When listening to the
Joseph Churchward podcast, I was particularly interested in Churchward’s
thoughts on hand-drawn type design and his apparent disregard for digitally generated
type.
Although the digital revolution occurred throughout the 1980’s, during Churchward’s career, he chose not to embrace it.
Although the digital revolution occurred throughout the 1980’s, during Churchward’s career, he chose not to embrace it.
This led me to start my
paper-based research on the digital revolution; it’s effect on designers and
the resistance it caused for many designers of the era. One of the few who did
embrace the digital revolution however, was Dutch type and graphic designer,
Rudy Vanderlans, who co-created the magazine Émigré with wife Zuzana Licko in
1984. Émigré took advantage of the new medium provided by Apple Macintosh computers
to design digital typefaces.
 |
| Émigré cover, Issue 1 |
I found an interesting article of an interview with Rudy Vanderlans (here), who talks
about the digital era, its effect on graphic and particularly type design, and
the effect that globalization has had on the design culture we were once able
to call homogenous.
““Everybody can see what
everybody is doing, and subsequently there’s a lot of cross pollination going
on, a blurring of boundaries.”
 |
| "Program" designed by Zuzana Licko in 2013 |
Something that stood out
to me was Vanderlans’ comments on the digital revolution and new technologies within
the design world:
“Whenever new
technologies are introduced, the designer’s first reaction is to say, ‘it’s too
crude, I won’t touch it. I’ll wait until it does what I’m used to doing.’ This
is what happened when the Macintosh was introduced. Meanwhile, culture as a
whole embraces new technology and is not going to wait for graphic designers to
get their act together.”
What I learned from this interview and the research I have done surrounding it, is that as designers we have to learn to embrace change and new technologies.. If we do not, we run the risk of being left behind!!
Designers involved:
Rudy Vanderlans
Zuzan Licko
Rudy Vanderlans
Zuzan Licko
Link to interview discussed:
Retrieved 2 April 2013
Post by Laura Barge
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