A History of Graphic Design ( prologue )

PROLOGUE : The evolution of graphic design communications from prehistoric times until the invention of movable typography

1. The Invention of Writing

It is not known precisely when or where the biological species of conscious, thinking people, Homo Sapiens, emerged. The search for our prehistoric origns continues to push back into time the early innovations of our ancestors. It is believed that we evolved from a species that lived in the southern part of Africa. They ventured out onto the grassy plains and into caves as the forest slowly disappeared in that part of the world. In the tall grass, these early humanoids began to stand erect. Perhaps this was done to watch for predators in the tall grass, or to ward off enemies by increasing their apparent size and even holding branches as weapons. In any event, the hand developed a magnificent ability to carry food and hold objects. Found near lake Turkana in Kenya, a nearly three-million-year-old stone that had been sharpened into an implement proves the thoughtful and deliberate development of a technology, a tool. Early sharped stones may have been used to dig for roots or to cut away flesh from dead animals for food. While we can only speculate about the use of early tools, we know that they mark a major step in the human species’ immense journey from primitive origins toward a civilized state. A number of quantum leaps provided the capacity to organize a community and gain some measure of control over human destiny. Speech, the ability to make sounds in order to communicate with one another, was an early skill developed by the specie in the long evolutionary trail from it archaic beginnings. Writing is the visual counterpart of the spoken word or unspoken thought. The limitations of speech are the fallibility of human memory and an immediacy of expression that cannot transcend time and place. Until the present electronic age, the spoken word vanished without a trace; the written word remained. The invention of writing brought the luster of civilization to people and made it possible to preserve hard-won knowledge, experiences, and thoughts.

The development of writing and visible language had its earliest origins in simple pictures, for a close connection exists between the drawing of pictures and marking of writing. Both are natural ways of communicating ideas, and primitive man used pictures as an elementary way to record and transmit information.