Technology and Design Industry - Essay Example

Throughout the past decade the industry of design has continued its assimilation of digital technologies. Reasons for using digital solutions lie clearly on the surface: they are cheap to use, easy to control, and offer unmatched quality. Design has become cheaper and essentially the market has grown significantly. "500,000 jobs were classified by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) as "designers" or related titling in the year 2000. This was an increase of over 200% from the Graphic Artists Guild survey reports of the mid-1980s" (Carlson 2003). Thus, the industry is thriving with the help of technology. At the same time graphic design becomes more dependent on technology. The US survey of the national graphic design industry has shown that the consumption of the professional equipment continues to grow: "Industry-wide equipment purchasing by design firms and freelancers is expected to grow from $211 million in 2004 to $250 million in 2009" (Naselli and Webb 2004). The good thing is that this indicates the market continues its growth. Not only the technology changes inner processes in every design firm; it changes the portrait of the industry itself. The technology made designing processes more available (note that this does not mean 'easier' - it is still the skilled designer who plays the major role). For example, changes in the industry are now clearly visible through the domination of small firms. "Nearly 75% of design businesses employ 1 to 4 people, almost 90% have less than 10 employees50 largest firms comprise less than 1% of the number of establishments, but account for over 16% ($1.3 billion) of the industry's total billings" (Naselli and Webb 2004). Moreover, the increase of freelancer designers has clearly indicated that an average design company tends to decrease in staff members. The main part of the essay is devoted to a more explicit look on the technologies that are perspective from a designer's viewpoint. What technologies will influence or even determine the future of design Changes in Color printing In the past the revolutionary 4-color printing technology has made it available even for the thriftiest companies to reach their customers with the help of graphic communication messages. Now the color printing itself is not innovative but there are lots of technological issues that distinguish a printing company of the future from their competitors of the past. First of all, there is a very tight struggle for clients in the color printing, which generally can be applied to the whole design industry with its great amount of offers. "People in the world of the Web and in print publishing have to distinguish themselves from the pack and so making your message stand out is becoming more and more important." (Swanson 2000). Therefore a fight for the customer becomes very intensive. And some companies find their winning ways through technology. Consider two main items: large format and software management information systems. First, screen printers, photo labs, reprographics houses, commercial printers, quick printers, and digitally-minded entrepreneurs have all invested in large format equipment, due to the fact it becomes cheaper with every day. Second, software management is a must-have solution not only for printers but for every business that wishes to stay on the market of tomorrow. According to Ted Strauss from Suttle-Strauss graphic communication solutions provider the company has recently put great effort into IT: "With the growth in the last five years, we have also put in a management information system, along with a dynamic scheduling system which has dramatically changed the way we do business". (Pellow 2005). Software management information systems allow the company to operate with increased speed and efficiency. Wide format scanning It seems logical that with the customer's desire to print a large image comes the opposite desire to store this image in the electronic format. Wide format scanning technologies are not completely new, but the reason they currently attract a large amount of designers' attention is the dramatic fall of prices on wide format scanning devices. In the past days the need to scan several images occasionally was incomparable to expenditures of $45,000 on the equipment. However, with the recent decrease in pricing, more and more companies take the benefits of using wide format scanning, for example, for storing images. "The real advantage for these firms is that an investment of around $15,000 not only lets them convert their storeroom of drawings into digital files, but in doing so, the scanner becomes the front door to a document management system" (Cullen 2005a). The ease of access to images, and the ability to change them quickly in the case of need makes the wide format scanning technology an important part of design companies' shopping lists. Wireless technologies According to the forecast of TWGA, wireless technologies present an attractive opportunity for designers. "12% of Internet Design & Production respondents cited "design and production for wireless Internet formats" as a top challenge for their businesses - this rose to 35% among e-commerce consultants" (TWGA 2003a). Wireless technologies can be used by suppliers, printers, and trade shops as a tool for handling customer jobs, communicating with clients, and for increasing internal productivity. Moreover wireless quickly becomes an important advertising medium: "The wireless Internet market is forecast to grow from 74 million wireless Internet subscribers at the end of 2001 to more than 320 million subscribers by the end of 2006" (TWGA 2003b). Therefore to lose this market means to miss the opportunity and eventually a place in the advertising of tomorrow. Web technologies Internet is another important technology, which continues to influence the design