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4. Computers
Society is formed more by the form of the media we use than by its content. On Internet's screen we read information that we would never read printed in the newspapers. Graphic design and computers have gained too much respect, and no one is trying to resist. The last 200 years we have strived to survive in a revolutionary new environment. New acquired information is being replaced by newer ones. We are trying to keep up with the pace of communications.
Computer graphics is inevitably the follower of graphics produced before. Computers were originally designed for military, scientific and technical purposes. Since they became commercially available they led to a new form of art. The natural interest of artists in technology led to infringing on some traditions in order to try to create a better art. The common consensus is that the computer is just a tool; it is something always subservient to a user, and the machine will not help us create a thought. The truth is that the computer is an extension of a hand; thanks to it we can think in different levels than before. It allows much more experimentation and quicker results. Using computers we are able to achieve something not feasible before. The computer is certainly a creative tool. Computer graphic systems have some features not available in the human brain and similarly human mentality enhances the potential of machines. Therefore, properly used computers have the capacity to be innovative, and therefore people tend to love or hate computers.
In the last decades we were taught how to perceive the natural forms. Now there is a great disturbance to our sensory senses. Everything is made up from the pixels. Human beings are not used looking at rectangular shapes. Computer look caused a shock for the view perceptions. Regardless of the resolution, all new information is made up from squares (pixels). This was ultimately challenging for artists as well as scientists.
During the eighties, designers were scared of bitmaps; it was a lowering of the graphic arts standard for them. People involved in the printing industry did not believe that temporarily lessened criterias of printing and image quality could possibly be progress in printing branch. Nevertheless, some designers took this really as a challenge. They accepted primitive computer look and it was a creative source for their activities. Rapid advancement in computer technology wiped away the term "computer look." Computers in the works of designers became invisible but another fear stood up - perfectionism. The computer look was more connected with smooth, regular shapes void of the imperfection of manual work. Once we did not face technical limitations we appeared to be close to mannerism. Another logical response to this point was to humanize the work of digital designers.
Humanizing movement meant appreciating our history. The aim was to renew the complexity, accidentality and naturalness of handwork. Now computers are used also to deliberately create disorder and coincidence. Just van Rossum and Erik van Blokland, young typographers and computer fanatics, have gone exceptionally far in this way. In 1990 they presented their "Randomfont" that regenerates its shape with every typing. Nobody expected a success of this activity; however, it was a type bestseller in Europe in first months on sale. "There is no technical reason for making a digital letter the same every time you print it. It is possible to calculate every point and every curve differently each time you generate the letter by slightly moving the points that define a character in various `random' directions. We discovered that it was possible to create a font featuring these particular characteristics in PostScript. And, since it was possible, that is what we did. Beowolf is the first `Randomfont' typeface of its kind" 1. Other successful attempts in humanizing digital graphic design were "a size-sensitive" Bodoni font introduced by ITC, technically innovative fonts from FontShop International, and many irregular typefaces from small independent manufacturers. An American company Signature Software, Inc. came out with a software imitating handwriting to personalize business correspondence, but this seems to be producing artificial anachronisms in typography, rather than a new useful tool. I do not think handwriting imitating fonts will ever become widely popular; there is no place for them in the large field of typography. We will be either use genuine handwriting or printed type instead.
The evolution in typography is clear. In the 15th century, early printers could not technically print fine serifs and contrast-based type; they were printing rough blackletters and row roman. Two hundred years later, William Caslon was able to print even a hairline, so serifs became finer and more delicate, yet, printers still could not print ornamental, decorative typefaces. After the discovery of lithography in 1828, we started using display typefaces with refined fancy details. Today we are trying to use the best of our technology. It is the same that Gutenberg was doing, working on the threshold of possibilities, only this way we can provoke other progress. And yes, we can expect another progression, since graphic design has become extremely useful for the market economy, and it is an interest of the largest companies to improve quality and efficiency of type.
1. Erik van Blokland and Just van Rossum, Emigre 18 (22, p. 22)