Introduction to Graphic Design

In a series of dynamic conversations, renowned authors and leading faculty at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) Brockett Horne and Ellen Lupton will introduce you to fascinating people and processes that changed the way we communicate.

Where did graphic design come from, and where will it go next? This fast-paced introduction to graphic design history, the first course of our two-part program Graphic Design History and Methods, will change your understanding of everything from fonts and letterforms to posters and brands. Discover how printers revolutionized society when they created open access to information. Explore the visual systems that inform graphic design practice—from handwritten alphabets to online publications. Learn how avant-garde artists, architects, poets, and painters shook the world by reinventing mass media. Pursue the dream of a unified civilization held together by neutral typefaces, international pictograms, and global brands—and see how subcultures rebelled against cultural uniformity by forging their own visual identities. Thinking about history will open your eyes to new ideas and diverse practices.

Test your knowledge with short quizzes, and stretch your own design practice by responding to inspiring creative prompts.

What students are saying:

• Cultural Revolutions
• This session will discuss the role of design in several Civil Rights movements like women’s right to vote, marriage equality, equality for African Americans, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• Origins of Text and Graphic Design
• In this session we'll go over the interconnected history of text (from books to posters) and graphic design With concepts like pictographs, ideographs, phonetic symbols, we’ll see how text plays a significant role in graphic design.
• Liberated Styles of the Late 1800s
• This session discusses how designers advocated for reform in design and production methods through newfound modes of expression like handcrafted work, Art Nouveau, Jugendstil, to the object posters of Lucian Bernhard.
• Avant-Garde: New Representations in Objects and Space
• In this session we’ll see how graphic designers dissected and utilized techniques from the art movements of Cubism, Futurism and Dada and transform them into cohesive posters and advertisements.
• Mechanical Abstractions and Photomontage
• This session discusses the rise of constructivism and how it challenged viewers to interpret more abstract forms in design. Conversely, the figurative images of photomontage also influenced designs to be expressed more precisely.
• Practicality in Typography
• This session explores how typefaces adopted geometric forms based on the previous modernist art movements we've mentioned so far.
• International Styles
• In this session, we’ll discover how designs were able to communicate across a world languages through universal forms and express more post-modern values.