THE NEW HANDMADE GRAPHICS: BEYOND DIGITAL DESIGN:
Anne Odling-Smee
Introduction: the rough and the smooth:
- 'the designers in The New Handmade Graphics are no longer willing to put up with the homogenity that has been spreading through globalisation or the widespread use of modern technologies' (pg.6).
- 'not everyone wants to live in an environment full of polished surfaces, artificial materials and perfectly designed spaces - generally, people are attracted to rough edges, natural fibres, and mistakes they can see'.
- 'graphic designers are beginning to realise this at a time when their industry has become increasingly dominated by perfectionist technology. The last fifteen years have witnessed a period of excess in graphics, with designers producing complex fusions of computer-generated matter that have often confused the presentation of information and achieved limited visual impact' (pg.6).
- 'some practitioners are becoming aware that because of the ease and speed of digital production, there is a danger of complacency; in general, people are now more equivocal about the benefits of using the computer in graphic design, particularly as a means of creative expression' (pg.7).
- 'graphic design is a key indicator of how technology is being transformed. Designers have to keep abreast of the latest developments to stay competitive and meet, on one side, the technical demands of print and production and, on the other side, the commercial demands of clients. Each new invention or discovery initiates a change in production methods, which is followed soon afterwards by a shift in visual style' (pg.7).
- 'by the 1970's, design had also become an intrinsic part of business in western countries, at a time when corporate agencies were beginning to replace many of the smaller design firms'.
- 'house styles were considered essential, every company wanted a logo and the 'Swiss style' became the generic look, with its anonymous san-serifs, lack of decoration and rigid adherence to grids. This strain of graphic design became no more than a mass-marketed style that was applied across a wide range of consumer products, leaving little or no scope for individual creativity' (pg.8).
- 'various experimental movements in graphic design emerged during this time, partly in reaction to this aesthetic uniformity' e.g. punk/new wave (pg.8).
- 'although the poor reproduction of the printed graphics was often criticised, the typographical execution somehow seems to underline the quality of the design itself - it was a case of artistic expression being more important than technical perfection' (pg.10).
- graphic design critic, Silvano Capri - "what made the biggest impression on me in Polish graphics was something which is found in both commercial and free graphic work: the awareness of human values, deep faith in life seen as a continuation of other existences in other epochs. Such values are found ever more rarely in our art, which is becoming increasingly tightly enclosed within so-called pure aesthetic intelligence" (pg.10).
- deign critic, Rick Poyner (1998) - "the technology is boringly slow, the interfaces clumsy, the mainstream product banal, and who really wants to spend large chunks of their leisure time gawping at computer screens" (pg.11).
- 'people are far more visually aware than they were thirty years ago'.
- 'the demand for sophisticated media design had led to mass production, and the computer has acted as an equaliser, erasing the difference between text, images, sounds and films. As a result, everything has become homogenised. As a result, most design succeeds in generating only a brief moment of interest that is quickly forgotten and that allows little opportunity for imaginative engagement' (pg.11).
- John Maeda - "in the field of digital art, an entire generation of creators shop at the equivalent of home-improvement megastores, eagerly acquiring all kinds of prefabricated components and add-ons. Blissfully unaware - or even worse, uninterested in - the basic nature of the technologies they are using as tools" (J Maeda and N Negraponte, 2000) (pg.12).
- the use of reductive rather than additive methods.
- 'as the influence of the West penetrates into the consciousness of increasing numbers of global communities via an ever-expanding market for its goods and, as a result, cultural differences diminish, designers have to work harder to resist homogenity'.
- 'in addition, the boundaries between disciplines are breaking down and the public now also have a greater influence on design, having become more astute judges through their own daily experiences of living in an intensely consumerist society' (pg.13).
REFERENCE: Odling-Smee, A. (2002) The New Handmade Graphics: Beyond Digital Design. Hove, Sussex: Rotovision.
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