industry, both in ways of opening new markets and in ways of running business. Most of the design companies indicate that there is a significant interest in building web-based internal management systems, especially for companies working with freelancers. "Four or five years ago, we were questioning whether we needed a full-time internal support person. Now we are hiring Web developers, database specialists, and creative Web designers, all driving our Web-enabled solutions division" (Pellow 2005). Historically, investments focused primarily on capital equipment. Nowadays, design companies take advantage of immaterial Internet technologies to communicate with their customers and to understand what goods or services they need. It is just about technologies, it is about turning them into business strategies. Software Designers today have three main types of new software tools available to them: improved computer-aided design (CAD) tools; expanded computer-aided engineering (CAE) tools; and emerging integrative tools. Whether the user is designing vinyl graphics, printed graphics, or combined print and cut graphics, they want to do it all from one single seamless design and production application. "Designers want the tools that allow them to minimize the time they spend on tedious tasks so they can focus their time and energy on creativity and coming up with new ideas" (Cullen 2005b). Integrative software tools are in high demand in the engineering design industry due to their ability to automate conceptual design, capture requirements and knowledge within the same software package. Due to relatively cheap software tools designers are able to concentrate strictly on the idea, not its implementation. Digital photography It seems like the word 'digital' penetrates every market. About 10 years ago digital photography was not considered to compete with traditional film photography by professionals, mainly due to low quality of color reproduction. Today, most of the professionals use digital cameras. There is no doubt the traditional film-based photography business is declining. Digital just has too much to offer in terms of speed, flexibility, workflow, and quality On the one hand, there are things you can do with film that are difficult to do digitally. On the other hand, one advantage of film is price. (DarConte 2005) Needless to say that professional photography is often used in graphic design. Although some of the professionals still sometimes use traditional film cameras, these cases are becoming rarer as the digital technologies continue to improve, eliminating one disadvantage after another. Technologies without 'Techno' Alternatively, not all the technologies impacting on the design industry revolve around the words like 'digital' or even 'techno'. Some developments in strategic design have entailed the emergence of design companies using scientific instead of artful navigation. This means, that a company implements a scientific approach to design, developing explicit design methods and processes (e.g. brainstorming, rapid prototyping, empathetic research etc.), which can be shared internally as well as externally with the client. "As a consequence, it is much easier for this type of agency to involve the client in the process. This kind of agency is able to step out of the role of designer and become a process facilitator instead."(Aagaard and Friis 2005) Conclusion Looking at the technologies used in design today we are able to predict its future. The trend towards the increase of freelancers share in design industry seems obvious. Tools for design are becoming cheaper, easier to use, and more answering to designers' demands. Small firms will dominate over the large ones, as the high level of quality will be available even with small investments into equipment. Technology gives the opportunity; nevertheless, it is a designer who is needed to take it. Creativity remains the one feature a technology cannot give. References Aagaard, S. and Friis, S.K.(2005). The Innovation Toolbox: A Guide to New Design. Monday Morning, No. 31, September 19, pp.19-35. Carlson, F.H. (2003). A Look at Calm Within Chaos - An Introduction to Graphic Design Careers and Education. For GraphicDesignSchools.com, May 18. Retrieved on October 25, 2005 from http://graphicdesignschools.com/introduction/ Cullen, C.D. (2005a). How Wide Is Its Reach Digital Output, October 2005. Retrieved on October 25, 2005 from http://www.digitaloutput.net/content/ContentCT.aspP=710 Cullen, C.D. (2005b). Software for Designers: What Do They Want What Are They Getting Digital Output, October 2005. Retrieved on October 25, 2005 from http://www.digitaloutput.net/content/ContentCT.aspP=674 DarConte, L.A. (2005). Professional Photography Market: The Fate of Film. Digital Output, October 2005. Retrieved on October 25, 2005 from http://www.digitaloutput.net/content/ContentCT.aspP=714 Naselli, V. and Webb, J, Dr. (2004). The US Graphic Design Business 2004-2009. Market Research, published on December 14. Retrieved on October 25, 2005 from http://www.printondemand.com/MT/archives/004575.html Pellow, B. (2005). Graphic Communications: The Impact of the Digital Transformation. Digital Output, October 2005. Retrieved on October 25, 2005 from http://www.digitaloutput.net/content/ContentCT.aspP=709 Swanson, J. (2000). Dialog Box - John Warnock. Published on November 22, Creativepro.com. . Retrieved on October 25, 2005 from http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/2804.html TWGA (2003a). Wireless: Don't Overlook the Opportunity. Market report, published in March 2003. Retrieved on October 25, 2005 from http://www.trendwatchgraphicarts.com/reports_2003/wirelessrev.html. TWGA (2003b). Wireless Internet Market Predicted to Quadruple in Six Years. Published on May 13, 2003. Retrieved on October 25, 2005 from http://www.trendwatchgraphicarts.com/fastfacts/fast216.html Read More