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History of graphic design facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Graphics are visual designs you see on surfaces like walls, paper, computer screens, or stone. This includes everything from signs, charts, and logos to drawings and geometric patterns.

Graphic design is the art of mixing text and pictures. It's used in art, ads, books, and websites. The main goal of graphics is to share information, create a brand, or make people feel a certain way.

The Story of Graphics

Graphics have been around for a very long time! Early humans made amazing drawings of animals in caves. For example, in Chauvet Cave in France, there are drawings from about 30,000 BC. Similar art is found in the Lascaux cave, also in France, from around 14,000 BC.

Rock art by ancient hunters in Bhimbetka, India, is even older than 7000 BC. And Aboriginal rock art in Kakadu National Park, Australia, shows how widespread this ancient art form was. These early drawings, along with the invention of writing (around 3000–4000 BC), are the very beginning of graphic art.

Cave and Rock Art

The Start of Writing

Calligraphy and Book Graphics

Religious books often used a lot of graphics. For example, Bibles made in monasteries in Ireland, Scotland, and England were beautifully decorated. These books featured swirling patterns and small figures. This style came from old graphic traditions in the British Isles. From the 6th century onwards, these designs were used to decorate important gospel books.

Graphics in the Quran

In Islamic countries, beautiful graphic designs are found in their holy book, the Quran. The first Qurans were written in an angled style called Kufi, popular from the 8th to 10th centuries. Later, decorations were added to the margins and pages to make the book even more beautiful. In the 12th century, a new curvy style called Naskh was invented, and other styles followed.

Graphics and Miniatures

Graphic Designs in Asia

Decorative Graphics on Pottery

For thousands of years, graphic design has been used to decorate pottery and ceramics.

The Start of Modern Graphic Design

William Morris was a big influence on modern graphics in the late 1800s. His Kelmscott Press made many beautiful graphic designs. This created a market for collecting such art. Morris and artists like Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti formed the Pre-Raphaelites group. Their ideas greatly shaped modern graphic design.

Mondrian's Simple Art Revolution

The Dutch painter Piet Mondrian started a new style called minimalism in painting around 1920-1921. He used simple geometric shapes and only three basic colors: blue, yellow, and red, along with black and white. This opened up new possibilities for graphic designers.

Mondrian showed that by just moving these colors around and changing the size of squares, you could create very different moods and feelings. For graphic designers who want to send a clear message without extra distractions, his minimalist experiments were a great inspiration.

Mondrian lookalike
A Mondrian-like work.

Communicating with Pictures

Logos and Trademarks

A trademark (shown with ™ or ®) is a special sign or symbol. Companies use it to identify their products or services and show they are different from others. A trademark can be a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, or a design. It's a type of intellectual property.

Signs of Culture and Peace

Information Signs: Isotype and the Viennese Method

In 1921, Otto Neurath, an Austrian social scientist, started using graphic design to help people understand social and economic data. By 1925, the Museum of Economy and Society used these graphics for the public. This style was called the Viennese method, but now it's known as Isotype charts.

Dynamic Designs and Computer Animation

Placards and Posters

Placards and posters have existed since ancient times. The Greek axons and Roman Albums were like early posters, with decorations and announcements. In ancient Greece, names of athletes and game schedules were written on columns that spun around. Romans used white walls in their markets where sellers advertised their products and added designs to attract customers.

The invention of printing in 1440, and especially the lithographic process invented by Alois Senefelder in 1798, made it easier to create posters. Before this, handmade posters were mainly for government announcements. William Caxton, who started a printing company in England in 1477, made the first printed poster. By 1870, advertising posters became very common.

Art Nouveau Posters and Art's Influence

Posters After World War II

After World War II, new color printing and computers changed posters a lot. People can now create colorful posters on their laptops and print them cheaply. However, very fancy printing is still expensive, often used by governments or big companies.

With the internet, posters are less important for sharing information. But some artists still use special printing methods to create art prints. This has made the difference between painting and printmaking much smaller.

Graphic Design in Modern Life

Today, graphic design is everywhere in modern life. It has especially influenced modern architecture.

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