Design History Chapters 1&2 Flashcards
Graphic
Of or pertaining to the arrangement of visual elements with regard to their composition as forms on a surface or in a visual field; graphic forms need not be pictures or signs but can be abstract shapes or patterns
Symbolic Forms
Signs or objects - value derives from meaning as representations rather than their material properties/literal form; in psychoanalytic terms, the symbolic designates the realm of language and representation systems as the site of meaning production and identity formation.
Signs
Any sound, object, mark or other token that can be used to represent something else in a systematic way.
Representation
A sign or image that stands for something else; abstract or arbitrary signs may function as representations, but representational art always contains recognizable elements of what it depicts.
Hierarchy
Graphic distinctions of weight, color, placement, and so on that produce relative value among elements within a structure, system or composition.
Language
A stable system of human communication that depends on consensual sign values for the exchange of information, ideas and feelings.
Conventions
Rules or approaches that have to be accepted through use, but explicit guidelines or manuals may not exist; shared habits of thought or understanding with regard to a practice.
Figure & Ground
Figure - an image that comes into focus as a legible, individual sign or form, often representation a person, animal, or thing (also a verb)
Ground - Part of an image that serves as the field of undifferentiated information on which a figure comes into focus; a material (wall, clay tablet, paper, canvas) but the support is a physical feature, whereas the ground is part of the representational field.
Glyphs
Carved signs, often more complex, detailed, or pictorial than letter forms. If undecipherable, surrounded by an aura of mystery.
Letters
Written characters that are part of the alphabet; although letters may be considered a means of transcribing speech, letters and speech sounds in any given language do not have a one-to-one relationship.
Alphabetic
Of or pertaining to the alphabet, a set of letters that derive from a single source in the second millennium BCE.
Character
Letters, glyphs, or other signs in a writing system; elements of hieroglyphics, cuneiform, the alphabet, or other forms of writing.
Script
A writing system in any visual form, whether carved, inscribed, painted, drawn, or printed.
Literate
Able to use letters; hence, capable of reading; usually, characteristic of a person for whom, or a culture in which, written language is an integral part of daily life.
Oral
Of or pertaining to the mouth; of communication, vocal forms, such as speech, chants, grunting, cries, screams, or song.
Inscriptions
A written form that leaves a mark or trace in a material support; such a mark need not be part of a sign system but may be gestural or decorative expression.
Universal
Applicable to all; used to invoke values or beliefs that are ascribed to humanity in general, as if they did not have a historical context or cultural connection.
Effigies
Representations of people or animals, usually in 3 dimensional form, often specific and recognizable.
Artifacts
Things made by human work or effort; objects whose value and identity are linked to their material existence and properties.
Anthropological
Of or pertaining to the study of human beings and their cultures (physical evolution, language, kinship structures, values, and rituals).
Technological
From the Greek work techne (art or craft), of or pertaining to the application of knowledge.
Likeness
An image, object, or sign that resembles an original source or referent, whether it be a person, animal, place, or thing; the quality of resemblance.
Composition
The organization of graphic elements within an image or design; this organization may be analyzed and discussed, independent of its informational or representational content, in terms of dynamism, stasis, hierarchy, complexity, legibility, and other formal qualities.
Pigments
Materials used to create color, derived from minerals, plants, animals, or chemically synthetic sources; generally ground and mixed with a medium to produce ink, paint, or glazes.
Pictographic (Pictogram)
Of or pertaining to writing that represents words or ideas with pictorial signs (an element of such a system.)
Cuneiform
Writing composed of wedge-shaped signs made in wet clay with a stylus by Ancient Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, and others.
Logo Graphic (Logogram)
Of or pertaining to writing that represents words with visual signs (an element of such a system).
Hieroglyphic
Sacred carvings; generally, Egyptian written signs; these came to be associated with mysterious and sacred practices after encounters with Greek culture in the eighth and seventh centuries BCE but had been used for secular and political inscriptions as well for several millennia; also, other writing systems, such as those of the Mayan or Aztec cultures.
Attributes
Features that distinguish or add value to a thing, sign, figure, or entity; often, defining characteristics that identify a person or an object, as in he attributes of a saint.
Linear
Arranged in a line of row; of things ranged one after another so that their formal order determines the consecutive order of their being read, viewed, or heard.
Writing System
Stable codes of graphic signs used to represent language in a visual form; Chinese characters and the alphabetic letters are writing systems currently in use; vanished systems include Sumerian and Hittite cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphics, Mayan glyphs, runes, and Indus Valley and Easter Island scripts.
Schematic
Of or related to a scheme; a diagrammatic or abstract outline that communicates information in a reduced or generalized manner, often lacking in realism or pictorial detail.
Phonogram
A visual sign that represents a sound ( in a phonographic writing system).
Determinative
Signs used to attribute a linguistic or conceptual category to a group of letters or glyphs to guide their interpretation.
Hieratic
Generally, of things associated with the priestly caste; specifically a simplified cursive form of Egyptian hieroglyphics developed by priests.
Demotic
From the Greek work demos (the people), of or pertaining to a highly simplified form of Egyptian writing.
Syllabaries
Writing systems whose signs represent syllables or complex sounds; usually composed of considerably more signs than the alphabet but fewer signs than logographic systems, which represent words.
Acrophonic
From the Greek word acro (initial/top) and phonic (sound), the principle of naming a letter with a word that begins with that letter: for example, calling A aleph (ox) or B beth (house); through association, such words came to seem like the pictorial origins of these letters, but this link is not supported by archaeological evidence.
Papyrus
A writing material made from the stems of a reedy plant, cut into strips, overlaid , and pressed together.
Parchment
A writing surface made of animal skin that has been scraped free of hair or fur and treated.
Performative
Of or pertaining to a speech act that, in itself, has consequence or effect, such as a vow, a promise, or a command.
Constructed Forms
Letters made up of drawn parts, often with the aid of a mechanical device, such as a compass or straightedge, often according to mathematically calculated ideals of proportion and distinguished from letterforms that bear the trace of a (continuous) hand gesture.
Boustrophedon
From the Greek - the ox turns in plowing. Writing that continues from right to left and left to right in alternate lines.
Monumental
Large in scale and in importance; in the case of inscriptions, usually formal, authoritative, and conspicuously placed in a public space.
Stoichedon
A written form in which letters are aligned both horizontally and vertically, as if marshaled into files for a military drill.
Monoline
Type or writing in which ascenders and descenders are the same height as the body of the letters.
Scribes
Person who writes usually a professional;
Rhetorical
The art of persuasion or effective presentation; of techniques and devices designed to frame information in such a way as to elicit a particular interpretation.
Serifs
Small finishing lines at the end of the strokes of a letter
Scrolls
Rolled parchment or paper; an ancient text format
Cursive
From the Latin currere ‘to run’ as riot quickly written often with looped forms and joined letters
Gestural
Pertaining to movements of a hand, limb, or other part of the human body; related to writing that bears a trace of the body’s movement within the forms
Ostraca
Fragments of pottery or stone used as writing surfaces
Ordinator
A person responsible for laying out a design to be inscribed by a carver or rendered by a calligrapher; the person who directs a design
Uncial
Rounded letterforms in which ascenders and descenders extend slightly beyond the x height and baseline (beyond the lines used as guides for the height of the body)
Half-Uncial
Rounded letterforms with ascenders and descenders that extend beyond the x height and baseline; the first minuscules.
Ductal
A letter stroke or form that follows the course of the movement by which it is made ; gestural
Codex
A book format in which sheets or signatures are bound at one edge; originally, a code of laws
