The Phoenician Alphabet | 1050 BC

The Phoenician alphabet is based on what principle?
Direct variation of hieroglyphics 

Describe the shape of the letters and what tool created them?
The letters where angular and straight since they were shaped with a stylus
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What two reasons made the Phoenician alphabet so successful?
Trade spread the language, easier to learn than hieroglyphics

What long term effects on the social structures of civilizations did the Phoenicians have with the creation of their alphabet?

Simplicity allowed it to be used in other languages, common people learned how to write

Post an example of the Phoenician alphabet in visual form.

Hieroglyphics and the Egyptians | 3,000 BC

In the sixth century BC, what three civilizations invaded Egypt?
Persians, Greeks, and Romans


Post an example of the inside wall(s) of an Ancient Egyptian temple.

What was discovered on the inside of the temples?
Carved and painted images


Scholars believe that Ancient Egyptians were inspired and influenced by which written language?
Cuneiform


What is the difference between logographic and alphabetic elements?
Logorams are visual symbols representing ideas or objects, alphabetic came later


The term Hieroglyphic derived from what two Greek words?
hyro- sacred glyphic-engraving


What is a scribe?
School where students learned how to read and write


Who else was trained to read and write? Why?
Military, communicate with eachother


Post an example of hieroglyphics on papyrus.

What is papyrus and how was it made?
Find your way to the after life; Substrate made from reed and plants placed criss-crossed over each other then rubbed to together until flat


What is a substrate?
A layer or something to write on


What were the Books of the Dead?
Find your way to the after life


How did Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics become a forgotten language?
No one left to decipher the languagePost an example of the Rosetta Stone.


What is the Rosetta Stone? Where was it discovered?
A rock with 3 languages on it to translate hieroglyphics, Egypt in Rosetta


What three languages are included on the stone?
Demotic, Greek, and Hieroglyphics


Why couldn't the text on the Stone be deciphered?
Some of the stone was missing


Who finally deciphered the text? What was his breakthrough?
Jean Champollion, he matched up the Greek version of the name Ramses and the hieroglyphics


Why does the interpretation of the Rosetta Stone have such significance?

We know a lot more about the Egyptians and Hieroglyphics 

Research and Inspiration #2

I like how in this picture they use stripes at the top, it draws the viewers attention to the top and towards the letter

I like how the background of this design slowly gets darker and darker towards the bottom of the page

I like the use if vibrant colors and the floral design

I like the use of floral design around the picture and the background

Cuneiform and the Sumerians | 3,000 BC

The Sumerians were one of the earliest types of this kind of civilization? What does that mean?
Earliest civilization to create a language that could be communicated effectively

Why is the region of Sumer considered the Cradle of Civilization?
Cuneiform was created and is the first written language

What could the Sumerians practice year round because of the regions climate?
Agriculture


Post an example of early Cuneiform (Sumerian pictograph).

Why was Cuneiform created?As the civilization grew, business prospered and they needed a way to keep track of transactions

What medium was used to "write" Cuneiform? Explain the process of preparing and writing on this surface?Clay tablets, wet the clay, form onto a flat surface, use a wedge shape stylus to make impressions on the clay, put in sun to dry

What did Cuneiform begin as a series of?
Pictographs



Post an example of evolved Cuneiform (wedge-shaped).








































After it evolved over time, what shape did the characters of Cuneiform evolve into?
Wedge shaped


Post an example of Akkadian Cuneiform.

After the Akkadians conquered, what happened to the Sumerian culture and written language?
The Akkadians adopted the culture

What is a pictograph?
Words represented by pictures

Why did the creation of Cuneiform allow the Sumerians to become a sophisticated culture?

They were able to communicate effectively unlike other civilizations near them

Cave Paintings | 35,000 years ago

#1 CAVE PAINTINGS

What are cave paintings?
Cavemen found a sophisticated way to communicate visually, beautiful, detailed representations on the insides of caves walls



Name several common themes found in cave paintings?
Large animals, horses, bison, or deers



How were these paintings created (tools, pigments)?
water, plant juice,animal blood, soil, charcoal, iron oxide, brushes were made from small stones



What is the most famous cave painting site? When was it discovered and by whom?
Lascaux: discovered:  1948, Marcel Ravidat


Post an example of cave painting(s) from this cave.

Why did this cave have to be closed? What was done to satisfy public curiosity?
Tourists were beginning to destroy the paintings, a remodel was made


Post an example of cave painting(s) from Altamira cave.

In Altamira cave, why do most of the paintings have a red hue?
Red clay and soil were used to paint


Who discovered this site? How old are the paintings confirmed to be?
Marceline Sanz Soulola and his daughter Maria, 19000 years old


What is the oldest known cave painting site? When was it discovered and by whom?
Chauvet- Point Arc; discovered in 1994 by Eliette Brunell Deschamps, Christian Hillare, Jean-Marie Chauvet


Post an example of cave painting(s) from this cave.






































What was different about the painting techniques at this site?
Walls were scraped clean of debris, scraped around for 3D effect


What is "speleology"?
the study of the exploration of caves


What three reasons do archeologists and historians believe prehistoric man created cave paintings?
They tell a story of an event that already happened, instructional visual that helps with hunting techniques, created for magical or religious reasons 

Assignment #14: Research and Inspiration

I like the poster on the right because after you look at the poster for a few seconds you realize that the swirly design is a giant wave and there are sailboats beneath it.

This poster s very interesting and pulls the viewer in.

I like this poster because it uses animation and a real life object (the hand). 

Visual Organizations

Not directing an audience through a design is misdirecting them!

Eye Movement
Left to Right Top to Bottom
Natural scanning tendency
Eyes gravitates to areas of complexity first
Light areas of composition attract the eye especially when adjacent to a dark area
Diagonal lines guide eye movement
Optical Center is where the eye directly goes when it looks at a page (not direct center, slightly to the left)
Compelling elements pull your eye in
Eye makes a sweep of the page normally in a z pattern
As a designer its your job to lead the viewer through the page


Fonts
No more than two fonts total in one composition
Avoid all uppercase
Chose the right font (fits theme and tone)
Don't overuse fancy, complicated fonts
www.typography.com/email/2010-03/index.htm

Visual Hierarchy will establish focal points based on their importance to the message that's being communicated