The evolution of visual communication from ancient cave paintings to modern logos

what is visual communications design?
the role of visual communications in global design
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Paul Vickers / Ecole Bleue 2014-15

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Visual communications is all visible and non verbal, non sonic, communication of ideas and information.
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It is how man ﬁrst indicated his existence, his social identity, his belonging to a group.
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How he distinguished ownership, how he marked the objects he created and made.
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Visual communications is iconographic signs, symbols, pictograms, logotypes - images that represent ideas.
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Visual communications existed as pictograms and symbols for centuries before writing and letterforms
appeared. Man’s ﬁrst form of communication.
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Cave paintings from 40 000 (Cantabria Spain) to 17 000 (Lascaux France) years ago show man’s mark on the
world, attesting to his existence, communicating a message about his culture.
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Heraldic arms communicated personal identity in the chaos of the battleﬁeld.
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Monograms, from the Greek ‘a single line’ were a form of signature before men could write their names in full.
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Farmers have used marks on wood, cattle earmarks and branding for centuries.
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Stonemasons, carpenters, silversmiths, iron founders and printers all used marks to identify their work.
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The combination of images and writing created visual languages that can communicate anything.
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Todays brands and visual identities are the contemporary expression of the idea of marking, ownership and
identity, of communication and expression.
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Visual communication is a universal language crossing boundaries and speaking to the world.

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Cave paintings from 40 000 (Cantabria Spain) to 17 000 (Lascaux France) years ago, show man’s first mark on
the world, his need to demonstrate his existence, to leave a trace.
They are the first evidence of his identity and the precursor of our visual world, of graphics, of logos, of brands.
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The very first visual communications

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Sumerian Cuneiform script, the ﬁrst writing system, 4 000 BC - 2 000 AD, developed in Mesopotamia
(today’s Irak) using a reed to inscribe clay tablets. Originally based on pictorial representation, it initially had
1 000 characters but was simpliﬁed by the late Bronze Age to around 400 characters.
Read from left to right. Millions were produced only 100 000 have been read.
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The invention of writing systems

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Egyptian hieroglyphics, 3 000 BC - 400 AD developed from Sumerian Cuneiform script.
Images and symbols create a visual language, again the precursors of symbols and icons.
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Hieroglyphics

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The Rosetta Stone, 196 BC produced on behalf of King Ptolemy V. The decree appears in three scripts:
the upper text is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle portion Demotic script, and the lowest Ancient
Greek. The three identical texts provide the key to understand the Egyptian hieroglyphs.
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Phoenician alphabet 1 000 BC. Eventually replaced by the Greek alphabet.
Pictorial icons are replaced by purely graphic letters constructed of lines, strokes and circles.
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The picture becomes a graphic letterform

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The Romans developed the Latin alphabet, upper case only, that we use today.
Originally with 23 characters, the J, U & W were missing. The Z was added as an afterthought at the end.
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Roman uppercase or capitals

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The arrival of the lowercase alphabet evolved from a cursive script in the 4th century and was combined with
the use of ink on parchment manuscript instead of a sharp tool on clay or stone.
The more cursive script led to the formation of the lowercase letters we use today.
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Invention of lowercase

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Roman amphora marks: images and type create the worlds first logotypes: amphora logos indicated the
producers name, origin and product descriptions - the worlds first packaging design in the modern sense.
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Images & type combined in the first logotypes

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Monograms, from the Greek ‘a single line’ were a form of signature before men could write their names
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Royal monograms

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Stonemasons, carpenters, pottery makers, silversmiths, iron founders and printers all used marks to identify their
work, a guarantee of origin and authenticity.
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Since the beginning of time and throughout the world man has had a need to leave a trace of his presence,
to represent his or other life forms, to mark his name. To say ‘I was here’.
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American Native Indian rock carved symbols are used to tell a message in a culture without a written language.
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Heraldic arms communicated personal identity and national allegiance in the chaos of the medieval battleﬁeld,
indicating friend and foe and hopefully helping you to stay alive. Man has always used symbols and colours to
indicate his identity.
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Heraldic arms

