The Evolution of Digital Art

Until the late 20th century, the graphic-design area had been based on handicraft processes: layouts that were made by hand to bring into being an idea; 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 computer hardware and software radically altered graphic design.

Software for Apple’s 1984 Macintosh computer, such as the MacPaint program developed 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., enabled pages of type and images to be placed into graphic designs on screen. By the mid-1990s, the transition of design from a drafting-table action to an on-screen computer activity was virtually complete.

Personal computers allowed typesetting tools to be placed into the homes of designers, and thence a time of experimentation began in the design of new and unusual type and page layouts. Type and images were layered, fragmented, and disfigured; type columns were overlapped and run at very long or short line lengths, and the sizes, weights, and typefaces 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, caught the imagination of a youthful audience by taking this kind of experimental approach into publication design.

Fast advances in onscreen software also allowed designers to make elements transparent; to stretch, scale, and bend elements; to layer type and images in mid-space; and to amalgamate 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 photo of New York’s Central Park, a site plan, and botanical art to commemorate the landscape architect. Interwoven, these images show a rich expression of Olmsted’s life and work.

The digital advancement in graphic design was shortly followed by general public access to the Internet. A whole new operation of graphic design activity developed 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 web-sites. Designing a Web site involves layout of screens of information rather than of physical 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 things to consider, including designing for navigation through 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 purposeful visual identity, effective navigation, and informational clarity. Attributes that added to the effectiveness of this Web site included a consistent colour palette, an informative use of pictures of products, and a scrolling montage of products.

Because of the global attraction and reach of the internet, the graphic-design profession is becoming increasingly global in scope. In addition, the blending 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 expand 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 universal; it is a major component of our 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 design is created and distributed to a mass market. However, the fundamental role of the graphic designer, providing creative form and clarity of content to communicative messages, remains the same.

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