Print & Graphic Design- It’s Coming Of Age

In the field of marketing and communication, the presence of print & graphic design techniques is indispensable. However, it is very unfortunate that still a very large number of people are not familiar with the evolution (history) of print graphic design. The objective of writing this article is to inform the people about the evolution of the print and graphic design. Firstly, we will try to reveal the evolution of printing.

Evolution of printing: The whole thing was first seen on textiles before it made its way to the paper. A lucky guess would be that it started with the Chinese given their tradition. And that is about right; it began in Asia in the 3rd century. Woodblock painting is where the idea sprung from. In Africa, and more so in Egypt in the ages of the Pharaohs, this kind of printing was also in existence. It however went under only to resurface as block printing in the 15th century.

However, history tells of an ancient practice of art in the Mesopotamian ages of 3000BC. So from this one can conclude that printing has been around for thousands of years. Of course it is not as advanced as it is today but it was pointing in our direction. Printing of mobile objects was done in the 1450′s since before then only stationary stuff was being printed on.

Evolution of graphic design: Graphic design is an advanced form of printing that is more eye catching and more hard to create than printing. In the ages of today, it is done on virtually everything but the best known is in computer screens and in pottery.

Graphic design has an inevitable place in the advertisement, website and publication sector. It is estimated that the evolution of graphic designs took place in the southern France. Here, one can easily witness the graphic designs of animals in the Chauvet Cave. They are believed to be created by the primitive people over 30,000 B.C. and similar forms of designs can be observed in Lascaux Cave of France also. They were estimated to be drawn over 14,000 B.C., further one can easily observe the designs of primitive hunters at a place called Bhimbetka rock shelters in India and to one’s surprise they are over 7,000 B.C. old.

History reveals that the evolutions of writing and graphic art took place together. It is estimated that the evolution of both took place in between 3000-4000 B.C. Besides writing, the graphic art was used to create various kinds of books also. Few of the unique books include Lindisfarne Gospels (c. 710), Ada Gospels (in group of manuscripts- late 8th century), Book of Kells (c. 800), and Book of Durrow (7th century).

Graphical design still remains relevant today as it is used in calligraphy and playing cards. Also in making of trademarks and logos, the graphic work cannot be denied, e.g. with Apple and MSN