Anne Odling-Smee
Analogue processes:
- 'over time, printing has increasingly become technology rather than a craft or trade. In the nineteenth century, technical developments within the industry meant that power-driven machines began to take over tasks traditionally carried out by craftsman. Design standards also dropped as printers tried to outdo one another, exploiting emerging technologies to answer the needs of large firms who relied on printing to identify, describe and label their products in a newly competitive market'.
- 'more recently, the relationship between design and printing has become particularly problematic. Since digitisation in the twentieth century, the gap between the role of the printer and the designer has widened, leaving designers with little understanding of how to achieve the results they want'.
- 'although software can now stimulate the effects of overprinting, designers still have to imagine results, as computers are unable to display on screen what actually happens on paper - they cannot provide an accurate prediction'.
- Eric Kindel, graphic design tutor at Reading University (2002) 'concluded that many designers might avoid colour printing because of "the perennial difficulty of prediction, the scarcity of imaginative examples, the lack of clients and printers willing to countenance uncertainty and experimentation, or the configurations of present-day software applications that obscure the expressive potential of the printing process" (pg.20).
- 'digitisation has had a big effect on the quality of printed matter. The vast proportion of material is now litho-printed, and for short-runs, digital outputs (where toner is used instead of ink) are increasingly used. The litho-print process has now attained such a high level of finish that the things it produces can appear bland and characterless; and digital outputs can look monotonous, restricted by the set of colours and limited paper stock available'.
- "there is a tendency for printers to scan very well, but sometimes you want roughness" (Phil Baines, designer and tutor at Central Saint Martins).
- 'digitisation has meant that professional levels of reproduction can be quickly and easily achieved, but it has also made the notion of quality in design more ambiguous. It seems unlikely that digital reproduction will ever match the immense subtleties of tone and resolution that analogue imagery can contain'.
- "software is evolving as a compost heap of useless options, expired releases and nonsensical interfaces, making computers harder to read and increasingly less reliable" (J Maeda and N Negroponte, 2000). As far as Negroponte is concerned, the practice of digital art and design will inevitably have difficulty in moving forward while its virtual tools are designed merely to emulate existing tools, and while it still uses terminology derived from pre-digital processes' (pg.21).
- "print is undergoing an extraordinary renaissance in which it celebrates materiality, flexibility and desirability - areas in which screen-based design cannot compete" (Michael Worthington, 1999) (pg.22).
Letterpress:
- reasons for the resurgence in the use of traditional printing methods - 'the main attraction is tactility, which computers cannot yet simulate' (pg.22).
- 'physical involvement with a process that produces work with distinctive qualities of weight, texture and smell also creates an opportunity for creative and inventive thinking that, effectively, working in front of a screen removes'.
- 'designers are forced to conceptualise pictorial space by setting type in reverse, which encourages them to consider a wider range of options before deciding on a solution; while on-screen, they usually work from left to right because this is closer to the process of reading' (pg.24).
Exposing the process:
- 'designers are recognising that some people feel more comfortable knowing how something is made; and it is easier to visualise the print process when it uses analogue as opposed to digital methods. Evidently, this is beneficial for the designer, but it is less obvious why consumers of design value this purely visual understanding' (pg.28).
- 'analogue processes appear to be associated with the notion of trust. These methods also suggest that time and effort have been invested to a degree that digital printing does not need to, so an item that has been created using this kind of print becomes more precious' (pg.29).
Effects of digitisation:
- "you can imagine anything you like and put it in a computer, but it will never have the perfection of the hand-drawn image or the freedom which I value so much. I don't like the square, aggressive teeth of the computer screen" - Polish designer, Roman Cieslewicz (1993). Ultimately, one of the drawbacks of digital processes is the freedom they offer - they can prove as disabling as they are liberating'.
- "its just a more complicated pencil" - Alan Fletcher. The computer is no different from any other tool, and should be treated accordingly. But the lack of physical engagement is a hindrance. The use of the computer's virtual functions denies designers the opportunity to retain the image in their imagination or to visualise an outcome, encouraging reliance upon the prescribed routes that have been conceived by the program's creators' (pg.32).
- 'because of this, some designers are now going back to analogue methods where the whole nature of the process is fixed, where decisions have to be considered, and where experiments have a direct impact on people's understanding of the design process' (pg.33).
Analogue and digital:
- 'computers have transformed graphic design. They offer both flexibility and speed, enabling more control over the pre-print process than ever before' (pg.40).
- 'but computers are not seductively useful - they are a necessity. Almost everything has to go through a computer at some stage, as designs need to be put into a format that printers and producers are used to receiving. Yet regardless of this, the computer is no more conductive to creativity than other processes, "the computer does nothing for you, it just makes things a lot easier" describes Pepijn Zurburg' (pg.42).
Linking old and new:
- 'proof that the demands of the industry are changing is demonstrated by the fact that digital programmers have also been finding ways to link old and new forms of technology. John Maeda, for example, brings all the qualities of craftsmanship into his work. Some new forms of software are helping to encourage the integration of non-digital processes. It is now possible to have illustrative animation on websites, making it easier for graphic designers to incorporate personal image-making processes into a digital medium'.
- 'the limitations imposed through restricting themselves to just one tool are finally driving many people to start mixing other techniques and processes into their work' (pg.43).
REFERENCE: Odling-Smee, A. (2002) The New Handmade Graphics: Beyond Digital Design. Hove, Sussex: Rotovision.
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