Disparate or desperate elements? ;o)

Personally, this seems like a can-of-worms debate. Mixing the terms 'graphic design', 'postmodern' and 'art form' will only lead to an infinitely long discussion with few conclusions. ;o)

Ha, yeah disparate..learn something new everyday, in this case..spelling!
Hmm..I'm just wondering if I could get away with handing in a message board thread as an essay.
Let's open this can of worms..

Okay, so maybe I'm being a tad cheeky and, ahem, lazy by trying to get others to answer, but can anyone help me at least try to uderstand what sort of issues the tutor would expect me to discuss, I really have no idea how to start. It seems like such a broad question!

>Graphic design has always been a post modern artform as it montages/collages disperate elements together.

In the first place, question whether montage and collage are adequate definitions of Post-modernism.

Then, try to disprove the statement by finding some historical examples that are not collage/montage/Pomo.

My essay has been changed to "Why have we seen a return to the handmade over recent years?"

As designers, as opposed to students, I was curious as to whether you have noticed a return to handmade processes within graphic design and more specifically typography. If so has this had any significant effect on firstly the industry and secondly the way in which you personally work?

"It seems like such a broad question!"

Well, yea, I completely agree...hence my original comment. ;O)

"Why have we seen a return to the handmade over recent years?"

I'd say a) people are nostalgic and b) the dot-com bubble was the pinnacle of digital everything...graphics, music, internet, PDAs, etc. and had no place to go but down.

In terms of personal work, I used to work here:

http://www.blincpublishing.com

which, at the time, was a small web firm + letterpress printing shop. A nice mix. I guess I'd say that affected my work by giving me the motivation and tools to easily experiment outside of the computer. Granted, a lot of what we did there ended up with the letterpressed aesthetic, which for us was a nice selling point.

So, would it be fair to say clients (particularly those with a knowledge of pritning processes) would prefer something that's been pressed as opposed to digitally printed?

The work on that site looks nice, I'm quite intrigued by the Geek Squad!

Also, when Microsoft was founded how substantially did this affect graphic design? Also why was the introduction the apple so popular?
Was it pretty much just convienience and speed?

"So, would it be fair to say clients (particularly those with a knowledge of pritning processes) would prefer something that's been pressed as opposed to digitally printed?"

I think that's too broad of a statement. Clients come in all shapes and sizes ;o)

A lot of our clients were actually other design firms that, obviously, knew of printing methods and media.

That said, we also had a lot of wedding/event invite type stuff where people were, IMHO, looking for something more unique. Not necessarily in look, but in terms of production. ie, it added a bit of perceived value to the piece when there was that tactile response (the impression of the type, the thicker paper stock, etc.) We had to hit the paper hard because people wanted to emphasize the fact that it was letterpressed. True letterpress shouldn't really advertise the fact that it was letterpressed.

Also, folks just found it fun to dig through the type cabinents.

"Also, when Microsoft was founded how substantially did this affect graphic design?"

In terms of producing work, not at all.

" Also why was the introduction the apple so popular?"

Because it was unlike anything else at the time. It had a mouse, you moved the mouse and it did things on screen. The original apps were geared toward the visual arts. It had the first set of fonts that weren't monospaced, etc.

Well I managed to write the introduction to my essay, only another 2000+ words to go! I managed to get an extension until Monday, though.

Why have we seen a return to the handmade over recent years?

I recently read that the average graphic designer spends about seventy five percent of his or her time working in front of a Mac. I�m not entirely sure how accurate this statement is and it certainly can be argued that every designer works in a different way to the next, yet the point remains that however much time is spent rectifying spacial errors in Quark, or attempting to attain the correct white balance in Photoshop, it is a significantly greater amount of time than thirty years ago.
The last monotype composing machine was built thirty years ago in 1975, the same year Microsoft was formed. From then on, the use of computers within the field of graphic arts has rapidly increased, however it was not until the introduction of the Apple Macintosh and �wysiwyg� interfaces in 1984 that computers began to really realise their potential. Primarily many designers were sceptical as, in terms of quality, the end results being produced by early systems were inferior to traditional printing methods such as letterpress, in the case of typography. The introduction of Apple�s �what-you-see-is-what-you-get� system replaced the need for complex programming skills. For the first time a computer system was available that was equipped to cater for the needs of one working within the visual arts. For the the first time the work under production could be viewed on screen, added to this was the introduction of the mouse, which enabled the designer to manipulate their work on screen whilst it was being made. For the first time technology was challenging traditional graphic design processes.
As technology and digital printing methods continue to improve and evolve it could be argued that the existence of traditional printing and mark making is now constantly going to be under threat and that the threat will cease to subside. With this in mind why is it that, especially in recent years, we have seen a return to the handmade? If traditional techniques no longer assimilates to quality then what purpose do they serve?

I also have to do an animation by Friday..why do I always leave things to the last minute?!

> Also, when Microsoft was founded how substantially did this affect graphic design? Also why was the introduction the apple so popular?
Was it pretty much just convienience and speed?

Matthew, I hate to say this, but... if you are asking these questions, then you have not done too much research. There are plenty of books at your local library, and sites on the internet if a library is not an option, that tell the story of personal computers, and the software programs, that had an effect on the way typesetting and graphic design work in general was done.

Get thee to a library, Matthew! :-)

Library is not an option, as I'm at home with bronchitis..I don't think the rest of the library would appreciate so much coughing. I've tried searching the internet, but have not really found any useful sites. I found an interview with Bill Gates which took me about two hours to read, but just ended up confusing the hell out of me.

Well, there are other technologies that had a hand in changing the way graphic designers did their work... computers alone didn't do it... There had to be a way to make type look good, there had to be a way to transfer what you did on a computer to paper (hint, hint)...

Good luck and feel better.