two hundred years, posters have been displayed in public places all over the world. Visually striking, they have been designed to attract the attention of passers-by, making us aware of a political viewpoint, enticing us to attend specific events, or encouraging us to purchase a particular product or service."

Inspiration

This concert poster uses just about every technique we've been talking about.  It puts the human eye right at the optical center, and the arm guides the eye through the z pattern.  The band name, while on the bottom of the Z, is still emphasized because of its interesting font and larger size. 

 

I like the use of pattern as the background on this poster. I might use that in my design

Visual Orginization

-Not directing the audience through a design is misdirecting them-

Eye Movement

• The typical eye moves from left to right and top to bottom
• Direct the natural scanning tendencies of eyes
• eyes gravitate toward complexity
• in faces we are attracted to the eye
• light areas attract
• diagonal lines/ edges move 

Optical center:

• spot slightly above exact center and a little to the left
• where our eyes tend to go first
• takes a compelling element to pull away

Z- Pattern:

• Generally eyes sweep the page in a z pattern 

Effective page design maps a viewers eye route to the important elements

 Fonts

• Generally, no more than two fonts
• two fonts should complement each other
• Avoid ALL CAPS, unless its necessary
•  Do the right thing, choose the right fonts: consider theme and tone
• www.typography.com/email/2010_032010_03/index.htm  

 Visual Hierarchy

• Establish order- define how eye moves through focal points by importance of visuals
• Before ask:

1. What do I want my viewer to see first?
2. Second?
3. Third?
4. Fourth?

The Grid

• A way of organizing content with a lot of aspects
• Aligning stuff 
• Things can break the grid for variety
• Rose with the dawn of modernism 
• Breaks info into manageable chunks
• a grid consists of a distinct set of alignment-based relationships that act as guides for distributing elements across a format
• used to unify elements

Cuneiform and the Sumerians | 3,000 BC

The Sumerians were one of the earliest types of this kind of civilization? What does that mean?It means that they moved to wherever they could survive

Why is the region of Sumer considered the Cradle of Civilization?becuase it is where the first written language was created

What could the Sumerians practice year round because of the regions climate?agriculture

Post an example of early Cuneiform (Sumerian pictograph).

Why was Cuneiform created?they needed a way to keep track of business transactions

What medium was used to "write" Cuneiform? Explain the process of preparing and writing on this surface?they would form wet clay into tablets and use a wedge shaped stylus to draw symbols

What did Cuneiform begin as a series of? pictographs

Post an example of evolved Cuneiform (wedge-shaped).

After it evolved over time, what shape did the characters of Cuneiform evolve into?wedge shapes

Post an example of Akkadian Cuneiform.

After the Akkadians conquered, what happened to the Sumerian culture and written language?it was adopted by their conquierers
What is a pictograph?

Why did the creation of Cuneiform allow the Sumerians to become a sophisticated culture?
it allowed for more fluent communications which meant, overall, it was easier to get stiff done

Cave Paintings | 35k years ago

What are cave paintings?beautiful detailed and colorful representations found in caves

Name several common themes found in cave paintings?
large animals, tracings of hands, and abstract patterns

How were these paintings created (tools, pigments)?water, plant juice, animal blood soil, charcoal, and hematite

What is the most famous cave painting site? When was it discovered and by whom?
lascaux.  in 1940 by four teenage boys

Post an example of cave painting(s) from this cave.

Why did this cave have to be closed? What was done to satisfy public curiosity?Carbon dioxide from visitors were damaging the paintings. France created a man made replica next to it


Post an example of cave painting(s) from Altamira cave.

In Altamira cave, why do most of the paintings have a red hue?It was caused by the red clay in the soil

Who discovered this site? How old are the paintings confirmed to be?Marceline Sanz de Sautuola

What is the oldest known cave painting site? When was it discovered and by whom?
Chauvet point arc

Post an example of cave painting(s) from this cave.

What was different about the painting techniques at this site? The walls were made smoother, and etching was used to create a three dimensional effect

What is "speleology"? the study of caves

What three reasons do archeologists and historians believe prehistoric man created cave paintings?
TO tella story, as a visual aid, or for magical purposes

Assignment 13: Research and Inspiration

Research

• Exquisite corpse was made as a parlor game
• Wikipedia defines it as is a method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled. Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, either by following a rule (e.g. "The adjective noun adverb verb the adjective noun") or by being allowed to see the end of what the previous person contributed.  
• Created in the early 1900s by surrealists
• Surrealsim was a movement away from strict reality, and focused on dreams, accidents, and suprise 

Brainstorm

Adjectives- dreams, surprising, old fashioned, crazy

Who? Me

What am I trying to do? Convey surrealism, make it fun

-Inspiration- 

I like this piece because of its blending of dream and reality.  Its also interesting how many things you can see in one picture: an eye with a fish, just an eye, just a pond, someones eye with a pond for the ball etc.

I particularly like this exquisite corpse because nothing is what you expect. Its not just a normal head on a different body on a different pair of legs.  Each piece is surreal on its own, bar the torso, and when they come together it makes something really cool.