“…computer-generated art is one of the defining styles of the 21st century so far.”

Art Acacia. The 21st Century Art Moment – What is it?

As this is my first ever blogging experience it seems fair that I tell you a bit about myself. In doing so you can understand why I selected the topic matter of my post. 

I’m am Erin. I was born and raised in Idaho. I like to do all of the traditional Idaho activities – biking, hiking, skiing, rafting…I enjoy lugging along my DSLR camera for all of those. I’ve always been drawn to the collision of art and technology. I am a graphic designer. I knew I wanted to be a graphic designer in high school, although I should have known in elementary school when I created homemade Beanie Baby magazines on my parent’s home computer. Yeah. True story. Beanie Babies were my original muse.

I have a Bachelor of Fine Art in Graphic Design and am chipping away at a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies. My focus areas are Marketing Communication and User Research. A well agreed upon definition of graphic design, “is complex combinations of words and pictures, numbers and charts, photographs and illustrations that…add up to something distinctive, or useful, or playful, or surprising, or subversive or somehow memorable.” (AIGA, the professional association for design, What is graphic design?)

Often times we don’t even notice all of the design around us. It’s everywhere. It’s in advertisements, magazines, restaurant menus, vehicle graphics, matchboxes, exterior signage, product packaging …everywhere. Once you start looking you can’t stop seeing it. It’s the Coca-Cola logo in it’s classic red or FedEx with its arrow signifying movement forward. It’s I *heart* New York and the Rolling Stones’s tongue album art. These pieces, while incredibly simple, represent deep meaning.

There have been many monumental moments in the history of design: Like the first time visuals were used to communicate around the year 700; to the invention of Gutenbergs’s printing press in 1450; the invention of daguerreotypes in the early 1800s; and the term “graphic design” being coined in 1920; the initial release of Illustrator in 1987 which ultimately gave designers specialized computer based graphic design software; and, perhaps one of the most monumental shifts in recent memory – the Adobe Creative Suite moving to a cloud environment in 2013.

Technology has greatly impacted our world, the practice of visual communication is no exception. Graphic design originally was created by hand. Paper and media cut with a precision utility knife, pieces balanced with a T ruler, and placed on the page with glue. I think most agree that hand-process is much more difficult than modern day graphic design. Technologies like the web, multimedia, interactive design, new digital tools (the mouse) have created nearly limitless possibilities. These technologies make designing faster and easier.  “…computer-generated art is one of the defining styles of the 21st century so far. Whether it’s commercial design, TV, video games, or commissioned work for an art gallery, these artists are pushing the boundaries of their resources, just as millennia of traditional artists have before them.” (Acacia) 

One of the most amazing aspects of technology is the sheer speed in which information can be shared. Photographs used to be captured on film, and then developed through a multistep process of trial and error. One print at a time was created. Now, we can take a high quality photos on our smart device, edit it for contrast, and instantly send it off for the whole world to see. 

Ethnographic reading and research for my masters degree has allowed me to explore research methods that contribute to our users experience. A note that continues to echo in my mind is by Mark Weiser, a computer scientist who believed, “the most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it.” This drive to embed designs into everyday human life, providing hugely impactful experiences while being seemingly invisible exists across so many platforms. 

For a designer, the Creative Cloud software has woven itself into our everyday life. It’s easy to access on all kinds of devices: desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

This has me wondering how technology has impacted a designers ability to focus on the details of a design, think deliberately about the objective, and execute with clarity and creativity, all while designing in our technologically advanced age.

Digital technology and modern graphic design techniques have greatly impacted the way our society creates and engages with contemporary art and visual communication. Artists face challenges because of fast paced design environments that don’t allow for throughout thought and conceptualization. Additionally, staying relevant means keeping up with technological advances that are endlessly evolving. For a professional designer, it has created immense hours of practice and education. Being unique and authentic is a requirement when users are engaging with endless choice. While the need for extensive education is required for from scratch design, there now exist types of software that can make anyone a designer.

One of those pieces of software is Adobe Spark. Adobe’s pitch for Spark is, “Create impactful social graphics, web pages, and short videos in minutes with Adobe Spark.”

Spark features design templates, a library of photographs and illustrations, and a selection of typefaces all just a quick click away. This software has the power to make anyone with a computer a designer.  Spark claims effortless creation and beautiful results. It says you can “create in minutes, share instantly, and get inspired.” Adobe Post, a subset of Spark in an app form, for example, uses the language “remix this template.” And, then prompts the user to select pre-determined color palettes, play with the design and the effects associated, resize if needed or adjust the layout (to another pre-existing) option.

For a professional designer programs like Spark can actually be a bit frustrating. While there are a lot of different pre-selected options, it takes away from some of the creativity. You are required to work with in the softwares designated rules. Beyond selecting a font or a color there is no latitude for human decision. While this is frustrating for someone who practices design, I’m sure folks are unfamiliar with design love the ease of putting a quick social media post together or laying out a flyer for their company’s up and coming event. The deliverables you can create are essentially endless. The software runs on desktop and laptop computers alike. To boot, the software is in app form and can be utilized with tablets and finessed with tools like Apple’s Pencil.

I do have concerns these graphic design tools take the human out of design. But, I also see that the principles of good design seem to reside in the digital software. The latest versions of online graphic design tools do what they claim to do. They make “beautiful graphics, web pages, and stories in minutes”… and they make those exact same graphics with those exact same layouts for everyone that logs in.