Media for Communication Artists

1. Media for Communication Artists Evans & Thomas, Chapter 7 Melanie Yanney, Week 9

2. Objectives • Discuss the different media options available to graphic designers • Explain how graphic communication and media are interrelated • Explain how media can affect the delivery and perception of graphic content • Develop a historical awareness of the evolution of graphic communication and media • Explain how technological advancements have affected media development • Discuss how new and traditional media are combined in graphic communication Page 219

3. What is media? “A medium is the delivery means or channel for communicating a written, verbal, or visual message” (220). The plural term is media. Print Media • Magazines • Books • Billboards • Newspapers • Annual Reports • Brochures • Newsletters Electronic Media • Television • Radio • Film • The Web

4. Cave Drawings The Evolution of Media Hieroglyphics Pictograms (cuneiform) Alphabet Illuminated Manuscripts Movable Type Lithography Motion Pictures & Animation Radio Television Computer Animation New Media

5. Cave Drawings Hieroglyphics Pictograms (cuneiform) Cave Drawings Alphabet Illuminated Manuscripts Prehistoric people painted pictorial representations of animals, humans, and symbolic shapes on the walls of caves thereby giving visual form to verbal content, a process called graphic communication. (220) Movable Type Lithography Motion Pictures & Animation Radio Television Computer Animation New Media

6. Cave Drawings Hieroglyphics Pictograms (cuneiform) Hieroglyphics Alphabet Illuminated Manuscripts Crude images evolved into simplified pictorial representations called symbols or hieroglyphics. The type of media used was paint on papyrus, a type of paper. (220) Movable Type Lithography Motion Pictures & Animation Radio Television Computer Animation New Media

7. Cave Drawings Hieroglyphics Pictograms (cuneiform) Pictograms (cuneiform) Alphabet Illuminated Manuscripts People later developed their own written language using pictograms called cuneiform, which evolved into more abstract, linear symbols. The type of media used was inscriptions on clay, stone, metal, and other hard materials. (220) Movable Type Lithography Motion Pictures & Animation Radio Television Computer Animation New Media

8. Cave Drawings Hieroglyphics Pictograms (cuneiform) Alphabet Alphabet Illuminated Manuscripts Later, the cuneiform script was reduced to a collection of 22 characters, a precursor to today’s alphabet. (222) Movable Type Lithography Motion Pictures & Animation Radio Television Computer Animation New Media

9. Cave Drawings Hieroglyphics Pictograms (cuneiform) Illuminated Manuscripts Alphabet Illuminated Manuscripts Early forms of today’s media took shape during the Middle Ages when bibles and psalm books were hand-assembled for the wealthy class. These illuminated manuscripts were penned with a feather quill onto vellum, a thin sheet of calf or sheep skin. (222) Movable Type Lithography Motion Pictures & Animation Radio Television Computer Animation New Media

10. Cave Drawings Hieroglyphics Pictograms (cuneiform) Movable Type Alphabet Illuminated Manuscripts Johannes Gutenberg invented movable type and the printing press during the Renaissance, which allowed for mass production of the printed word. Printing was the most common form of media through the industrial revolution through newspapers, books, handbills, and posters. (223) Movable Type Lithography Motion Pictures & Animation Radio Television Computer Animation New Media

11. Cave Drawings Hieroglyphics Pictograms (cuneiform) Lithography Alphabet Illuminated Manuscripts During that period, visual communication began to evolve by integrating graphic and fine arts into communication pieces. Lithography allowed artists to reproduce colored imagery by printing from inked stones. (223) Movable Type Lithography Motion Pictures & Animation Radio Television Computer Animation New Media

12. Cave Drawings Hieroglyphics Pictograms (cuneiform) Motion Pictures & Animation Alphabet Illuminated Manuscripts At the end of the nineteenth century, mass media shifted to electronic media thanks to the invention of motion pictures. Early animated forms progressed to sound animation and use of Technicolor. (224) Movable Type Lithography Motion Pictures & Animation Radio Television Computer Animation New Media

13. Cave Drawings Hieroglyphics Pictograms (cuneiform) Radio Alphabet Illuminated Manuscripts Radio also came into common use in the early 1900s particularly as a news and advertising medium. Its popularity began to replace newspapers and other print media. (224) Movable Type Lithography Motion Pictures & Animation Radio Television Computer Animation New Media

14. Cave Drawings Hieroglyphics Pictograms (cuneiform) Television Alphabet Illuminated Manuscripts Television began to replace radio as the broadcast media of choice in the 1930s and proved to be one of the most important advances in media technology. Color television was introduced in the mid 1950s. (225-226) Movable Type Lithography Motion Pictures & Animation Radio Television Computer Animation New Media

