In 1921, Otto Neurath, an Austrian social scientist, introduced graphic design to help the understanding of social and economical data. In 1925, the Museum of Economy and Society used such graphics for the public. This style of presentation at the time was called the Viennese method, but now it is known as Isotype charts.
Placards and posters existed from ancient times. The Greek "axons" and the Roman "Albums", with their decorative designs and announcements, were quite similar to today's posters. In ancient Greece the names of athletes and games schedules were written on columns that were slowly turning on an axis. Romans used whitewashed walls in their markets in which sellers, money lenders, and slave traders wrote their announcements and advertised for their products, and to attract the attention of customers they added an attractive design.
With the invention of printing, in 1440, and particularly the development of the lithographic process, invented by a Czech named Alois Senefelder in 1798 in Austria, creation of posters became feasible. Although handmade posters existed before, they were mainly used for government announcements. William Caxton, who in 1477 started a printing company in England, produced the first printed poster.
In 1870, the advertising poster emerged.
After the Second World War, with the emergence of new color printing technology and particularly appearance of computers, the art of posters underwent a new revolutionary phase. People can create color posters on their laptop computers and create color prints at a very low cost. Unfortunately, the high cost of sophisticated printing processes can only be afforded mostly by government entities and large corporations. With the emergence of the internet, the role of posters in conveying information has greatly diminished. However, some artists still use chromolithography in order to create works of art in the form of print. In this regard the difference between painting and print has been narrowed considerably.
Today graphic design has penetrated into all aspects of modern life. In particular modern architecture has been influenced by graphics.
Pornography
Pornography (or porn) is the name for writing, pictures, and films which feature sex for the sole or primary purpose of arousing people sexually, either to help them masturbate, or to prepare them for sex with a partner.
When, however, writing, images, and movies feature or deal with sex, or images show naked people or persons engaged in a sexual act, not to arouse readers or viewers sexually, but to deal with sex as a reality that is moral, psychological, cultural, or aesthetic, people do not call such works "pornography," but "erotica."
In the law of most countries, showing naked people is not called "pornography" unless the people are doing something sexual; even so, material that counts as pornographic may still be legal. When people consider photographs or movies to harm or to disrespect the people depicted or the viewers, or to violate the community's moral or religious standards, they condemn the material as "obscene." Most countries have laws against obscenity. One type of pornography against the law in most countries is child pornography.
Pornography can made in different media. Some ways include photos, drawings, paintings, animations, and movies. Live shows (like sex shows or striptease) are usually not considered pornography. Pornography is made to entertain adults. Many people are involved in the industry of making, selling or showing pornography. People shown in pornographic movies are called pornographic actors (or actresses), and when they attain the popularity to appear in any films, they are called "porn stars."
The word "pornography" comes from the Greek words meaning "prostitute" and "writing". The word was first used for stories about sex, but is now also used for photographs, paintings, illustrations, cartoons, and movies that depict sex to arouse people to sexual activity. It is also called "porn" or "porno" for short.
There are different ideas about what is and what is not pornography. Diana Russell, a psychologist, says that there is a difference between pornography and erotica. The word "erotica" is often used for pictures, movies or stories that focus on the beauty of sexuality. There is not often a clear difference between "erotica" and "pornography." The dispute over what is or is not pornography can even go to the courts.
Some people believe that anything that shows a naked body is a type of pornography. The laws of the United States and many other countries do not support this. There can be all sorts of reasons for showing a naked or partly undressed body. Some of these reasons include art work or a medical diagram.
There are different kinds of pornography. The term "soft porn" is sometimes used for pictures that show people who may or may not be naked, but who are posed in a sexy manner. Pictures of women like this are sometimes called "cheesecake," and pictures of men are called "beefcake." Pornographic pictures or movies which show people having sex are sometimes called "hard porn."
Businesses have been making pornography for many years. Until the 1970s, businesses making pornography were small because there were many laws against it. In the 1970s, pornographic magazines such as "Penthouse" became a huge and successful business. Pornographic movies also become popular at this time. In the 1980s, the creation of the video cassette recorder caused a rise in the pornography business. A number of companies began making pornographic videotapes in the United States. In the 1990s, as more people began using the Internet, businesses began selling pornographic pictures on the Internet. In the 2000s, the increased speed of computers allowed pornography companies to sell porn videos over the Internet. The pornography brand Mitchell Gaffney was the first website that contained such items.
Many different kinds of businesses make and sell pornography: magazines such as Playboy and Hustler, movie companies such as Vivid Video, and web sites, such as Pornhub, that make and sell porn. Since "pornography" is a word that many people consider to be the name for something that is morally wrong or ugly, businesses do not say that they are in "the business of pornography," but rather in the "adult entertainment" business.
In the nations of Western Europe and the United States, the law permits people who have reached the legal age of adulthood (the age of majority) to own, buy, sell, make, or participate in pornography. Laws about the public display of pornographic materials for sale may vary in the West: in The Netherlands the very liberal laws allow stores that sell pornography to display books, magazines, photographs, and the covers of videos openly, but in Canada and the United States the laws require that such stores keep pornographic material out of the sight of children. In many nations of the Middle East, however, like Indonesia, Iran, and Pakistan, making or owning pornography is a crime.
In the law of most countries, those people who have not reached the age of majority, or minors, may not buy, let alone sell, pornography of any sort. More importantly, there are laws against showing minors naked in photographs or films meant to arouse others sexually, or showing them engaged in sexual acts. Such material is called "child pornography," and is considered not just illegal, but a very serious crime. Because the laws against child pornography (also called "child porn") are meant to protect children against people who "use" or "exploit" them, the laws also require those who make pornographic photos or films to keep records to prove that their models, actors, and actresses are over the age of legal majority.