Up until the late 20th century, the graphic-design medium had been based on handicraft processes: layouts being drawn by hand so as to actualise a design; type was specified and ordered from a typesetter; and type proofs and photostats of images were placed into position on heavy paper or card for photographic copying and platemaking. During the 1980s and early ’90s, however, rapid advances in digital pc hardware and software radically changed graphic design.
Software for Apple’s 1984 Macintosh computer, 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 an intuitive way. The Postscript™ page-description language from Adobe Systems, Inc., allowed for 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 activity to an on-screen computer action was essentially complete.
Digital computers allowed typesetting tools to be placed into the homes of designers, and thence a time of experimentation began in the creation of new and unusual type-faces and page layouts. Type and graphics were layered, fragmented, and disfigured; type columns were overlapped and run at very long or short line lengths, and the sizes, weights, and fonts were changed within single headlines, columns, and words. Much of this type of research took place 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, captured the imagination of a youthful audience by taking this kind of experimental approach into graphic design.
Rapid changes in onscreen software also enabled designers to make elements transparent; to stretch, scale, and bend elements; to layer type and graphics in space; and to combine 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 a photograph 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 electronic advancement in graphic design was shortly followed by public access to the internet. A completely new operation of graphic design activity bloomed in the mid-1990s when internet commerce became a fast growing sector of the world-wide economy, causing companies and businesses to quickly 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 number of new considerations, including designing for navigation around the website and for using hypertext links to be taken 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 developed a strong visual identity, effective navigation, and informational clarity. Attributes that contributed to the effectiveness of this web-site included a pleasing colour palette, an informative use of pictures of products, and a scrolling montage of products.
Because of the universal usefulness and reach of the internet, the graphic-design trade is becoming increasingly global in scope. In addition, the merging of motion graphics, animation, video feeds, and music into website design has brought about 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 our complex print and electronic information systems. It permeates modern society, bringing information, product identification, entertainment, and persuasive messages. The unstoppable advance of technology has dramatically changed the way graphic designs are created and distributed to a mass market. However, the essential role of the graphic designer, adding expressive form and clarity of content to communicative messages, remains the same.
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