Meggs' History of Graphic Design

The late Philip B. Meggs was a designer, educator, and author. He was School of the Arts Research Professor, Communication Arts and Design Department, at Virginia Commonwealth University; visiting faculty at Syracuse University and the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland; and contributing editor to Print magazine. He authored more than a dozen books and 150 articles and papers on design and typography, including a section on graphic design in Encyclopedia Britannica. He was inducted into the Art Directors Hall of Fame and received its Educator's Award for lifetime achievement and significantly shaping the future of the fields of graphic design education and writing. Alston W. Purvis is Professor of Graphic Design at the Boston University College of Fine Arts. During his career, he has worked as an instructor at The Cooper Union and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts at The Hague. His photographs have been exhibited in Amsterdam, London, New York, and Paris. He is the author of Dutch Graphic Design: 1918 1945 and H. N. Werkman; and coauthor of Graphic Design 20th Century; A Century of Posters; Wendingen: A Journal for the Arts 1918 1932; Creative Type; Dutch Graphic Design: A Century of Innovation; Jan Tschichold: Posters of the Avant Garde; Posters NL; Jan Tschichold, Master Typographer: His Life, Work and Legacy; The Ballets Russes and the Art of Design; and Type: A Visual History of Typefaces and Graphic Styles.

Preface VI Preface to the First Edition VIII Acknowledgments X Part I The Prologue to Graphic Design The visual message from prehistory through the medieval era 01 The Invention of Writing 6 02 Alphabets 22 03 The Asian Contribution 34 04 Illuminated Manuscripts 46 Part II A Graphic Renaissance The origins of European typography and design for printing 05 Printing Comes to Europe 68 06 The German Illustrated Book 80 07 Renaissance Graphic Design 98 08 An Epoch of Typographic Genius 122 Part III The Bridge to the Twentieth Century The Industrial Revolution: The impact of industrial technology upon visual communications 09 Graphic Design and the Industrial Revolution 144 10 The Arts and Crafts Movement and Its Heritage 176 11 Art Nouveau 196 12 The Genesis of Twentieth-Century Design 232 Part IV The Modernist Era Graphic design in the first half of the twentieth century 13 The Influence of Modern Art 256 14 Pictorial Modernism 276 15 A New Language of Form 298 16 The Bauhaus and the New Typography 326 17 350 The Modern Movement in America 350 Part V The Age of Information Graphic design in the global village 18 The International Typographic Style 372 19 The New York School 390 20 Corporate Identity and Visual Systems 412 21 The Conceptual Image 436 22 Postmodern Design 460 23 National Visions within a Global Dialogue 482 24 The Digital Revolution and Beyond 530 Epilogue 572 Bibliography 574 Image Credits 582 Index 586