The impact of technology on graphic design

It’s impossible to imagine a graphics design studio without computers and laptops equipped with the standard software like Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, etc. today. In fact, many graphic designers use a variety of additional tools for refining and editing their works to meet the requirements of their clients.

It’s safe to say that technology has had a huge impact on this creative industry. We still see companies like Temploola creating designs with Microsoft Word, but most graphic design startups use more advanced programs.

Graphic Design Before the Age of Computers and Technology

It goes without saying that a lot of labor went into creating graphic designs in the past. Instead of the convenient cut and paste commands that the graphic designers today have at their disposal, back in the day they had to manual make the cuts with x-actoknives which also meant they had to take accurate measurements down to the millimeters. Similarly, for creating the designs, all they had were just some sheets of paper and pencils/markers. So, as one can imagine, making changes to the designs was far from easy or simple.

Just like the designs/images, fonts and types used to require a lot of manual work as well. The designers had to actually discuss at length the size and styles of fonts they thought would work for a logo or a design. If there were any doubts, they would rethink before moving ahead.  The reason was that they couldn’t just slap dozens of fonts on the design just see the difference in real-time like they can do with software today. They had to actually print the type and paste on the design to see how it looked.

In the same way, there were plenty of challenges and hassles with video designs, printing, phototypesetting, etc. However, those days are gone now.

Graphic Design Today

As mentioned earlier, in today’s tech-driven world, there is no dearth of versatile software that can make graphic design a piece of cake. In fact, top brand Adobe alone has an entire range of professional graphic design software replete with every single tool that a skilled graphic design can ever ask for. It even has a state of the art image workshop app called Photoshop Express for the mobile devices! Who could have ever imagined this kind of achievement some odd 2 decades ago?

In truth, we have actually stepped into the next generation of graphics design already. This is because companies like tailor brands are automating design companies like tailor brands are automating design using advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. They are offering low-cost branding and graphic design services which means that even small businesses can create professional logos, customized social media banners, presentation files, etc. from the comfort of their own office or home.

Even web design has become so easy today that one is only limited by their creativity. This is because there are numerous website builders that offer every service needed for building a quality website such as social media buttons, website email forms, banner images, shopping cart, drag and drop feature for images and videos, etc.  under a single platform. There are plenty of affordable and reliable hosting plans, marketing and branding services, etc. There are also pre-designed themes that one can install with the click of a mouse. So, a general user doesn’t even have to bother about designing anything on their own or hire someone for the same.

Conclusion

Saying that technology has had an impact on graphic design would be an understatement. This is because it’s actually revolutionized how ideas and converted into real products in a matter of minutes. It’s also made enterprise-level designer software accessible to general public. This wasn’t the case in the past as the business-owners and self-employed professionals had to actually approach actual graphic design studios which often had exorbitant charges and not to mention took days, if not weeks to finish the assignments.

Thanks to technology, the graphic design industry is booming today. If the current rate of progress is any indication, we are to accomplish even bigger feats in the near future.