Print Clearly: Is graphic design dead? Maybe it's just on hiatus

MacWeek, July 20, 1998 by Kathleen Tinkel

Our growing reliance on the Mac over the ensuing decade drove us to take on work formerly left in the hands of skilled artisans. We also had to learn to spend serious money on technical gear and to allocate precious design time to keep it running.

The error of our ways

We made the common error of expecting software to take the place of people. For example, we tried to set type, little knowing how much silent work typographers had been doing for us. (We haven't learned, either: Printed pages are still strewn with typographic errors, including clotted letter-spacing and word spaces you could drive a truck through.)

Typesetting was just the beginning. Since then we've had to add technical knowledge that has little to do with the art of design. Modern designers must know about EPS and Adobe Acrobat files, scanning and halftones, color spaces, and more.

Bad habits

It's easy to understand how we came to focus on tools and production techniques instead of concepts and ideas. But it led to bad practices as we turned to gee-whiz computer tricks in lieu of thoughtful design:

* Graduated fills became as common as plain screen tints.

* Distorted type became commonplace as we converted type characters to paths, scaled letters in one dimension, skewed them at odd angles, and added 3-D effects and drop shadows.

* We love setting type in a circle. (Before the Mac, this logo cliche hadn't been popular for 50 or 60 years.)

* We started using clip art and stock photos instead of commissioning custom illustration and photography that was targeted to the project.

What goes around comes around

Armed with our Macs, we presumed to compete with our creative partners (typographers, illustrators, airbrush artists, retouchers and more), helping to put some trades out of business. But the computer isn't as capable as a talented artist or skilled artisan, so we traded quality for glitzy tricks and techniques, and turned ourselves into high-tech production artists in the process.

Our clients began to compete with us. They believed the ads that said they could dispense with expensive designers, and instead began to buy their own Macs and WYSIWYG software.

Is graphic design dead?

Perhaps not. Design trends are cyclical, and we may be emerging from the trough even now. I like to believe I see signs that we are rising above the computer and starting to think like designers again - to remember that graphic design is a process that begins with the design brief and ends with an ad, magazine spread, book, business form or Web site that fulfills the client's objectives.

Writer/consultant Kathleen Tinkel runs Tinkel Design in Westport, Conn. She welcomes reader comments at ktinkel@compuserve.com.