Graphic Design HistoryAdrianna Woszczynska, 305575

15,000 - 10,000 BC

The first known visual connection with photographs and symbols in the Lascaus caves in the southern france.

3600 BC

The blau movement, the oldest artifact known to combine words and pictures ever.

105 AD

Chinese government official Tsiai Lun or Cai Lun credited in inventing paper.

1450

Gutenberg credited with [perfecting the system for printing type in books.

1460

Alberecht Pfister was the first to add illustration to a printed book.

1470

Nicholas Jenson, considered one of the history’s greatest typeface designers created the new standard font for roman type.

1760

Industrial revolution begins, setting the stage for advances in graphic design.

1816

First sans serif font makes a subtle entrance as one line of a book. A beggining to one of the most popular fonts.

1880

Development of halftone screen allows for first photo printed with a full range of skills.

1932

Stanley Morrison oversees design of Times New Roman font commissioned by the Times of London.

Influential Designers

Chip Kidd

Based in New York, Chip Kidd is best known for his stunning book jackets – most notably for seminal publishing house Alfred A. Knopf. Kidd has worked for writers such James Elroy, Micheal Crichton and Neil Gaiman (amongst many others). Jurassic Park is one of his most notable book covers, and in his 2005 monograph he explained the thinking behind it: "When trying to recreate one of these creatures, all anyone has to go on is bones, right? So that was the starting point... Not only was the drawing integrated into the movie poster, it became the logo in the film for the park itself. I think it's safe to say that the Jurassic Park T-Rex became one of the most recognisable logos of the 1990s.”

Rob Janoff

Rob designed the Apple logo. Janoff masterminded possibly the most famous mark in the world today while at ad agency Regis McKenna back in 1977. And although it’s been tweaked, the basic form has remained the same ever since – a testament to its simplicity and longevity (and it was created in only two weeks). Back in 2013, Janoff told us that the idea of an apple with a bike taken out of it was “really a no-brainer”. He continued: “If you have a computer named after a piece of fruit, maybe the image should look like the fruit? So I sat for a couple of weeks and drew silhouettes of apples.

Peter Saville

Peter Saville is best-known for his record sleeve designs for Factory Records artists – think Joy Division and New Order (Unknown Pleasures, Transmission, Blue Monday and more). But his sleeve work spans five decades – Saville is one of the most prolific record designers of all time; if not the most prolific.

But the Manchester-born designer’s work doesn’t stop at sleeve design. In 2004 he became creative director of the City of Manchester; has worked with fashion’s elite including Jil Sander and Stella McCartney; and in 2010 he designed the England football home kit.

Michael Bierut

There aren’t many more design agencies that are more respected than Pentagram – and becoming a partner is one of the ultimate design accolades. Designer and educator Bierut has been a partner for 27 years now and has won hundreds of design awards (he’s also got permanent work in MoMA). Before Pentagram, Bierut worked for 10 years at Vignelli Associates. The designer's projects at Pentagram include identity and branding for Benetton, the New York Jets, Walt Disney and design work on Billboard magazine. This is of course, just a small slice of his sprawling portfolio. Bierut is also a senior critic in graphic design at the Yale School of Art. Check out his Monograph – How To – published by Thames & Hudson in 2015.