Until the late 20th century, the graphic-design medium was based on hand-craft processes: layouts that were made by hand in order to create an idea; type was specified and ordered from a typesetter; and type proofs and photostats of images were placed in position on heavy paper or card for photographic copying and platemaking. Over the course of the 1980s and early ’90s, however, rapid changes in digital computer hardware and software completely altered graphic design.
Software for Apple’s 1984 Macintosh pc, such as the MacPaint programme created by computer programmer Bill Atkinson and graphic designer Susan Kare, had a majorly revolutionary human interface. Tool icons controlled by a mouse or graphics tablet enabled designers and artists to use computer graphics in a new, intuitive manner. The Postscript™ page-description language from Adobe Systems, Inc., enabled pages of type and graphics to be assembled onto graphic designs on screen. By the mid-1990s, the development of graphic design from drafting-table action to an on-screen computer activity was basically complete.
Personal computers placed typesetting tools into the realm of designers, and therefore a time of experimentation began in the design of new and unusual type-faces and page layouts. Type and graphics were layered, fragmented, and dismembered; type columns were overlapped and run at very long or short line lengths, and the sizes, weights, and typefaces were sometimes changed within single headlines, columns, and words. Much of this research happened in design education at art schools and universities. American designer David Carson, art director of Beach Culture magazine in 1989-91, Surfer in 1991-92, and Ray Gun magazine in 1992-96, caught the imagination of a youthful audience by taking such an experimental approach into graphic design.
Fast growth in onscreen software also enabled designers to make elements transparent; to stretch, scale, and bend elements; to layer type and images in mid-space; and to link imagery into complex montages. For example, in a United States postage stamp from 1998, designers Ethel Kessler and Greg Berger digitally montaged John Singer Sargent’s portrait of Frederick Law Olmsted with an image of New York’s Central Park, a site plan, and botanical art to commemorate the landscape architect. Interwoven, these images evoke a rich expression of Olmsted’s life and work.
The digital change in graphic design was shortly followed by public access to the internet. A whole new operation of graphic-design activity mushroomed in the mid-1990s when Internet business became a fast growing sector of the world-wide economy, causing organisations and businesses to scramble to establish websites. Designing a website involves layout of screens of information rather than of pages, but approaches to the use of type, images, and colour are similar to those used for print. Web design, however, requires a host of new considerations, including designing for navigation around the website and for using hypertext links to jump to additional information. An example of strong Web design is the Herman Miller for the Home Web site, designed by BBK Studio in 1998. These designers created a strong visual identity, effective navigation, and informational clarity. Attributes that added to the effectiveness of this website included a pleasing colour palette, an informative use of pictures of products, and a scrolling imagery of products.
Because of the world-wide effectiveness and reach of the Internet, the graphic-design sector is becoming increasingly global in scope. Moreover, the merging of motion graphics, animation, video feeds, and music into Web-site design has caused the merging of traditional print and broadcast media. As kinetic media expands from motion pictures and basic television to scores of cable-television channels, video games, and animated Web sites, motion graphics are becoming an increasingly important area of graphic design.
In the 21st century, graphic design is everywhere; it is a major component of the complex print and electronic information systems. It permeates modern society, delivering information, product identification, entertainment, and persuasive messages. The ongoing advancing of technology has dramatically changed the way graphic designs are created and distributed to a mass audience. However, the fundamental role of the graphic designer, providing expressive form and clarity of content to communicate messages, remains the same.
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