Becoming A Graphic And Digital Designer represents a brand new era of graphic design, which is part graphic, almost entirely digital and decidedly transitional. It is integral that practitioners be prepared for the present and the future, having fluency in a variety of media and platforms now and yet to be discovered.
Design by Rick Landers
This timely edition addresses the demands of starting a design career in the early 21st century. This new volume is not a simple revision, but a complete restructuring from format to content. All the interviews were done specifically for this edition and the international coverage is unique as well. Starting with a new definition of design as a multi-platform activity that involves aesthetic, creative and technical expertise, this edition will guide the reader through print and digital, emphasizing the transitional and improvisational methods so prevalent today. Through over 80 interviews and essays that address inspiration, theory and practice, the reader will understand that the field once narrowly known as “graphic design” is much richer and more inviting of thinkers, managers and makers.
Traditional graphic design and typography platforms (i.e., print) are important yet now a smaller overall portion of this book. After all, many of the print platforms are now gone, near obsolescence or subsumed. Digital is, however, an umbrella term for all manner of graphic design, information design, interaction design and user experience where the computer is the tool of today. Every “communication designer” must be able to use digital tools, whether they design for print magazines or iPhone apps. Moreover, design entrepreneurship—or “start-up” culture—is now reaching new levels of ubiquity and accessibility. Education is changing to better integrate new technologies—graphic, typographic, product, interaction, branding and other sub-genres. This edition provides a window onto these realms. With the book access is provided to 10 videos with interviewees, including OCD’s Bobby Martin and Jennifer Kinon, Tim Goodman, Barbara deWilde, Ross Macdonald and Agniezka Gasparska, discussing subjects ranging from partnerships to humor to infographics.
Becoming A Graphic And Digital Designer will soon be available in MyDesignShop. For more than 100 offerings from the brilliant Steven Heller, stop by Print’s official online outlet.