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As craftsmen formed into Guilds, they developed increasingly sophisticated symbols and signs to identify
their activities, products and their place of work or shops.
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The ﬁrst corporate symbols

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Gutenberg and the invention of movable type and letterpress printing.
The beginning of printed mass communications.
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The advent of movable type and printing

logotype
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Typography’s evolution from 100 AD to today via Gutenberg (printing), Garamond and Baskerville to the
sans serif typefaces of Caslon from 1800 forwards.
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Typography
logotype
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Helvetica created in the 1950’s, Arial by Monotype in 1980’s. Today 1.5 million typefaces are available to the designer.
Every typeface communicates a diﬀerent emotion and feel, and is used for a speciﬁc purpose and message.
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Type families: Serif & Sans-serif, type terminology and typeface anatomy, Upper case and lowercase,
ascenders and descenders.
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Type terms and families

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Typography Insight, iPad & iPhone app with all the fundamentals of typography at your ﬁngertips.
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Type can be anything, anything can be type. All forms of communication are imaginable.
Hamad, the largest typeface in the world - 1 000m high letters, 3km long word.
iQ font, when driving becomes writing for Toyota. A typeface drawn with a Toyota car.
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The C19th and C20th with the development of industry and commerce saw the creation of the ﬁrst
company logos, symbols and publicity to draw attention to the manufacturers and their products in an
increasingly competitive market.
Initially ﬁgurative and illustrative, they gradually evolved to become more symbolic and more visually powerful.
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C20th company logotypes

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With developing manufacturing came the need to communicate the qualities of products and companies through
print, typography, packaging, labelling and signs. The ﬁrst advertising agencies were formed, William Taylor in 1786,
James White in 1800, in London. They launched the visual communications business that we know today.
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The Bauhaus. The invention of the design school as we know it today.
Three dimensional design, graphic design and architecture taught under one roof with a central design philosophy.
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The ﬁrst design school

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The evolution of the logotype: from ﬁgurative and illustrative towards symbolic and abstract. Logotypes are in
constant evolution, so as to always be at the forefront, contemporary and relevant to society.
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Evolution of logotypes

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The C20th has seen an explosion of visual communications and graphic design linked to new forms of
communications and print production: letterpress & lithographic printing, silkscreen and oﬀset.
The advent of commercial photography, type design and the close relationship between developments in the arts
& sciences have all impacted visual communications.
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C20th communication explosion

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The power of visual communications, logotypes and symbols cannot be underestimated.
They are used to communicate ideas, values, beliefs, political parties, protests, human rights campaigns…
They unite millions of people around a common cause more eﬀectively than a complex manifesto.
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The power of symbols

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A monogram is a logotype created with the letters of a name interlinked together to create a unique design.
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The monogram

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Today the design industry and visual communications are omnipresent in every part of the world and every industry,
communicating messages and information for countries, governments, NGO’s, companies, businesses, services,
cultural events and individuals in every conceivable domain and activity.
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Visual communications today

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Visual communications is primarily the communication of a message about a person, an organisation, a company,
an activity or a product. Collectively these diﬀerent forms of identity are called brands.
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Visual communications today: brands

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A brand can be a symbol or a logotype. A symbol is an image, a visual that expresses an idea plus a name.
A logotype is the combination of a logo or picture and type, a word, into a single brand mark, the word is the image.
logotypesymbol
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Symbol vs logotype

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The pictogram and icon are a shorthand language for communicating activities, sports and providing directional
information that crosses language barriers, as in airports and Olympic sports events.
symbol
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Pictogram

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The poster, one of the ﬁrst expressions in print of an organisations activities. It remains an important communication
tool in the on-line age, on city poster hoardings, bus shelters and underground stations.
symbol logotype
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Poster

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Business stationary: letterheads, business cards, labels, badges, pens, folders, tickets…
iPads’s and associated collateral material.
symbol logotype
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Letterheads and business cards

