The Roman Alphabet | 7th Century BC

What was the basis of the Roman uppercase alphabet?greek alphabet


What were the purposes of the formal and informal styles of lettering?
formal- important manuscripts/documents
informal- used to letter and routine types of writing


Why is the Roman alphabet the most widely used and what contributions did it make?
they originated serif and it uses root words for words today

From where did serifs originate?
with the carving of words onto stone

When and where did lowercase, or minuscule, letters develop?
they developed in latin in the 7th century

What is a ligature and why were they utilized?
Ligature is the space in between lines and they were used within the roman alphabet



Post an example of the Roman alphabet in visual form. 

The Greek Alphabet | 800 BC

How did Greeks come in contact with the Phoenicians?
Phoenicians regularly traveled to greece and formed trade agreements

How was the Greek adaptation of the alphabet different from its predecessor?
bcd they had vowels and constants which they were not familiar with

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

Name several similarities and differences between the Greek and modern English alphabets?

the greek alphabet was similar however it did not have vowels like the alphabets do now.


Post an example of the Greek alphabet in visual form. 

The Phonetic Alphabet | 1050 BC

The Phoenician alphabet is based on what principle?
based on the principle that one sign represents one spoken sound

Describe the shape of the letters and what tool created them?most of the shapes were angular and straight and written from right to left

What two reasons made the Phoenician alphabet so successful?
this system used complex characters and were difficult to learn

What long term effects on the social structures of civilizations did the Phoenicians have with the creation of their alphabet?
First Widespread Script 

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 all inside the temples

Scholars believe that Ancient Egyptians were inspired and influenced by which written language?
by the concept of expressing words in writing

What is the difference between logographic and alphabetic elements?logographic- visual symbols representing ideas or objects
alphabetic- used for document writings


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

What is a scribe?
a way of allowing the people to communicate and record data

Who else was trained to read and write? Why?
everyone because they wanted everyone to be able to communicate with one another.



Post an example of hieroglyphics on papyrus.

What is papyrus and how was it made?
Papyrus- substrate made from reeds native to egypt, wet reeds are placed criss-cross over each other flattened and dried then rubbed with flat stones until the surface becomes smooth.

What is a substrate?

What were the Books of the Dead?
scribes that had instructions and spells to help them find their way to the afterlife

How did Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics become a forgotten language?
those who could read and write hieroglyphics began to disappear.


Post an example of the Rosetta Stone.

What is the Rosetta Stone? Where was it discovered?
had the three different inscriptions written in three different languages found in rosetta



What three languages are included on the stone?
Egyptian hieroglyphics, demotic and greek

Why couldn't the text on the Stone be deciphered?
a chunk of the stone was missing none of the three texts were complete

Who finally deciphered the text? What was his breakthrough?
jean francois champollian he was able to match up the hieroglyphics and the greek

Why does the interpretation of the Rosetta Stone have such significance?

discovered that the inscprition referred to king ptolemy v. epiphanies at the time of his coronation around 196 bc

Cuneiform and the Sumerians | 3,000 BC

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

The Sumerians were one of the earliest types of this kind of civilization? What does that mean?
Nomadic Civilization,

Why is the region of Sumer considered the Cradle of Civilization?
sumer

What could the Sumerians practice year round because of the regions climate?agriculture the surplus of food allowed them to say in the region


Post an example of early Cuneiform (Sumerian pictograph).
Why was Cuneiform created?
to help track all the business transactions

What medium was used to "write" Cuneiform? Explain the process of preparing and writing on this surface?
clay tablets, wet the clay, form it into flat surfaces, use a wedge shaped stylus made from reeds to make impressions into the clay surface, lay clay n sun

What did Cuneiform begin as a series of? 
pictographs

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

wedge shape language



Post an example of Akkadian Cuneiform.
After the Akkadians conquered, what happened to the Sumerian culture and written language?
adopted the sumerian culture and their written language

What is a pictograph?
ideogram that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblances
Why did the creation of Cuneiform allow the Sumerians to become a sophisticated culture?
form of communication 

Assignment 14: research and inspiration

Research:
According to College Board, Illustrators, "create images for everything from books to greeting cards to advertisements. Many specialize, working mostly on children's books or medical illustrations, for example."
It helps to be to be creative, talented and committed to crafting in this field of work.


