Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Extra credit: Watch then write, design or draw a reaction to this video.
Chapter 2
• In the Classical period, graphic design became a component of literacy. Design literacy suggests the existence of a common cultural understanding of the meaning of the visual forms, as well as the materials and contexts, of graphic information.
• In Classical culture, the functions of written language were encoded in distinct graphic forms: Informal communication between individuals was expressed in the ephemeral form of handwritten script, often on impermanent materials. Conventional communication regarding professional, personal, or public business relied on standard codes and consistent, legible letterforms written on papyrus, parchment, or wax. Commemorative writing used permanent materials, such as stone or clay, to inscribe acts of official memory or tribute in formal scripts and highly visible public spaces that signified importance. Performative discourse—containing statements that enacted events, laws, or decrees—was marked by ritual or ceremonial warrants, seals, official signs, and sites that conferred authority.
• The distinction between spoken and written language became more elaborate, as writing came to be considered not merely a transcription of speech but a communication system with its own formal properties.
• The design of letters was defined in two very different ways: as a sequence of expressive gestures and as a set of ideal shapes or constructed models to be copied.
• Access to writing did not map precisely onto class or gender divisions, but the shift from oral to literate culture introduced new means of representing and administering power.
How is Design literacy is defined ?
What type of materials were used for Commemorative writing ?
Why did Written and spoken language become different from each ?
Two different models of writing letters existed: expressive forms and:
boustrophodon.
monumental scripts.
ideal models.
stele.
Who were the Early alphabets in Greece and southern Italy dispersed by?
What are Majiscules ?
What was the most significant modification to the Greek alphabet ?
What were basic feature of Roman writing in the Classical era?
Which of the following did not affect the construction of letters in the Classical period?
attention to workmanship
marble
pictograms
broad brushes
Why was the use of writing models essential to the development of literacy?
Chapter 3
• In the Middle Ages, letterforms emerged that are still in use and whose designs contain information about their history and diffusion.
• The format of the codex book, along with many of its now familiar graphic features, developed as a result of changes in the uses of texts.
• These graphic features combined aesthetic and functional qualities, which served to distinguish different types of documents and to encode their cultural value.
• Illustrations and schematic images, such as maps, charts, and diagrams, began to be used to configure and disseminate certain kinds of knowledge, although power over intellectual life remained centered in the Church.
• Publishing became an industry, serving specialized needs in medicine, law, and theology, and a popular interest in literature, while drawing lines of exclusion and inclusion around literate communities.
How is visual communication essential to promoting the values of the church?
What is A palimpsest ?
What is the significance of the Magna Carta?
Which of the following was not a type of religious text published in the Medieval Period?
gospels
novels
writings of the Church fathers
psalms
Why is the codex structure so significant?
What is a modern-day example of a colophon?
What were elements of graphic hierarchy that were evident in the Medieval Period?
How is a “script” different from a “hand”?
What script did Charlemagne produce as a standard, between 750 and 900?
In what order were the following produced?
Book of Kells
Ramsey Psalter
Lindisfarne Gospels
Bayeux Tapestry