|
Introduction |
History | Technology |
Theory |
Legibility |
Graphic Design |
Conclusion |
  David Carson, Contents page, Beach Culture, 1990. |
When looking at the effects of technology on society on the whole and design in particular one discovers many interesting parallels. At the time of Gutenberg's movable type the printing press made mass distribution of information possible, encouraging the steady erosion of oral traditions, but in turn lead to the Renaissance, a steady increase in literacy and the educational system. Since the mid 1980's the Macintosh computer has become a common tool for all kinds of creative processes, a way for creative people in all fields to communicate in a common language.16 The Macintosh has eliminated many, if not all, of the laborious tasks of graphic design and type design freeing these disciplines from the constraints of tradition. |
| Postscript, the common language of the computer, is a page-description programming language created by Adobe Systems that handles text and graphics, placing them on the page with mathematical precision. Postscript has become the industry standard. Before Postscript, type was device dependent, meaning that it was dedicated to the particular equipment used to produce it. What Postscript has allowed for is a competitive field of typeface purchase because the type does not have to match specific equipment (except in the case of platform be it IBM, Macintosh, etc.) | Back | Next |  Why Not Associates, Poster, Chrysalis Records, UK, 1989. |