"Cuneiform and the Sumerians | 3,000 BC"

The Sumerians were one of the earliest types of this kind of civilization? What does that mean?
Nomadic; They moved around a lot

Why is the region of Sumer considered the Cradle of Civilization?Because Cuneiform was created there and it's the worlds first written language.


What could the Sumerians practice year round because of the regions climate?Agriculture


Post an example of early Cuneiform (Sumerian pictograph).

Why was Cuneiform created?

To help keep track of business transactions 

What medium was used to "write" Cuneiform? Explain the process of preparing and writing on this surface?
Clay tablet; Wet clay, Flatten, Use stylus to make impressions into clay, Let clay dry in the sun

What did Cuneiform begin as a series of?Pictographs

Post an example of evolved Cuneiform (wedge-shaped).

After it evolved over time, what shape did the characters of Cuneiform evolve into?Wedge shaped

Post an example of Akkadian Cuneiform.

After the Akkadians conquered, what happened to the Sumerian culture and written language?
They adopted it.

What is a pictograph?
A pictorial or visual representation of an object

Why did the creation of Cuneiform allow the Sumerians to become a sophisticated culture?
They had a new form of communication

"Cave Paintings | 35,000 years ago"

What are cave paintings?
Beautiful, detailed, and colorful representations found on the inside of cave walls and ceilings.

Name several common themes found in cave paintings?
Large animals (bison, horses, deer)Human hand tracings
Abstract patterns.


How were these paintings created (tools, pigments)?
Paint: mixing water, plant juice, animal blood, soil, charcoal, and hematiteBrushes: putting together sticks, small stones, leaves, and animal hair

What is the most famous cave painting site? When was it discovered and by whom?Post an example of cave painting(s) from this cave.
Lascaux, France; in 1940 by 4 teenage boys accidentally.

Why did this cave have to be closed? What was done to satisfy public curiosity?
The carbon dioxide from the tourists were damaging the paintings. Lascaux II, man-made replica, was created

Post an example of cave painting(s) from Altamira cave.
In Altamira cave, why do most of the paintings have a red hue?

the red clay in the soil

Who discovered this site? How old are the paintings confirmed to be?
Marceline Sanz De Sautuola and his Daughter; 19000 yrs old

What is the oldest known cave painting site? When was it discovered and by whom?Post an example of cave painting(s) from this cave.

Chauvet- Point Arc; Eliette Brunell Deschamps, Christian Hillaire, Jean-Marie Chauvet in 1994
What was different about the painting techniques at this site?
Walls were scraped clean of debris, 3D effect

What is "speleology"?
Someone who studies/explores caves

What three reasons do archeologists and historians believe prehistoric man created cave paintings?

• To tell a story or recount an event
• An instructional visual aid to help teach hunting techniques
• Magical/religious reasons

Assignment 14 Research

I want this poster to:

pop

have vibrent colors

be witty

My Audience is fellow students

I like this poster because it is simple but in a really interesting way. 

I like how whimsical this poster looks.

I like how they repeat the same idea and the vibrant colors. 

Visual Organization

Not directing the audience through a design is misdirecting them.

Eye Movement

• Typical eye moves left to right and top to bottom.
• Controlling eye movement within a composition is a matter of directing the natural scanning tendency of the viewer's eye.
• The eye tends to gravitate towards areas of complexity first. In pictures of people, the eye is always attracted to the face and particularly the eye.
• Light areas of a composition will attract the eye, especially when adjacent to a dark area.
• Diagonal lines or edges will guide eye movement.

Optical Center

• The spot where the human eye tends to enter the page. Optical center is slightly avove the mathematical center (exact) and just to the left.

Z Pattern

• Our visual pattern makes a sweep of the page, generally in the shape of a "Z."
• Effective page design maps a viewer's route through information. The designer's objective is to lead the viewer's eye to the important elements or information.

Fonts/Composition 

• no more than 2 fonts
• compliment each other (1 decorative and 1 simple)
• avoid all CAPS in necessary
• chose the right font (works with the tone, feel, theme of the composition)
• don't overuse fancy and complicated fonts

www.typography.com/email/2010_03/index.htm 


The Grid-A way of organizing things on a page using any combinations of margins, guidelines rows and columns.

• invented by modernism
• assists the audience by breaking info into manageable chunks and establishing relationships between the text and images
• consists of a distinct set of alignment-based relationships that acts as guides for distributing elements across a format
• every design is different and requires a different grid structure, one that addresses the particular elements within the design
• used to help clarify the message & unify the elements

Assignment 13 Research and Brainstorm

Background: 

Among Surrealist techniques exploiting the mystique of accident was a kind of collective collage of words or images called the cadavre exquis (exquisite corpse). Based on an old parlor game, it was played by several people, each of whom would write a phrase on a sheet of paper, fold the paper to conceal part of it, and pass it on to the next player for his contribution.

The technique got its name from results obtained in initial playing, "Le cadavre / exquis / boira / le vin / nouveau" (The exquisite corpse will drink the young wine). Other examples are: "The dormitory of friable little girls puts the odious box right" and "The Senegal oyster will eat the tricolor bread." These poetic fragments were felt to reveal what Nicolas Calas characterized as the "unconscious reality in the personality of the group" resulting from a process of what Ernst called "mental contagion."

At the same time, they represented the transposition of Lautréamont's classic verbal collage to a collective level, in effect fulfilling his injunction-- frequently cited in Surrealist texts--that "poetry must be made by all and not by one." It was natural that such oracular truths should be similarly sought through images, and the game was immediately adapted to drawing, producing a series of hybrids the first reproductions of which are to be found in No. 9-10 of La Révolution surrealiste (October, 1927) without identification of their creators. The game was adapted to the possibilities of drawing, and even collage, by assigning a section of a body to each player, though the Surrealist principle of metaphoric displacement led to images that only vaguely resembled the human form.  

(http://www.exquisitecorpse.com/definition/About.html)

*Surrealism period were people made things unrealistic. 

Brainstorm:

• Victorian meet 2012
• Female
• non-traditional
• Audience- me

Inspiration: 

I like this because it looks so unnatural but it still has feminine beauty to it.

I like this piece because it also shows the beauty of the subject but in a very whimsical and unnatural way.