Graphic Design and The Industrial Revolution

England 1760 –1840

Extreme

social/econom

ic change.

Steam engine

perfected =

greater

productivity.

Technological improvement - mass

production - increased availability & lower

costs.

• Graphic communications – more important & accessible.

• Photography was invented.

• Fast expansion of jobbing printers, advertising & posters.

• Advancements in font types & sizes – problems for printing.

• 1800 – Charles Stanhope invented the printing press which

reduced required manual force and could print a sheet double

the conventional size.

• John Walter II & Friedrich Koening created 2 double-cylinder

steam powered press – used to print The Times.

• 1815 – William Cowper & Ambrose Applegath developed the

4 cylinder steam-powdered press.

Mechanization of

Typography• Mid 19th century – presses could mass produce up to

25000 copies per hour – but each letter had to be set by

hand = limited newspapers.

• Advancements in technology – machine set typography

printed on machine made paper.

The first steam-poweredcylinder press, 1814. Koenig’s invention

caused the speed of printing to

skyrocket, while its price dropped

considerably.

Photography• Joseph Niepce – Frenchman

who produced the 1st

photographic image.

• He coated a pewter sheet with

light-sensitive asphalt which

hardens when exposed to light.

• He then contact printed a

drawing, which had been oiled

to make it transparent, to the

pewter, washed it with lavender

oil and then etched it with acid.

This was called „sun

engraving.‟

• After a long process of experimenting and collaboration

with Louis Jacques Daguerre – perfected process in 1839.

• About the same time in England – William Henry Fox

Talbot produced a process that formed the basis for

photography.

• In the late 1840s Talbot developed a new process called

“calotype” – increased light sensitivity of paper.

• In 1888 – American dry-plate manufacturer, George

Eastman introduced the Kodak camera.

• Photography was used as a research tool.

• 1880-1890 – photomechanical reproduction replaced

skilled craftsmen, process reduced printing time.

• Moving images became a possibility.

Photography as Reportage

• 1st occurrence of

reportage photography

– American Civil War.

• Mathew Brady –

photographed the war.

Victorian Era

1849 – Queen Victoria’s husband conceived the idea of a

grand exhibition with hundreds of exhibitors from all

industrial nations – known as the Crystal Palace Exhibition.

Chromolithography

• Lithography = a method of printing using an etching

stone on a completely smooth surface.

• Chromolithography = method for making colour

prints.

• By 1860 its popularity had grown immensely.

• Without traditions & constraints of the letter

press, designers could invent any letter form and utilize

an unlimited palette of vibrant colours that they could

not use before.

• Circuses and carnivals first to use these new methods

for their posters.

• Chromolithography was then moved onto labels &

packages.

• By 1897, chromolithography became obsolete.

Battle of the Signboards

• Mid 19th century – letterpress poster &

broadsheet were challenged by more visual &

pictorial posters.

• Lithography allowed for a more illustrative

approach to public communication.

• Large woodblocks were printed in sections –

then assembled by poster hangers.

• In France – letterpresses and lithographers

combined their skills to create colourful

lithographic illustrations – pasted onto large

wood-type posters.

Images for Children

• Pre-Victorian Era – children were treated like

adults.

• Victorians began to treat them more tenderly with

the development of toybooks – colourful picture

books for preschool children.

• Walter Crane (1845-1915)

• Randolph Caldecott (1846-1886)

• Kate Greenaway (1846-1901)

Rise of American Editorial & Advertising

Design

• James & John Harper

launched a printing firm in

New York (1817.)

• The firm opened the era of

the pictorial magazine with

Harper’s New Monthly

Magazine.

Victorian Typography

• In the Victorian Era, the taste for ornate

elaboration was a major influence.

• Outlandish and fantasy lettering was very

popular – many trademarks in the era reflect the

Victorian love of ornamental complexity.

• Even today, Victorian design conventions are

still found, particularly in commercial promotion.

The End.