James Watt's steam engine is the first invention that impacted the industrialization of Western Europe and North America. It allowed for massive developments in technological and economic areas. Previously, illustrations, maps and books were hand-drawn and engraved, allowing for a limited number of costly editions. The steam engine brought changes in the area of mass production that manifested itself in the world of visual communication through the invention of lithography, a precursor to the printing press.
Alois Senefelder first developed lithography, the printing technique in which stone plates and a chemical process are combined to create images. This new approach to printing quickly spread throughout the art world because of its ease of use and lower cost than previous methods. Lithography allowed for a flat print plate, which encouraged longer runs than previous physical methods of imaging such as embossing or engraving, thus reducing the cost and increasing the efficiency of printing.
The next invention that greatly affected visual communications was the invention of photography. The first photography recorded dates from 1862 and would have been taken by Nicéphore Niépce, a French inventor. The process of making pictures by means of the action of light was done through mechanical devices at first, but it evolved fairly rapidly. The use of chemicals allowed for the application of color, and now, the digital devices we know as cameras can even allow us to keep or delete pictures before they are printed. The first simple, all-purpose, fixed-focus camera was invented in 1888 by American inventor George Eastman. He then founded the Kodak company, which has since become a world leader in the domain of photography.
The word "cinema" originates from the Greek work "kinema," which means the science of pure motion. After the advancements in photography, moving images were created first with a pinhole cinema, then the "camera obscura" effect and then finally motion pictures became available through projection. Some say the first mechanical inventions that allowed for moving images were created as early as 1891. The Lumiere brothers are commonly known as the first filmmakers in the cinematographic industry. In 1895, they showed their first movie, "Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory," which lasted a total of 46 seconds.