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Brochures, leaﬂets, booklets and printed supports.
symbol logotype
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Printed materials

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Page layout, editorial design, text/headline/legend/pagination/contents/notes/captions.
symbol logotype
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Layout and editorial design

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Book covers design, thesis or ‘memoires’, internship reports…
symbol
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Books

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Information graphics is statistical information made visible and easy to understand, universally recognisable.
symbol
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Information made visible

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Packaging for derivative products, food & beverages is part of a global design project for a business, boutique,
shop, restaurant, hotel etc. Packaging protects the product,communicates about it and facilitates transport.
symbol
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Packaging design

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A two dimensional logotype or brand, becomes three dimensional when it is used as a sign, on a shop front or in a
three diminutional space, an exhibition or a stand. How the logotype works in 3D, its materials and construction are
an expression of global design. How it functions day & night, illuminated and not, are important considerations.
symbol logotype
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The logotype in 3D

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The projecting sign acts like a ﬂag, it projects out from the building facade and enables one to identify the shop,
restaurant or company from down the street. The projecting sign has to work with the facade sign, that is ﬂat on
the front elevation of a building. Together they enable a view of the activity from down and across the street.
symbol logotype
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The projecting sign

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Directional and way finding signage is a visual language of symbols and words for orientation in the urban
environment, roads, airports, metro systems and mass event venues, olympics sites etc.
The objective is functionality, universality and efficient communication of directional information.
symbol
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Way-finding

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Building facades, shop fronts, exhibition spaces are all an expression of global design and the meeting point
of visual communications, architecture and interior deign.
A building can be thought of as a volume and simultaneously as a graphic statement.
symbol logotype
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Architecture as visual communication

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Interior design is also an expression of 3D space design, volume and visual communications.
A space is imagined in terms of functionality and circulation as well as a graphic expression of an idea.
Shapes, lines, volumes and lighting create repetition, pattern and a visual impression that makes a space unique.
symbol logotype
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Interior design as visual communication

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Environmental design combines visual communications with space and place.
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Environmental design as visual communication

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Product, furniture and three dimensional design as visual communications. Every product and 3D design has a form,
a line, a name, a brand, and is as much a piece of visual communication as a product or an object.
Products are also packaged, promoted with posters and catalogues, exhibited in expos, salons and retail
environments. All these represent opportunities for global design, of thinking of the product in its context.
logotype
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3D design as visual communication

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Web design takes two dimensional communication from print to screen and from static to interactive and into
the fourth dimension: as well as text and visuals, we can work with video, animation, sound & music.
The brand ceases to be static and becomes dynamic.
symbol logotype
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Web design

The dynamic interactive logotype. Nordkyn, a wild region in the north of Norway, has a dynamic brand identity that
morphs and changes subject to the prevailing wind direction, speed, humidity and temperature.
Climatic data is fed to a computer that transforms this information into graphic form.
The logotype is in constant evolution - a perfect expression of this wild and rugged region.
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Interactive logotype design

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Icon design for mobile applications, when an idea must be communicated at 120 x 120 pixels.
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Icon design

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Design Guidelines: a document that demonstrates how the brand or logotype works, in 2D & 3D, in colour & B&W,
its typefaces, colour palette and its use and application on different supports.
The guidelines enable the correct deployment of the brand by different users in different domains.
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Design guidelines

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Global Design is a discipline and a philosophy where all forms and media: 2D & 3D are designed and inspired
by a central, transversal concept and idea which impacts everything that the organisation does and creates.
Apple expresses global design well in that everything that it makes and does has a clearly coherent design thinking
behind its realisations, whether it be its products, its software, its stores, its communications.
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Global design

its everything…
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Paul Vickers / Ecole Bleue 2014-15
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© All images, logotypes and visuals are copyright of their creators, designers and companies.
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The evolution of visual communication from ancient cave paintings to modern logos

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The evolution of visual communication from ancient cave paintings to modern logos