The function
of and impact of speed in communication and transport on contemporary culture
and lifestyle
Group work:
Digapeng Mothibe, Vanlida Dias, Eunice Ushe, Paulo Mbunga
Focus
on: finding historical examples of images, representations and other references.
The
Industrial Revolution
The
Industrial Revolution occurred first in England in 1760 and went through the
year until 1840. This was a time of radical social and economic change in the
land and also in the world. Prior to the invention of the steam engine in the
1780s, animal and human labour was the primary source of energy. During this
period, people’s sense of dominion over nature and faith in the ability to
exploit the earth’s resources for material needs created a heavy confidence.
Man had finally triumphed over nature. Because the rise of energy, people
converted from an agricultural lifestyle to an industrial one.
Before
the 19th Century, dissemination of information thought books and
broadsheets was the main, and only, purpose for typography. But due to the
rapidly changing lifestyles of the urban folks, the communication needs of the
urban and industrialized society produced a rapid expansion of jobbing
printers, advertisements and posters. These advertisements and posters were a
direct result of the machination of the city at that time. Businesses were now
situated in one place, unlike before were they were far part in the country
side, and need to stand out and get customers. Larger scale visual impact and
new tactile and expressive characters were employed. The use of typography
changed from being a private assets to more commercial. Competitors began to
design text that demanded peoples’ attention. Fonts that shout ‘LOOK AT ME!’ . These
fonts were:
1.
Display Letters. Thomas Cotterell. This type was seen as huge for the
eighteenth century designers.
2. Fat Face: Designed by Robert
Thorne in 1821. This type has contrast and its weight has been increased by
expanding the thickness of the heavy strokes.
This type was much smaller than the display letters
type which allowed then to have more space to put more things in one
advertisement of book.
Sans-serif font designed
by William Caslon IV. This type
Later became a very major
element in graphic design wide.
Because of the development of these type faces,
adverts were more interesting because of the variety of fonts that advertisers
began to use. This was the same for books. Books now had navigational and
access aids which looked different from the rest of the content within the book
and this help with making books easier to read and use. We still use these
navigational aids today.
Due
to the variety and growth in the type used, more advertisement were put out and
this meant more competition. This pushed companies to be more elaborate with
their advert designs. They eventually adopted a ‘more is more” approach to
design. Innovations I typography led to quicker printing and commercialisation
of typography. In 1800, Charles Stanhope created a printing press which allowed
for 200 sheets to be printed per hour. But ten years later, F. Koeing patented
a steam-powered printing press which printed double the sheets in the same
amount of time. By 1814, Koeing was able to print a copy of The Times. By now printing speeds had
increased to 1 100 sheets per hour. Because of the printing speed, newspapers
could reach subscribers several hours earlier, which meant that information was
able to spread at a much quicker rate than what it had a few years earlier.
Because newspapers where becoming one of the quickest ways of
spreading information, pictorial images remained a handwork process until the
arrival of photography. Photography began with Joseph Niepce, who by 1826 produced
the first photographic image. By 1839 an new type of photograph emerged. It was
much clearer and more detailed that the Niepce photograph a few years earlier.
It was names the daguerreotype photograph (Above).
Advancements in photography
came when William H. F. Talbot managed to increase the light sensitivity of the
paper used for photography. This new photography became known as the calotype photograph.
With
the all the improvements in photography, advertisers were now able to include
the use of imagery to further entice the viewer into buying their product.
Photography also became useful in newspaper. Journalists began to use
photography to “solidify’ their story. A way to provide actually proof of a
story. These photographs also helped with the sales of newspapers because
people were, and still are, attracted first by the images used and only then
would they read the article.
Communication aids during the Victorian era can be seen as a
direct reflection of the time and the stage of complete change and almost
confusion in the city.
Once
something is created, the process does not stop there. The invention begins to
alter the way people lived and influences the way they will live. Technologies
prescribe how people interact with each other. Progress was the buzz word of
this time and changes were occurring everywhere. Because of all the advancements
in communication, things were able to speed up and change rapidly.
TRANSPORTATION
Before
the major technical transformations brought forward by the industrial
revolution at the end of the 18th century, no forms of motorized transportation
existed. Transport technology was mainly limited to harnessing animal labour
for land transport and to wind for maritime transport. The transported
quantities were very limited and so was the speed at which people and freight
were moving. Horses were used to carry heavy loads
and they were also useful because they were able to go for much longer
distances with these loads than humans.
The economic importance and the geopolitics of
transportation were recognized very early, notably for maritime transportation
since before the industrial revolution, it was the most convenient way to move
freight and passengers around. Great commercial empires were established with
maritime transportation. Initially, ships were propelled by rowers and sails
were added around 2,500 BC as a complementary form of propulsion. By Medieval
times, an extensive maritime trade network, the highways of the time, centred
along the navigable rivers, canals, and coastal waters of Europe (and also
China) was established. Shipping was extensive and sophisticated using the
English Channel, the North Sea, the Baltic and the Mediterranean where the most
important cities were coastal or inland ports (London, Norwich, Königsberg,
Hamburg, Bruges, Bordeaux, Lyon, Lisbon, Barcelona, and Venice). Trade of bulk
goods, such as grain, salt, wine, wool, timber and stone was taking place. By
the 14th century galleys were finally replaced by full-fledged sail ships
(the caravel and then the galleon) that were faster and required smaller crews.
1431 marked the beginning of the European expansion with the discovery by the
Portuguese of the North Atlantic circular wind pattern, better known as the trade winds.
A similar pattern was also found on the Indian and Pacific oceans with the
monsoon winds.
The factors that have led to the remarkable economic,
technological and social changes. Four of them appear to be prevalent and
interdependent:
•
The
scientific method. Mostly the outcome of changes that took place in the 17th
century, often named the "Age of Reason", it triggered a rational
approach to the laws of nature (physics, chemistry, engineering, etc.).
•
Capital
markets. Institutions such as banks able to gather capital pools and invest
them in economic ventures. The process of capital accumulation and allocation
became increasingly rational.
•
Communications
and transport infrastructure. The setting and development of mechanized
transport systems supporting the distribution of resources and the setting of
comparative advantages.
It was during the industrial revolution that massive
modifications of transport systems occurred in two major phases, the first
centred along the development of canal systems
and the second centred along railways. This period marked the development of
the steam engine that converted thermal energy into mechanical energy,
providing an important territorial expansion for maritime and railway transport
systems. Much of the credit of developing the first efficient steam engine in
1765 is attributed to the British Engineer Watt, although the first steam
engines were used to pump water out of mines. It was then only a matter of time
to see the adaptation of the steam engine to locomotion. In 1769, the French
engineer Cugnot built the first self-propelled steam vehicle, along with being
responsible for the first automobile accident ever recorded. The first
mechanically propelled maritime vehicle was tested in 1790 by the American
Inventor Fitch as a mode of fluvial transportation on the Delaware River. By
1807, commercial steam boat services were inaugurated. This marked a new era in
the mechanization of land and maritime transport systems alike.
