A fuller, in the Roman times, was a person who cleansed wool of impurities, often using urine (a taxable commodity back then). In 15th and 16th Century England, whipping boys had an even worse job; bearing the punishments deserving of ill-behaved princes. Befuddling? Well, if you were to travel back in time to meet one, they would doubtless be equally flummoxed by your description of professions like social media marketer, used SIM-card salesperson or graphic designer. While it is certainly one of the coolest jobs to which one might reserve bragging rights, Graphic Design actually has a relatively short history – Well, under it’€™s current name, at least. ‘ Graphic Design Before Graphic Designers ’ by David Jury (Thames and Hudson, 2012) brings us a detailed pre-history of the field. For those who have wondered why published histories of graphic design almost always begin in the twentieth century, that’s because of the simple fact that it was not a clear-cut pr...
