- In 1984, Apple released the Macintosh.
I was in college and Lou Danziger,
one of my teachers, asked my to take it out
of the box and see if we could use it.
As it turns out, it could make typography.
Since nobody was there to teach me the right way,
I learned to use the mouse upside down.
When the Mac was released, shock waves
ran through the entire profession.
Some designers refuse to touch it.
A famous designer said he couldn't stand the smell of it.
But the Mac would revolutionize the entire industry.
The initial options were primitive:
Helvetica or Times Roman,
bitmapped images, and slow processing.
As technology improved, the design
solutions became more refined.
Typically, when a new medium is introduced,
it will try to emulate a previous form.
Early photography tried to look painterly.
Now, designers try to find language
unique to the digital environment.
Early work took the language of the
medium the Bitmap and exaggerated it.
Images were pixelated or degenerated.
Digital errors in typography were highlighted.
The idea of accident and imperfection
was incorporated into design.
The digital medium enhanced the idea of
new wave typography and three-dimensional space.
Typography became radically three-dimensional and layered.
A solution that would have required days of creating
a complex mechanical with multiple layers
of physical films could now be
created and manipulated with ease.
Scott Makela's typographic treatments for a
Michael and Janet Jackson video were revolutionary.
The typeface with imperfections and
exaggerated forms was animated dimensionally.
The suggestion of three-dimensional typography
was now a reality in a screen-based medium: motion.
Many of the designers exploring the possibilities
in the digital arena had embraced
post modernism and deconstruction.
Lorraine Wild's poster for the
Southern California Institute of Architecture
was layered with an image, fine lines, and typography.
The viewer was invited to reconstruct the
meaning from the individual pieces.
The digital revolution also created
the democratization of design.
Now, anyone from a designer to your mother
could design an invitation, logo, or flyer.
A clear split occurred between civilians who
now made low-end design such as in-house newsletter
and high-end design created by trained designers.
The ability to design fonts in a digital format
created opportunities for exploration.
Jeff Keedy's work maintained the highest level
of typographic refinement and skill but
explored the way we read and the
cultural meaning inherent in a typeface.
Font design then moved from a control of a small group
of highly trained experts to a discipline open to everyone.
The upside being a proliferation of fonts.
The downside being the lack of quality in many of them.
Perhaps the most revolutionary shift in graphic design
was the change from a designer as an
art director to an editor and creator.
The art director had traditionally been like
an orchestra leader, pulling together photographers,
illustrators, and typographers to make a solution.
Now, the designer did all of these
things in the digital box.
There were more options than ever before.
Rather than actively creating a solution,
a designer now edited from a wide range of possibilities.