Introduction

The history of visual communication is a story that spans the entirety of human existence. Visual communication has been in use since prehistoric times. It shows how some trends influence and change the next ones. Visual communication came from written language, the arts and science, and various art mediums. 

From painting in caves for communicating from one generation to another to getting introduced to digital tools in a revolutionary way, the human species has seen some major changes. This timeline presents an overview of how visual communication has evolved over time, has become more divided with new titles and how that has shaped the way we communicate now. 

Materials

The timeline was created using TimelineJS, an open source tool by Knight Lab which is used to build visually rich and interactive timelines in an easy way. It allows the creation of simple timelines just by filling in a spreadsheet and pulling in media from different sources. 

Methods

To be a multi-disciplinary designer, it’s important to know that design will shift along with the upcoming trends. The reason behind choosing this topic was that knowing the history can be helpful for guidance and for inspiration. 

After deciding on the topic, I gathered data and visual examples from various sources. My primary resources for this project were the articles, https://99designs.com/blog/design-history-movements/history-graphic-design/ and https://ujet.cx/blog/a-history-of-visual-communication/. I also used https://www.historyofvisualcommunication.com/ as a guide. After collecting the data, I followed the process of inputting the data in the Google Sheet template.

Results

Communication can be verbal, visual and even physical, but all have the same purpose. It’s to convey a message. Through this timeline, I presented nine stages in the history of visual communication along with a brief description. It shows the progression of visual communication from the prehistoric era to the starting of digital world. Although this timeline doesn’t show all of the changes, it aims to explore the major stages in the history of visual communication. 

Even though it’s unclear what humans were communicating during the prehistoric era, looking at the timeline, it can be said that humanity had a natural ability to use visual representation to communicate complex ideas. Whether it be the rock paintings or the earliest languages which were logographic, humans displayed a knack of communicating with visuals.

In the 1400s, the Gutenberg press paved the way for more commercial uses of design which then led to the creation of the first logo and print advertisements.

There were some key influential art movements that helped evolve visual design. These include Art Nouveau, Bauhaus, Art Deco, Swiss Design, Pop Art and Postmodernism.

With Apple introducing the Macintosh computer in 1984 and Photoshop being introduced in 1990 as a graphics editing software, the world started its slow approach to the digital world.

Reflection

I appreciate the ease of learning and using TimelineJS. The changes I made in the google sheet were easily presented through this visualization. Although it is a user friendly tool, I would like to see more features added to it to remove the constraints like limited layout options for the slides which affected the image and text display. 

Reflecting on the timeline, I feel like I kept wanting to add more information. Since I was focusing on the history of Visual Communication, I didn’t add any current influential period in it’s progression. Looking at the history of visual communication, I can see how people behind the visuals install ideas and influence the coming generations. In the future iterations, I would like to add more to the timeline to link the history with the present and talk more about the possible future of visual communication. But even with these areas for improvement, the timeline showcases the trends and the shifts in the way humans started communicating using visual language. 

References

Ellis, M. (2018, May 24). A brief history of graphic design. 99designs. https://99designs.com/blog/design-history-movements/history-graphic-design/

Galvan, M. (2020, October 29). A brief history of graphic design – UX Collective. Medium. https://uxdesign.cc/a-brief-history-of-graphic-design-90eb5e1b5632 

History of Visual Communication. (n.d.). Viscomhistory. Retrieved September 13, 2021, from https://www.historyofvisualcommunication.com/ 

Team, U. (2021, August 13). A history of visual communication. UJET. https://ujet.cx/blog/a-history-of-visual-communication/