Journal 2: Chapters 1-4

Reading chapters 1-4 of Meg’s History of Graphic Design was quite challenging in sense. I’m not a great reader, or rather, it is difficult for me to retain information on things that I’ve just read. Though thinking in practicality, and how we utilize language today and knowing the foundations of that- the text became easier to absorb and understand, and interesting all in all.

What stood out to me was the development of our language today and reading about the North Semitic alphabet, that section in particular made me curious and I searched up a bunch of images utilizing the Phoenician alphabet. Truly interesting if you think about the context and how it was utilized by traders! The other thing that piqued my interest was definitely the relationship between language, writing systems, and religion. Coming from a Buddhist background, what was interesting was Chapter 3 and learning about Buddhist dharanis were printed and spread throughout Japan from China.