Design History Chapters 1&2

Question 1

Graphic

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Symbolic Forms

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

Signs

Answer 3

Any sound, object, mark or other token that can be used to represent something else in a systematic way.

Question 4

Representation

Answer 4

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.

Question 5

Hierarchy

Answer 5

Graphic distinctions of weight, color, placement, and so on that produce relative value among elements within a structure, system or composition.

Question 6

Language

Answer 6

A stable system of human communication that depends on consensual sign values for the exchange of information, ideas and feelings.

Question 7

Conventions

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

Figure & Ground

Answer 8

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.

Question 9

Glyphs

Answer 9

Carved signs, often more complex, detailed, or pictorial than letter forms. If undecipherable, surrounded by an aura of mystery.

Question 10

Letters

Answer 10

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.

Question 11

Alphabetic

Answer 11

Of or pertaining to the alphabet, a set of letters that derive from a single source in the second millennium BCE.

Question 12

Character

Answer 12

Letters, glyphs, or other signs in a writing system; elements of hieroglyphics, cuneiform, the alphabet, or other forms of writing.

Question 13

Script

Answer 13

A writing system in any visual form, whether carved, inscribed, painted, drawn, or printed.

Question 14

Literate

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

Oral

Answer 15

Of or pertaining to the mouth; of communication, vocal forms, such as speech, chants, grunting, cries, screams, or song.

Question 16

Inscriptions

Answer 16

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.

Question 17

Universal

Answer 17

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.

Question 18

Effigies

Answer 18

Representations of people or animals, usually in 3 dimensional form, often specific and recognizable.

Question 19

Artifacts

Answer 19

Things made by human work or effort; objects whose value and identity are linked to their material existence and properties.

Question 20

Anthropological

Answer 20

Of or pertaining to the study of human beings and their cultures (physical evolution, language, kinship structures, values, and rituals).

Question 21

Technological

Answer 21

From the Greek work techne (art or craft), of or pertaining to the application of knowledge.

Question 22

Likeness

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

Composition

Answer 23

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.

Question 24

Pigments

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

Pictographic (Pictogram)

Answer 25

Of or pertaining to writing that represents words or ideas with pictorial signs (an element of such a system.)

Question 26

Cuneiform

Answer 26

Writing composed of wedge-shaped signs made in wet clay with a stylus by Ancient Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, and others.

Question 27

Logo Graphic (Logogram)

Answer 27

Of or pertaining to writing that represents words with visual signs (an element of such a system).

Question 28

Hieroglyphic

Answer 28

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.

Question 29

Attributes

Answer 29

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.

Question 30

Linear

Answer 30

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.

Question 31

Writing System

Answer 31

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.

Question 32

Schematic

Answer 32

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.

Question 33

Phonogram

Answer 33

A visual sign that represents a sound ( in a phonographic writing system).

Question 34

Determinative

Answer 34

Signs used to attribute a linguistic or conceptual category to a group of letters or glyphs to guide their interpretation.

Question 35

Hieratic

Answer 35

Generally, of things associated with the priestly caste; specifically a simplified cursive form of Egyptian hieroglyphics developed by priests.

Question 36

Demotic

Answer 36

From the Greek work demos (the people), of or pertaining to a highly simplified form of Egyptian writing.

Question 37

Syllabaries

Answer 37

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.

Question 38

Acrophonic

Answer 38

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.

Question 39

Papyrus

Answer 39

A writing material made from the stems of a reedy plant, cut into strips, overlaid , and pressed together.

Question 40

Parchment

Answer 40

A writing surface made of animal skin that has been scraped free of hair or fur and treated.

Question 41

Performative

Answer 41

Of or pertaining to a speech act that, in itself, has consequence or effect, such as a vow, a promise, or a command.

Question 42

Constructed Forms

Answer 42

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.

Question 43

Boustrophedon

Answer 43

From the Greek - the ox turns in plowing. Writing that continues from right to left and left to right in alternate lines.

Question 44

Monumental

Answer 44

Large in scale and in importance; in the case of inscriptions, usually formal, authoritative, and conspicuously placed in a public space.

Question 45

Stoichedon

Answer 45

A written form in which letters are aligned both horizontally and vertically, as if marshaled into files for a military drill.

Question 46

Monoline

Answer 46

Type or writing in which ascenders and descenders are the same height as the body of the letters.

Question 47

Scribes

Answer 47

Person who writes usually a professional;

Question 48

Rhetorical

Answer 48

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.

Question 49

Serifs

Answer 49

Small finishing lines at the end of the strokes of a letter

Question 50

Scrolls

Answer 50

Rolled parchment or paper; an ancient text format

Question 51

Cursive

Answer 51

From the Latin currere ‘to run’ as riot quickly written often with looped forms and joined letters

Question 52

Gestural

Answer 52

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

Question 53

Ostraca

Answer 53

Fragments of pottery or stone used as writing surfaces

Question 54

Ordinator

Answer 54

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

Question 55

Uncial

Answer 55

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)

Question 56

Half-Uncial

Answer 56

Rounded letterforms with ascenders and descenders that extend beyond the x height and baseline; the first minuscules.

Question 57

Ductal

Answer 57

A letter stroke or form that follows the course of the movement by which it is made ; gestural

Question 58

Codex

Answer 58

A book format in which sheets or signatures are bound at one edge; originally, a code of laws