The Evolution of Digital Art

Up until the late 20th century, the graphic-design medium had been based on hand-craft processes: layouts were made by hand to visualize an idea; type was specified and ordered from a typesetter; and type proofs and photostats of images were assembled in position on heavy paper or card for photo reproduction and platemaking. Over the course of the 1980s and early ’90s, however, rapid advances 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 an intuitive way. The Postscript™ page-description language from Adobe Systems, Inc., allowed for pages of type and images to be assembled into graphic designs on screen. By the mid-1990s, the development of graphic design from a drafting-table action to an on-screen computer action was fundamentally complete.

Personal computers allowed typesetting tools to be placed into the realm of individual designers, and thence a time of experimentation occurred 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 occurred 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.

Rapid changes in onscreen software also allowed designers to make elements transparent; to stretch, scale, and bend them; to layer type and graphics 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 create a rich expression of Olmsted’s life and work.

The digital advancement in graphic design was shortly followed by public access to the Internet. A completely new operation of graphic-design activity mushroomed in the mid-1990s when internet commerce became a growth sector of the global economy, causing organizations and businesses to scramble to establish web-sites. Designing a website 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 host of new things to consider, including designing for navigation around the web-site 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 web-site included a consistent colour palette, an informative use of pictures of products, and a scrolling imagery of products.

Because of the world-wide usefulness and reach of the internet, the graphic-design business is becoming increasingly global in scope. Additionally, the blending 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 ubiquitous; it is a major component of our complex print and electronic information systems. It permeates contemporary society, bringing information, product identification, entertainment, and persuasive messages. The relentless advancing of technology has changed dramatically the way graphic design is created and distributed to a mass audience. However, the basic role of the graphic designer, adding expressive form and clarity of content to communicate messages, remains the same.

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