CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO FORENSIC GRAPHICS

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

The origin of graphic design can be traced back to the Paleolithic period, when the first known visual communication, known as cave art, arose around 38,000 BC (De Heij, 2012). 
Numerous cave art images and symbols were found in various sites globally, such as Altamira cave paintings in Spain, Apollo 11 cave stones in Namibia, Lascaux caves in southern France, Binnin Kudu cave art in Jigawa State, Nigeria, Lower Pecos rock art in Texas, Mexico, and Kakadu National Park, Australia, just to mention a few. Those art pieces that are usually referred to as cave art or cave painting are the origin of graphic design because they were mainly made to communicate among themselves, protect themselves from dangerous animals, and indicate a specific task or action at that time. They remain fundamentals of graphic design to this day, even though cave art is far from what are seen as graphic design presently. The word graphics is a generic term; in other words, it’s a broad field of study that encompasses many isciplines. Graphics is a part of our daily lives and is an amazingly powerful and persuasive tool for communication and transmission. Graphics can simply be defined as a process of communication through the use of text or image, or text and image combined to convey a message from a client to a specific audience utilizing posters, postcards, packages, banners, billboards, magazines, books, logos, the internet, and so on. Graphic design is a creative process that combines art and technology to inform, persuade, organize, stimulate, locate, identify, attract, and convey not only information but also moods and emotions to the target audience. 
On the other hand, the term forensics refers to the application of scientific methods, knowledge, techniques, and/or devices to identify a crime; likewise, it can seem to be scientific knowledge and/or methods of solving problems related to crime. 
Similarly, the term forensic refers to the application of scientific knowledge to a legal problem, especially the scientific analysis of physical evidence in court (Museum, 2022). Nevertheless, forensics is not just important in the courtroom; forensic evidence needs to be found before any scientific discussion in court can take 
place. This evidence can be found by forensic scientists and allies such as chemists, forensic graphic designers, biologists, psychologists, mathematicians, security printers, and artists. 
Forensic graphics is a scientific aspect of graphic design that deals with the research and development of sensitive paper documents and products. The main aim of forensic graphics is to protect and safeguard valuable paper documents from forgery and counterfeiting. Similarly, forensic graphics is a segment in the printing industry that focuses on the printing and protection of sensitive paper documents such as banknotes, checks, passports, tamper-evident, product authentication, certificates, postage stamps, identity cards, and so on. The main goal of security printing is to prevent forgery and counterfeiting.