15. Cave Drawings Hieroglyphics Pictograms (cuneiform) Computer Animation Alphabet Illuminated Manuscripts Electronic media and computers allowed for graphic communicators to incorporate computer animation into their designs. (227) Movable Type Lithography Motion Pictures & Animation Radio Television Computer Animation New Media

16. Cave Drawings Hieroglyphics Pictograms (cuneiform) New Media Alphabet Illuminated Manuscripts The digital revolution moved people into the age of computers at the end of the twentieth century. New media forms blended graphic design with audio and cinematic media, pushing beyond the two-dimensional realm. New media options include interactive media, the Web, and multimedia. (228) Let’s take a closer look at each. Movable Type Lithography Motion Pictures & Animation Radio Television Computer Animation New Media

17. Cave Drawings Hieroglyphics Pictograms (cuneiform) Interactive Alphabet Illuminated Manuscripts Interactive media allows users to control their media experience. Hypertext and hyperlinks were one of the earliest forms of interactivity. Prior to wide accessibility of the Internet, interactive programs were available on diskette. Technology evolved by allowing more digital information to be stored on interactive technologies like computers and mobile phones, including animation, illustration, photography, sound, text, and video. (228) Movable Type Lithography Motion Pictures & Animation Radio Television Computer Animation New Media

18. Cave Drawings Hieroglyphics Pictograms (cuneiform) The Web Alphabet Illuminated Manuscripts The Internet was developed in the 1960s by the US government to facilitate communication in the event of a nuclear attack. In 1982, it was made accessible to research labs and educational institutions. Then in the 1990s, it became available to schools and businesses. 30 million people were online in 1997, and today the Internet has over one billion users. Web designers must think cross-culturally in this new global marketplace. (229) Movable Type Lithography Motion Pictures & Animation Radio Television Computer Animation New Media

19. Cave Drawings Hieroglyphics Pictograms (cuneiform) Multimedia Alphabet Illuminated Manuscripts Multimedia technology blends animation, audio, and video with text, imagery, and interactivity. Common multimedia technologies include Web sites, video, and computer games. Interactive technologies that are limited to text and imagery only are not regarded as multimedia. (230) Movable Type Lithography Motion Pictures & Animation Radio Television Computer Animation New Media

20. Elements, Principles, and New Media The principles of design also apply to multimedia, the Web, and interactive media. Elements like balance, typography, unity, color, and compelling imagery are just as important in Web sites as they are in traditional media. (231) One unique factor designers must consider in new media is time. Content must be easily accessible, streamlined, and simple to navigate. (231) Other design considerations include: • Motion • Web Site Design

21. Motion • Computer technology allows designers to give type movement through animation to support the message • Individual frames are less important than the complete composition over a period of time • Motion design requires plenty of planning through storyboards to develop the piece • Audio/video productions involve even more planning through use of outlines, scripts, hiring actors and illustrators, and development of music and sound effects Pages 231-232

22. Web Site Design • Web sites exist for many reasons • Information source • Entertainment • Promotion of services, products, organizations, events • E-Commerce • Web designers begin with an information architecture identifying how users will be guided through the site • Then a site map is established to show where type and images fall in a way that unifies individual pages as a cohesive whole • Finally, designers create style sheets to ensure that type and layouts will look the same across all types of browsers, screen resolutions, and platforms like mobile devices Pages 233-235

23. The Right Media Choices “The best media campaigns use a combination of media to deliver a message” (236) New Media Traditional Media Newspapers and broadcast media reach a wide range of people Magazines and books narrowcast specialized information to smaller audiences • Targets a youthful demographic • Takes a grassroots approach to marketing • Provides source for entertainment and information • Facilitates e-commerce Page 236

24. Chapter 7 Activity Identify a Web site that incorporates multimedia, and answer the following questions: • What multimedia technology (animation, audio, video, games, etc.) is incorporated into the site? • How does the interactive design help communicate the intended message? (Why did the designers go to all of this trouble?) • Who is the intended audience? How can you tell? Examples: • http://www.kraftbrands.com/a1 • http://hipstamatic.com/ • http://www.wbaltv.com/

25. Reference Evans, P., & Thomas, M. A. (2008). Exploring the Elements of Design (2 ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning.

26. Image Sources • Cave Drawings: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_painting • Hieroglyphics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphs • Cuneiform: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform • Alphabet: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Komi-Udmurt_latin_alphabet_(1931).jpg • Illuminated Manuscript: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminated_manuscript • Movable Type: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Gutenberg • Lithography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toulouse-Lautrec • Motion Pictures & Animation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steamboat_Willie • Radio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio • Television: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television • Computer Animation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_animation • New Media: http://www.bestbuy.com/ • Interactive: http://usedipad123.com/ipad-games • The Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web • Multimedia: http://www.technobuffalo.com/2013/01/19/the-6-iphone-home-pages-since-the-original-launched-in-2007/