It was interesting to feel the images become less familiar as I proceeded. During my perusal, I avoided looking at the dates each time I looked at the image, but saved examination of the dates for occasional moments. This allowed me to take guesses regarding the dates of various images. I found myself accurate with ten years, up until the turn of the previous century (i.e., 1900). This was rather surprising, and indicated that there truly are distinct shifts in design aesthetic between the decades in recent centuries. This development seems to mirror scientific development, which was slow and plodding for centuries and has quickened in the last hundred years.
Noticing this at approximately 1900 made me wonder sort milestones were occurring around the end of the 18th century. According to the text, this time in history resulted in the transition to art nouveau, when design began to focus on "inventing new forms, rather than copying forms from nature" (Meggs and Purvis, 2012, p. 232) I surprised to discover that art nouveau appeared to be the source of change, considering that until an art class a year ago, I had never heard of art nouveau. I find it interesting how movements/principles can impact how we perceive information, even when we are unaware of the movement. This underscores the need to study the history of design, the movements throughout the past might be inspirational for future design endeavors.
Works Cited
Meggs, P. B., & Purvis, A. W. (2012). Meggs' History of Graphic Design (5th ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
