Graphic design in a box

National Forum, Spring 1996 by Thornton, Richard S

I am sure other professionals have faced similar advertising hype But the flyer is indicative of recent changes in graphic design brought on by the computer. Suddenly, untrained individuals have access to inexpensive tools that can be used for a variety of publications. New software has templates that will help you create newsletters, logos, announcements, letterhead, business cards, and home pages on the World Wide Web. Why hire a professional when, for under thirty dollars, you can buy a computer program that has clip art, a multitude of type fonts, and other tools that make it easy to use by just about anyone who can follow simple instructions? And where else can you get guaranteed success?

THE COMPUTER REVOLUTION

Low-cost computers and software have radically challenged the working procedure of designers. Historically, designers relied on outside professionals, such as typesetters and printers, to provide the technical results of their trade. The designers needed only to create the concept, seek approval from the client, and assemble the mechanical or finished art to produce the printed piece. Once the type size and style were specified for the typesetter, the resulting proofs were glued to a board with all art and design elements for the final production. The relationship among designers, typesetters, paper companies, and printers was symbiotic and almost exclusive.

The computer changed this association. Graphic designers still have a special relationship with suppliers, but most typesetters have disappeared, and their duties have been absorbed by the graphic designer. Now the client usually delivers the copy on a disk, and the designer creates the layout and formats the copy. Once the client approves the layout, the information is fed into the computer for prepress preparation, and everything is stored on a disk. The printer takes the disk and translates it to the final printed job. A trail of digitized information passes from client to designer to printer.

A BRIEF HISTORY

To help put this process into a historical perspective, it is good to review the last decades in graphic design. In the 1950s young designers were trying to change their image as commercial artists trained in studio art programs as painters and printmakers. They did not want to follow their predecessors as artists who lost sight of their lofty goals as professional studio artists and sold their souls to work in commerce. The new generation of designers was inspired by a group of European designers who saw their practice as something other than just adding artistic devices to help sell soap. These designers said that their purpose was to act as interpreters between the client and the public, to filter the information so that the content was placed in a visual context that facilitated broader understanding. It was this generation of graphic designers in the 1950s and 1960s who gave the profession respectability and became the mentors for those who followed.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s younger designers questioned the International Style that promoted structured, anonymous designs. Some architects who were redefining modernism and calling it Post-Modern inspired this new generation of designers. Other designers looked to Russian Constructivism from the 1920s for inspiration; their intuitive approach to design allowed for individual interpretation and relied on a strong graphic image suited for the contemporary idiom. There were other influences, but the most important were developments with the new technology.

The real change in graphic design occurred when computer type and image software became a primary tool for the professional in the 1980s. Photographic images were digitized on the Scitex Response System so that the operator could manipulate colors, dimensions, and even content. The images were stored and changed in ways limited only by the imagination of the designer. Text and electronic images were combined as layers of information. The results of these innovations in the mid-1980s was called New Wave Design.

THE REVOLUTION IN TYPE FONTS

The computer also provided major changes in the availability of type fonts. In the past, the number of typefaces for most consumers was limited to what the corner print shop had in stock. If designers were not close to a large type house, the alternatives were more restricted. This is not true today. For a few pennies a computer user can have access to just about any script, sans serif, serif, and decorative faces that have been around for 150 years

What is interesting is that, even with the wide availability of type, young designers are not excited by the traditional typefaces. Instead, they use software programs to create new type forms. With this software it is no longer necessary to render mechanical drawings of each letter; all of the drawing is accomplished on the computer. Designers will sometimes take one or two existing type forms, combine them, and create a hybrid font. They disregard proportion and harmony of weight of letters that have been refined for almost 2,000 years and manipulate the shapes to create barely recognizable letters. Typography is no longer used to communicate information but to express emotion and feeling. It is not important to be able to read the text as much as it is to sense that the letters express a new style and attitude. The new type design compliments fashion's grunge look with its ill-fitting clothes and pierced body parts. Some call it "garbage type." As these type faces became popular in publications, major corporations have begun to adopt them. It is not unusual to see the same letters that at one time were ridiculed, used to promote such mainstream products as Coca-Cola and American Express.