Chapter 1: What is Graphic Communications?
TEXTBOOK NOTES
Overview:
● The term “Graphic Communication” means the art, science, and business of print
● The practice of applying color, it's more complex than it used to be,
rapidly-changing business
● Visual expression and modern business
● Shifted to a more complex technology-driven model
● Print is part of visual communications as a whole, however far too many graphic
designers lack understanding of print.
● Graphic design and print work hand and hand
● Print graphic communication has three main parts
○ Prepress
○ Press
○ Post Press
Digital Tools and Changing Roles:
● As with most fields, print has been transformed by computer technology
● This is no aspect that is unaffected by digital tools and infrastructure
● With new tools, comes a radical change in job responsibilities, roles, and job
descriptions. Specialists are versed in the growing array of equipment and
peripherals used in creating print media.
● Often, individuals are not directly employed by print companies, but by:
○ Publishers
○ Advertising Agencies
○ Design Firms
● Example: Electronic Publishing and Imaging Specialist, typically this person has a
degree in graphic communications, graphic design, or in a related field involving
computer science. Experience in traditional print processes is as valuable as the
ability to keep up with rapidly changing technology.
The Implications of Multi-Channel Publishing
● Images and text can be repurposed for multiple channels each having its own
technical and output requirements
● Print is ultimately rendered as CMYK or process colour, however, online digital
publication images are always RGB
, ● Required resolution for images are significantly different for print than for
on-screen
● Images must be useable in more than one environment this is known as
repurposing
● It is often the design review production technologist’s rule to provide a
transparent means of visual mapping the typography design from one
environment to another
● Production technologists must be cognizant of design principles and expectations
○ They might be involved with the client directly or online interactions etc.
Printing and Management Trends:
● Once Focused on the production of a single class of products, printers have had
to diversify
○ it includes expansion of the types of a printed products they create
○ also an array of digital output and ancillary services
● A printing company must compete with digital-only producers, agencies, and
marketing firms.
● deal with increased competition for basic printing services, thanks to online
ordering and a tendency to view print as a price-based commodity.
● Effective printing and imaging management involves knowledge of multiple
technical aspects of print and non-print media,
○ as well as the traditional requirements of strategic planning, financial
acumen, marketing, sales strategy, supply, and team leadership
● Companies have to find key players, these qualities can never be in one person.
A Shifting Model For Print Production:
● The print and distribute model was the only possible option for putting printed
pieces in the hands of the consumers
● Printing equipment became specialized and costly.
● It was needed to be located in an urban central location/area, which had more
access to flavor and sources
● As more books were printed, they required a detailed distribution network to
supply retailers and end-users.
● To reach an individual reader, a printed piece had to be shipped, stored, and
handled multiple times
● Improvement in supply chain made distribution easier, the cost of distribution
made them more innovative (lighter weight, better quality)
, ● The real changes were made in the 1960s, in radically new telecommunications
technology
● Dow Jones began transmitting the entire wall street journal electronically via
satellite from New York to local distribution centers (early example to distribute &
print approach)
● Distribute and print isn’t an entirely new approach
● 19th-century telegraphy and “telefax” had already made text and image
transmission a reality
● However, the same model applies to information that requires (more)
sophisticated printing and binding.
● Print-ready files are sent to local printing facilities to shorten delivery timelines,
reduce inventory and shipping costs
● They become more complex cause on non-print media
○ However, the internet has not reduced print volume
○ the trend has fostered into more efficient decentralized production
● This change in distribution models will continue with more graphic
communications, more complex requiring new skill sets and specializations.
Chapter 2: The History Of Print
TEXTBOOK NOTES
Overview:
● Graphic means of communication has been around since prehistoric times
○ Pre-4000 BCE could only make one piece at a time & could only be shared
with one group or person at a time
○ Beginnings of a civilization coincide with discovering ways of making
copies easier and sharing with a larger audience
● As manufacturing industry, started in 1456 with Johann Gutenberg’s invention of
casting movable metal type
○ Made it possible for mass production of print
○ Before this, books were made by hand
○ he automated the process of designing and reproducing printed pages in
large quantities
● The goal of the printing industry then and today:
○ Mass-produce and distribute documents as quickly and efficiently as
possible
, ● Gutenberg set precinct that for printing, rapid change is the rule and not the
exception
● The printing press along with the moveable type has been ranked as the world’s
most influential invention (even topping gunpowder and the compass).
