GDUSA TECHNOLOGY SURVEY

20 Years Later The Prophesy Fulfilled

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: CREATIVES IN CONTROL

It was at a tradeshow in 1988 when we first heard the prophesy: Responsibility for and control of the graphic communications process will move upstream into the hands of the creative community, and digital technology — what the heck was that? — would predominate. It seemed a strange, ink-induced fantasy, exacerbated by the flourescent lighting of the show floor and the pounding of a nearby printing press. It came at a time when specialized production managers and commercial printers ruled the roost, equipment was heavy and expensive and loud and hard to operate, and art directors and graphic designers were more often backroom prettifiers than strategists, imagemakers, technology shapers and purchasing influencers.

CUTE AND QUIRKY

Indeed, when GDUSA began regular surveys regarding the products art and design people use, the responses had an artsy-craftsy, feel to them: x-acto knives, rulers, tapes, masking materials, glues, markers, paints, brushes, press type, tracing paper, layout boards, and film, film, film. These were the main terms of discourse. For technologically-savvy early adopters, there was the stat camera, the art waxer and the headline type maker. Designers bought and used a few little cute and quirky things, but responsibility and control over the big and important stuff — typesetting, prepress production, color proofing, workflow and traffic, paper selection and print buying — largely lay elsewhere. Indeed, purists in the design community feared and disdained any creeping interference of “production” into the creative process.

PROPHESY FULLFILLED

But here we are in 2008 — 20 years later. For good or ill or both, the prophesy has come true.

Graphic designers and related content creators have seized control of the entire process — content, creation, production, often even output. And digital technology has permeated the market, becoming ever faster, more flexible and more affordable, the trend is irreversible. It’s change you can believe in.

Today’s technology is about speed, accuracy, efficient workflow and ROI. And where the world was once analog, this new survey affirms what we already know: creative professionals are all digital, all the time, empowered with the tools and and decisions that can allow them to flourish in a world that expects them to be brilliant, insightful, multidisciplinary — and fast.

CREATIVES IN CONTROL

All this is reflected and affirmed in this new poll of 500 GDUSA readers, which finds the following:

First, all professional graphic design is done in a digital environment using the modern-day artisan's tools: computers, monitors, scanners, cameras, printers, proofers, copiers, the internet, email and software for design, production and even billing purposes. Predictably, 98% of readers say they work in a digital world. The only shock is that we found 2% who said otherwise; I suppose there are contrarians everywhere.

Second, these tools are increasingly connected through internal and external networks — and, of course, the internet — and the processes are increasingly linked through digital workflow systems from design to production to proofing to output to delivery.

DIVERSITY

Third, the flow upstream has become a torrent. Art directors and designers have more control and responsibility for the process than ever, and this encompasses substantial influence over the buying and specifying of products, services and technologies. In every important category — computers, hardware, software, type, services, paper and printing, more than eight-in-ten designers out of ten have purchasing or specifying influence.

Fourth and finally, the projects that graphic designers earn a living from are diverse and cross-media in nature, resulting from the growing demand for effective design to make an impact and cut through clutter, from the increasing capability of digital tools to transmit and repurpose content, from the drop in price and reduction in size of equipment. And, of course, the explosive growth of the internet.

ROCK MY WORLD

One last point. Twenty years later, print design is still the number one source of projects for graphic design professionals, a tantalizing story unto itself — for another day and another place.

For right now, though, let’s allow a few key charts tell a story of change and adaptation, while I sit back in my rocking chair and dream of Copyproofs, color keys and custom rubdowns.

— Gordon Kaye

HP: THE COMPUTER IS PERSONAL AGAIN

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