How has Graphic Design changed through time?

Graphic design is all about finding ways to visually communicate messages and ideas, and it’s a principal that’s been around for thousands of years before the term graphic design was even invented. Cavemen used pictures to communicate messages to one another on cave walls, and the Egyptians used hieroglyphics to communicate their messages. These were one of the first forms of typography, a key principle in graphic design.

When looking at key changes within graphic design, there are two that stand out to me.

-physical vs digital design.

- Usage and accessibility

It wasn’t until the late 20th century that digital started to have an impact on design. Previously to that design was all physical. Everything was done by hand or by using physical machinery such as the printing press. These processes took a long time and often took people with great skill. As a result, the costs were high, and they couldn't be produced in the masses. The digital age means that design is accessible to anyone. Anybody can become a graphic designer by watching a course on design, learn it through an education establishment or design on their laptop or phone. As a result of this accessibility design is much cheaper now and masses can be made very quickly.

Usage also has had a massive impact on design. Graphic design is everywhere. Whether it's a card in a shop, the banner on a bus or an advert on your phone. It's all been designed by someone. This height in graphic design usage has mainly been down to technology… we are constantly looking at screens. Years ago, design was printed. It was posters, newspapers and magazines and books, but it was all physical material. These things weren't accessible to everyone. Often it was people with money that could have them. As they were all physical materials, they were also often more expensive to make. As a result there wasn’t as many examples of design around for example, during the industrial revolution in the 1760s the Gutenberg printing press was used. This was time consuming and quite costly, therefore companies they could only afford to get a few posters printed so there wasn't many to look at. We are bombarded with design every day, go into central London and you’ll walk past thousands of posters, billboards and artwork. The world is far more visual than its ever been before.

There are far more jobs in design than there ever used to be, however they are not a specialist and as niche now. Years ago, Calligraphers for example, were highly specialised people who would travel far to give their skills to the rich and educated. Not many people could do their job and it take years of training and practice. Although many design jobs take a long time to perfect and are quite niche such as a conceptual 3D artist, there’s a lot of people doing that job and a lot of competition. As a result of new technology and digital demand it has meant that there’s a huge variety of other design jobs that weren’t around 50 years ago… website designers social media content creators, digital editorial designers, 3D artworkers, animators etc. Due to the population size there a thousand of people doing the same job, so designers aren’t as highly regarded as they once were. Although technology has made the world of Graphic Design far more accessible and it gives designers so much room for creativity, there are hinderances. Companies and programmes like Canva and Adobe Spark mean that anybody can quickly, easily make their own logo, advert, editorial layout. Although this accessibility is great, it means there being less needed to hire an actual designer. Why hire someone when you can do a logo yourself for free on Canva? As designers we know that a Canva logo won’t stand out or have a key brand strategy behind. However, if you’re a start-up company and don’t have. A big budget and don’t have a designer’s knowledge of the importance of good branding design, then this is likely the option you’ll take. The rise in programmes like this is taking the respect and quality away from actual graphic designers.

We are living in a world where almost everything is being done digitally, even printing and painting can be done through technology. Sometimes though it’s important to refer back to traditional methods as they create a more unique outcome. Screen printing or lino printing will give you a much more unique and personal result than just printing a digital piece of work on paper. Traditional methods of design were how it all began, and it’s important we don’t forget that. If it wasn’t for these traditional methods, then graphic design wouldn’t even exist.