Graphic Design
Before the computer age, graphic designers worked with pencils and pens, creating drawings and lettering by hand for inclusion in newspapers, magazines and for company logos. Today, virtually all graphic design is done on a computer. The principal advantage is that the computer allows the designer to see a finished version where, in the past, such proofing required a photographer, printer or other production specialist who could make a test run of the design. Today, proofing final versions and making revisions oftentimes only takes a few minutes where it used to take days.
Most graphic designers work on powerful desktop computers. For these individuals, a machine must have a large storage capacity, fast processing and a great deal of memory to be an effective tool. Graphic design oftentimes requires manipulating files that are enormous, composed of several layers of color, images, text and sometimes interactive media. As the world has moved away from printed information and towards digital formats, so have graphics and the media used has become increasingly complex.
A good place to demonstrate to one's self the tremendous advances in graphic design is to be found on the titles of movies. In the past, the logos of various production companies were oftentimes simple process shots, an animal superimposed over a logo, a fairly convincing shot of some scenery with text surrounding a land feature and so forth. Today, the amount of design put into these logos makes their look as impressive as the effects in many of the films they precede.
Graphic design in print media has also advanced a great deal. This is partially due to the fact that computer technology greatly reduces the costs of having graphics designed by a professional shop. In the past, each variation on an idea may have taken several hours to realize. Today, designers can replace fonts with a few keystrokes, can move elements around by dragging a mouse and can resize an entire image in a few minutes. These processes, in the past, were very expensive and oftentimes prevented designs from being developed to their full potential.
Pursuing a career in graphic design means pursuing a career that is intimately tied to technology. Most graphic designers who have been in business for any length of time know several software suites, printing technologies and other applicable information. Their machines are often high-end, having graphics power comparable to the most advanced gaming platforms.