1. Graphic Design and
The Industrial
Revolution

3. England
1760 –
1840
 Extreme
social/econom
ic change.
 Steam engine
perfected =
greater
productivity.
 Technological improvement - mass
production - increased availability & lower
costs.

4. • Graphic communications – more important & accessible.
• Photography was invented.
• Fast expansion of jobbing printers, advertising & posters.
• Advancements in font types & sizes – problems for printing.
• 1800 – Charles Stanhope invented the printing press which
reduced required manual force and could print a sheet double
the conventional size.
• John Walter II & Friedrich Koening created 2 double-cylinder
steam powered press – used to print The Times.
• 1815 – William Cowper & Ambrose Applegath developed the
4 cylinder steam-powdered press.

5. Mechanization of
Typography
• Mid 19th century – presses could mass produce up to
25000 copies per hour – but each letter had to be set by
hand = limited newspapers.
• Advancements in technology – machine set typography
printed on machine made paper.
The first steam-powered
cylinder press, 1814. Koenig’s invention
caused the speed of printing to
skyrocket, while its price dropped
considerably.

6. Photography
• Joseph Niepce – Frenchman
who produced the 1st
photographic image.
• He coated a pewter sheet with
light-sensitive asphalt which
hardens when exposed to light.
• He then contact printed a
drawing, which had been oiled
to make it transparent, to the
pewter, washed it with lavender
oil and then etched it with acid.
This was called „sun
engraving.‟

7. • After a long process of experimenting and collaboration
with Louis Jacques Daguerre – perfected process in 1839.
• About the same time in England – William Henry Fox
Talbot produced a process that formed the basis for
photography.
• In the late 1840s Talbot developed a new process called
“calotype” – increased light sensitivity of paper.
• In 1888 – American dry-plate manufacturer, George
Eastman introduced the Kodak camera.
• Photography was used as a research tool.
• 1880-1890 – photomechanical reproduction replaced
skilled craftsmen, process reduced printing time.
• Moving images became a possibility.

8. Photography as
Reportage
• 1st occurrence of
reportage photography
– American Civil War.
• Mathew Brady –
photographed the war.

9. Victorian
Era
1849 – Queen Victoria’s husband conceived the idea of a
grand exhibition with hundreds of exhibitors from all
industrial nations – known as the Crystal Palace Exhibition.

10. Chromolithography
• Lithography = a method of printing using an etching
stone on a completely smooth surface.
• Chromolithography = method for making colour
prints.
• By 1860 its popularity had grown immensely.
• Without traditions & constraints of the letter
press, designers could invent any letter form and utilize
an unlimited palette of vibrant colours that they could

11. • Circuses and carnivals first to use these new methods
for their posters.
• Chromolithography was then moved onto labels &
packages.
• By 1897, chromolithography became obsolete.

12. Battle of the
Signboards
• Mid 19th century – letterpress poster &
broadsheet were challenged by more visual &
pictorial posters.
• Lithography allowed for a more illustrative
approach to public communication.
• Large woodblocks were printed in sections –
then assembled by poster hangers.
• In France – letterpresses and lithographers
combined their skills to create colourful
lithographic illustrations – pasted onto large

13. Images for Children
• Pre-Victorian Era – children were treated like
adults.
• Victorians began to treat them more tenderly with
the development of toybooks – colourful picture
books for preschool children.
• Walter Crane (1845-1915)
• Randolph Caldecott (1846-1886)
• Kate Greenaway (1846-1901)

15. Rise of American
Editorial & Advertising
Design
• James & John Harper
launched a printing firm in
New York (1817.)
• The firm opened the era of
the pictorial magazine with
Harper’s New Monthly
Magazine.

16. Victorian Typography
• In the Victorian Era, the taste for ornate
elaboration was a major influence.
• Outlandish and fantasy lettering was very
popular – many trademarks in the era reflect the
Victorian love of ornamental complexity.
• Even today, Victorian design conventions are
still found, particularly in commercial promotion.

18. The End.