Collapse of Space and Time Continuum

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 19^th 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.