- There are some incredibly interesting parallels
between the late 19th century and today.
It was a time when technology
changed people's lives dramatically.
The pace of the world increased faster and faster,
with transportation and communication.
New technologies replaced human labor.
There was a growing, enormous disparity
between the very rich and poor.
Speed began to eclipse quality.
And the specialized hand skills became irrelevant.
Sound familiar?
In the same way that William Morris, John Ruskin
and May Morris rejected the industrial and mechanized,
many designers today have stepped away from the computer
and returned to the handmade.
Letterpress and other analog processes
have seen a renaissance.
Handwritten type is clearly a rejection
of the high digital look of the 1990s.
Designers such as Doyald Young
maintained typographic standards
as rigid as Goudy and Rogers,
and passed these hand-drawn type skills
on to the millenials.
The audience is desperate for authenticity
in a world where anything can be simulated digitally.
The artisan bakers, chocolate makers, IPA beer breweries,
and small book presses reflect this need.
Designers such as Marian Bantjes
looked at the slick veneer of design in the 1980s and 90s
and have turned to pattern and ornamentation.
In a similar fashion to Owen Jones
and his Alhambra inspired forms,
Bantjes' study of pattern inspires her work.
In this instance however,
Bantjes integrates the handmade and digital,
unafraid to venture into new technologies.
The arts and crafts movement created
a legacy of limited edition books.
For decades, these were expensive to create and distribute.
In a strange turn of events,
the limited edition book has now been made cost effective
with on-demand digital printing,
companies such as Blurb and BookBaby.
This has created a rejuvenation of interest
in books and book making.
Ten years ago, it was predicted that by 2015
people would find all content on the screen,
and books would be extinct.
But the opposite has happened.
Small publishers like Unit Editions in London
have resurrected limited edition book making.
Finely made books are treasure today,
mirroring the arts and crafts small press movement.
There's some elements of the arts and crafts movement
that remained part of the graphic design
and applied design worlds for over a century.
The ideas of quality, skill, and education
have not diminshed.
What we call transmedia today,
working across all media with one design,
is the same as the arts and crafts concept
of designing for the whole,
from the furniture to the dishes.
The greatest impact, however,
is the inspiration and creative spirit
that the arts and crafts designers handed down to us.
They were the first group to suggest
that more was not better,
and cheaper was not the end goal.
They banded together and redefined the idea of a designer.
A person who sees the world not as it is,
but as it should be.