Summary
Highlights
The transition to digital publishing was gradual and met with resistance, especially from established figures in the design community who preferred traditional methods. Early Macintosh output often suffered from pixelated type and lower quality compared to phototypesetting, making it challenging for professionals to adopt. However, the accessibility and speed of desktop publishing eventually won over many. The industry went through a 'hybrid production environment' where digital tools were introduced, but analog methods still dominated production, leading to complex workflows of printing, cutting, and re-scanning elements.
The combined forces of Apple's LaserWriter (powered by Adobe's PostScript) and Aldus PageMaker created the 'three-legged stool' that defined desktop publishing. This ecosystem allowed users to integrate text and graphics on a personal computer, print high-quality results on a laser printer, and then reproduce them. PageMaker's interface was directly inspired by traditional paste-up methods, making the transition more intuitive for designers. This marked a monumental shift, democratizing typography and design on a scale not seen since Gutenberg.
The digital revolution, while democratizing design, also brought concerns about quality and the loss of traditional tactile skills. Some lamented the rise of 'ugly' typefaces and the superficiality of endlessly editable digital work. However, digital tools also empowered a new generation of designers, like Rudy and Zuzana of Emigre, to experiment and make type an image in itself, giving it personality and expressive power. The ability to directly manipulate elements in real-time and match the speed of thought processes has been a tremendous success. While finding quality design might be harder due to the sheer volume of output, the empowerment of individuals to design is seen as a net positive, echoing the historical shift from exclusive literacy to widespread writing.
Before the digital age, graphic design involved actual blank pages and manual decisions. The history of printing goes back to ancient civilizations, but Johannes Gutenberg is credited with combining all necessary printing components in 1440, revolutionizing book production with movable type, specifically for his Bibles. This method, while groundbreaking, remained largely unchanged for centuries, involving tedious individual type selection and setting.
The Linotype machine, invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler in 1886, significantly sped up typesetting by allowing operators to create entire lines of type automatically. This invention made mass education possible by reducing book prices. However, the Linotype industry was heavily controlled by unions, leading to anxieties about strikes and hindering technological advancements. Newspapers, in particular, sought alternatives to bypass union control.
Phototypesetting emerged as a way to circumvent unionized hot metal setting. Early phototypesetters, while clunky, paved the way for more sophisticated machines. The 'Photon machine', developed by Louis Moyroud and René Higonnet, used stroboscopic light to photograph moving type, creating the first photographic typesetter in 1949. This shift also opened the industry to women, who were often hired in non-union cold type departments at lower wages, significantly changing the demographics of the printing workforce.
The phototypesetting era relied on painstaking manual processes like 'paste-up'. Designers would meticulously specify type, layout, and graphic elements using tools like copy-fitting wheels and non-repro blue pens. Printed text galleys and photographic stats were physically cut, waxed, and arranged on boards, often requiring numerous revisions and a 'magic knife' for last-minute adjustments. This labor-intensive method made design a highly mathematical and detailed endeavor, with errors being costly and time-consuming.
Producing color designs involved creating separate overlays for each color, typically using materials like Rubylith and Amberlith. These overlays, along with 'FPO' (for position only) placeholders for photography, were then sent to the printer. The printer's 'strippers' would combine these elements onto a final negative, which was then used to create printing plates in CMYK. This complex workflow required precise registration and extensive communication between designers and printers, influencing the stylistic choices of the era, such as avoiding overlapping elements.
The IBM Composer and later dry transfer type (Letraset) brought typography into the hands of a broader audience. These technologies allowed for more unique and experimental typeface designs, moving away from traditional metal type restrictions. Letraset, in particular, democratized design by making pre-printed letters accessible and affordable, enabling individuals and fringe communities to create their own publications and posters without relying on expensive professional vendors. The Photo Typositor advanced this further by allowing precise kerning and manipulation of individual letters, inspiring a new wave of design aesthetics.
The desire to 'see what you get' (WYSIWYG) before printing became a driving force for technological advancement. Early attempts included cathode ray tube typesetters, but a complete frontend system to drive them was missing. The turning point arrived with the Apple Macintosh in 1984. Although initially met with skepticism and considered 'too expensive, not fast enough, and in black and white' by some, the Mac's user interface, combined with software like Aldus PageMaker and Adobe PostScript, heralded the age of desktop publishing. This shift was initially embraced by computer enthusiasts rather than traditional graphic artists.