Graphic Communication, Printing and Human History:
● The story of civilization is the story of communicated ideas
● Man has long been able to express ideas visually—on stone or animal skin—but
only on a single artifact
● Communication with a larger audience is essential for every civilized institution
● This requires that our graphic expressions be replicated, which is the story of
printing
● Institutions like education, law, religion, or medicine would simply not exist in their
present state had it not been for the dissemination made possible by printing
● The first reproduction of graphic images is believed to have happened between
4500 and 3500 BCE, with the use of carved stone or metal "stamp" seals
○ These were used to indent ownership marks into moist clay
○ This could be considered the first attempt at visual branding or, literally,
trademarking
● About 3500 BCE, cylinder seals containing duplicate relief, or raised, symbols
● Graphic communication, or the reproduction of images and text on a practical
medium, spans six millennia of human history, from ownership marks stamped in
clay to mass production of visual elements on physical or digital surfaces
● Other early image reproduction was largely done using clay as a medium
● Movable relief images for "inkless printing" are believed to have been used in Asia
Minor around 1700 BCE
● Type-like relief symbols were impressed into soft clay, such as the circular pattern
of syllables found on the Phaistos disc on Crete
● This suggested an alphabetic structure, and the first known use of reusable
images, comparable to Gutenberg's relief type over 3,000 years later
The Substrate Revolution:
● Due to limitations of imprinting on clay, a cheaper, lighter, more versatile medium
or substrate was developed-- the first substrate of this is papyrus
● 1085 and 950 BCE: papyrus was manufactured and the use of photography
(picture words) began, papyrus was the primary means of portraying pictographs
and written words
● How papyrus was created:
TEXTBOOK NOTES
Overview:
● The term “Graphic Communication” means the art, science, and business of print
● The practice of applying color, it's more complex than it used to be,
rapidly-changing business
● Visual expression and modern business
● Shifted to a more complex technology-driven model
● Print is part of visual communications as a whole, however far too many graphic
designers lack understanding of print.
● Graphic design and print work hand and hand
● Print graphic communication has three main parts
○ Prepress
○ Press
○ Post Press
Digital Tools and Changing Roles:
● As with most fields, print has been transformed by computer technology
● This is no aspect that is unaffected by digital tools and infrastructure
● With new tools, comes a radical change in job responsibilities, roles, and job
descriptions. Specialists are versed in the growing array of equipment and
peripherals used in creating print media.
● Often, individuals are not directly employed by print companies, but by:
○ Publishers
○ Advertising Agencies
○ Design Firms
● Example: Electronic Publishing and Imaging Specialist, typically this person has a
degree in graphic communications, graphic design, or in a related field involving
computer science. Experience in traditional print processes is as valuable as the
ability to keep up with rapidly changing technology.
The Implications of Multi-Channel Publishing
● Images and text can be repurposed for multiple channels each having its own
technical and output requirements
● Print is ultimately rendered as CMYK or process colour, however, online digital
publication images are always RGB
, ● Required resolution for images are significantly different for print than for
on-screen
● Images must be useable in more than one environment this is known as
repurposing
● It is often the design review production technologist’s rule to provide a
transparent means of visual mapping the typography design from one
environment to another
● Production technologists must be cognizant of design principles and expectations
○ They might be involved with the client directly or online interactions etc.
Printing and Management Trends:
● Once Focused on the production of a single class of products, printers have had
to diversify
○ it includes expansion of the types of a printed products they create
○ also an array of digital output and ancillary services
● A printing company must compete with digital-only producers, agencies, and
marketing firms.
● deal with increased competition for basic printing services, thanks to online
ordering and a tendency to view print as a price-based commodity.
