Week 3

Iron printing press - 1800

Iron can be fabricated

this is something that can be cast, pieces can be made

more durable

greater force with less human power (gear system)

cheaper, quicker, easier

cast iron with a screw

using 1/10 the force to create its impressions

Powered Presses

made 10 years after iron press

can print 400 impressions an hour

Double Cylinder Press

4 years later

1000 impressions an hour

industrialization affects fabric industry

steam powered machines come in

less need for workers

this leads to rebellion

people rioting smashing machines

led by ned lite

ledittes = anti technology

London Times

1814 printed by steam powered press

had to print in secret

had to convince public electricity was a good idea

people didn't want it, didn't see the point of it

Papers become popular

easier to produce

less expensive

shift in business model

newspapers sold by subscription

Penny Papers

sold to average person on street

start selling ads to make up money

start off visually conservative

John Cooper

first ad men were brokers of space

starts first ad agency

Ottmar Mergenthaler

1886 linotype machine

"line of type"

can do the work of 7-8 hand compositors

Victorian Era graphics

marked by aesthetic confusion

strong moral beliefs

religious beliefs

loved fussiness

rise of middle class

more people with disposable money

a lot of influence from the east

decline in quality of craft

Lithography and color lithography

invented in 1796

able to have gradations

chromolithography - color lithography

Ephemera

printed documents not meant to collect

Louis Prang

father of scrap language

scrap cards were like promos

Personalities in products

products start adopting personas

Rise of popular magazines

The Practical Housekeeper

placing ad next to article create relationship

Toybooks

made as entertainment for children

Kate Greenway

idealized children in dresses

generous use of white space

Thomas Nast

father of american political cartoon

uncle sam

republican donkey & elephant

modern depiction of santa claus

gives us Columbia

one of the reasons that led to tweeds downfall

John Ruskin

how can society consciously order the lives of its members so that the most people are happy and satisfied

people starting to have big thoughts

belief that beautiful things are valuable just because they're beautiful

William Morris

father of Arts & Crafts movement

inspired by writings of John Ruskin/social movements

son of a wealthy merchant

lets become craftsman again, build a quality chair

flaw in logic is the higher cost

Morris has the idea to turn away from industrialization to go back to making things

Conclusion

There's a lot of different types of presses that we learned about today in class and I thought it was interesting to see how they worked. You start to see a sort of progression when it comes to the printing press where they just keep getting better and better and better. Knowing that a certain press can make a certain number of impressions per hour is useful to know because it gives me an idea of how efficient they were. Seeing examples really helps also because I get an idea of what the presses were capable of.

Once again I see the connection between Graphic Design and Advertising which is one of the topics I'm most interested in. Even though I've never heard of some of the names mentioned in class I knew that the first admen weren't really admen at all. I get to learn a bit more about advertising from a different perspective which I find pretty interesting.

I also liked learning about Thomas Nast and Boss Tweed. I remember hearing of Tweed back in high school but I didn't remember much about him or Nast. It's nice to make connections with people I learned about in high school in my history class and how they relate to the history of Graphic Design.