Brainstorming/Inspiration:
- incorporate a fun, twist with the word creative
- colorful
- bright colors
- if using Illustrator utilize words to make up your piece
- greens, yellows, pinks, oranges, and purples
- maybe make Illustrator in bold, big letters at the top of the poster
- have job description at bottom in fine print
- picture in the middle
- incorporate positive and negative space
- maybe make it look like a storybook

I like this one because it utilizes colors. It also tells basically what Illustrators do in only three words.  The Illustration was interesting as well. It looked like a cover to a children's book, however, it was also a poster and I love how they conveyed a message as well as showed what Illustrators do.

I absolutely love this design because they use text to describe an idea or a subject in this case uses a poem. It is beautiful and I love the way this designer used cool colors when designing his piece, If i use Illustrator I would like to create a poster that looks sort of like this with using a person. However,  If I did something like this I would use a picture that could remind me of a children's illustration. 

I like this one a lot because it is advertising a companies product. In a unique way that is not usually used, It shows a message without using many words and has a lot of different things to look at and catches your attention.

Visual Organization

Visual Organization
not directing the audience through a design is misdirecting them!

1) Eye Movement- The typical eye moves left to right and top to bottom. Controlling eye movement within a composition is a matter of directing the natural scanning tendency of the viewer's eye. The eye tends gravitate towards areas of complexity first. In pictures of people, the eye is always attracted to the face and particularly the eye. Light areas of a composition will attract the eye, especially when adjacent to a dark area. Diagonal lines or edges will guide eye movement.
2) Optical Center- The spot where the human eye tends to enter the page. Optical center is slightly above mathematical (or exact) center and just to the left.It takes a compelling element to pull your eyes away from this spot.
3) Z Pattern- Our visual pattern makes a sweep of the page, generally, in the shape of a "Z". Effective page design maps a viewer's route through the information. The designer's objective is to lead the viewer's eye to the important elements or information.

Font Guidelines


1) Use no more than two fonts within a page. (make sure the fonts compliment each other)
2) Avoid all caps, unless necessary
3) Choose the right font (choose fonts according to the theme of your design)
4) Do NOT overuse fancy and complicated fonts (such as scripts and calligraphy, not good for body text)
www.typography.com/email/2010_03/index.htm

Visual Hierarchy
will establish focal points based on there importance to the message that's being communicated. establish an order of elements, a visual structure.
1) What do I want my viewer to look at first?

The Grid - way of organizing content on a page, using any combination of margins, guidelines, rows, and columns. (Instituted by Modernism).
-can assist the audience by breaking info manageable chunks and establishing relationships between text and images.
-A grid consist of a distinct set of alignment based relationships that act as guides for distributing elements across a format.
-Used to help clarify the message being communicated and to unify the elements.

Cave Paintings

What are cave paintings?beautiful detailed and colorful representations found on the inside of cave walls and ceilings

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

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

What is the most famous cave painting site? When was it discovered and by whom?






Post an example of cave painting(s) from this cave.
Lascaux, France. Discovered it in 1940 by four teenage boys

Why did this cave have to be closed? What was done to satisfy public curiosity?
Because the paintings were being damaged by the carbon dioxide emitted from the tourist, the french government created lascaux 2 a man made replica next to the original. 

Post an example of cave painting(s) from Altamira cave.
In Altamira cave, why do most of the paintings have a red hue?
caused by the red hue in the soil where they got the paint from

Who discovered this site? How old are the paintings confirmed to be?
discovered by Marceline Sanz De Sautuola and his daughter Maria. nearly 19,000 years ago

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

Post an example of cave painting(s) from this cave.
Chauvet-Point arc, discovered by three speleogists in 1994

What was different about the painting techniques at this site?
Walls were scraped clear of debris and 3d effect was created by etching around the edges

What is "speleology"?
the science of exploring the underground spaces.

What three reasons do archeologists and historians believe prehistoric man created cave paintings?

1) to tell a story or recount an event that already happened
2) as an instructional visual aid to help teach about hunting techniques 
3) created for magical or religious reasons that if an image of a desired event were painted it might come true