● Effective printing and imaging management involves knowledge of multiple
technical aspects of print and non-print media,
○ as well as the traditional requirements of strategic planning, financial
acumen, marketing, sales strategy, supply, and team leadership
● Companies have to find key players, these qualities can never be in one person.
A Shifting Model For Print Production:
● The print and distribute model was the only possible option for putting printed
pieces in the hands of the consumers
● Printing equipment became specialized and costly.
● It was needed to be located in an urban central location/area, which had more
access to flavor and sources
● As more books were printed, they required a detailed distribution network to
supply retailers and end-users.
● To reach an individual reader, a printed piece had to be shipped, stored, and
handled multiple times
● Improvement in supply chain made distribution easier, the cost of distribution
made them more innovative (lighter weight, better quality)
, ● The real changes were made in the 1960s, in radically new telecommunications
technology
● Dow Jones began transmitting the entire wall street journal electronically via
satellite from New York to local distribution centers (early example to distribute &
print approach)
● Distribute and print isn’t an entirely new approach
● 19th-century telegraphy and “telefax” had already made text and image
transmission a reality
● However, the same model applies to information that requires (more)
sophisticated printing and binding.
● Print-ready files are sent to local printing facilities to shorten delivery timelines,
reduce inventory and shipping costs
● They become more complex cause on non-print media
○ However, the internet has not reduced print volume
○ the trend has fostered into more efficient decentralized production
● This change in distribution models will continue with more graphic
communications, more complex requiring new skill sets and specializations.
Chapter 2: The History Of Print
TEXTBOOK NOTES
Overview:
● Graphic means of communication has been around since prehistoric times
○ Pre-4000 BCE could only make one piece at a time & could only be shared
with one group or person at a time
○ Beginnings of a civilization coincide with discovering ways of making
copies easier and sharing with a larger audience
● As manufacturing industry, started in 1456 with Johann Gutenberg’s invention of
casting movable metal type
○ Made it possible for mass production of print
○ Before this, books were made by hand
○ he automated the process of designing and reproducing printed pages in
large quantities
● The goal of the printing industry then and today:
○ Mass-produce and distribute documents as quickly and efficiently as
possible
, ● Gutenberg set precinct that for printing, rapid change is the rule and not the
exception
● The printing press along with the moveable type has been ranked as the world’s
most influential invention (even topping gunpowder and the compass).
Graphic Communication, Printing and Human History:
● The story of civilization is the story of communicated ideas
● Man has long been able to express ideas visually—on stone or animal skin—but
only on a single artifact
● Communication with a larger audience is essential for every civilized institution
● This requires that our graphic expressions be replicated, which is the story of
printing
● Institutions like education, law, religion, or medicine would simply not exist in their
present state had it not been for the dissemination made possible by printing
● The first reproduction of graphic images is believed to have happened between
4500 and 3500 BCE, with the use of carved stone or metal "stamp" seals
○ These were used to indent ownership marks into moist clay
○ This could be considered the first attempt at visual branding or, literally,
trademarking
● About 3500 BCE, cylinder seals containing duplicate relief, or raised, symbols
● Graphic communication, or the reproduction of images and text on a practical
medium, spans six millennia of human history, from ownership marks stamped in
clay to mass production of visual elements on physical or digital surfaces
● Other early image reproduction was largely done using clay as a medium
● Movable relief images for "inkless printing" are believed to have been used in Asia
Minor around 1700 BCE
● Type-like relief symbols were impressed into soft clay, such as the circular pattern
of syllables found on the Phaistos disc on Crete
● This suggested an alphabetic structure, and the first known use of reusable
images, comparable to Gutenberg's relief type over 3,000 years later
The Substrate Revolution:
● Due to limitations of imprinting on clay, a cheaper, lighter, more versatile medium
or substrate was developed-- the first substrate of this is papyrus
● 1085 and 950 BCE: papyrus was manufactured and the use of photography
(picture words) began, papyrus was the primary means of portraying pictographs
and written words
● How papyrus was created:
