Phone: +1 (506) 635-3000
Phone: +1 (506) 635-3000
Going from cavemen drawings to Photoshop, Adobe XD and Figma, we dive deep into the history and scope of designing.
Many moons ago, visual communication came to life with cavemen drawing on the walls of caves. Today, we have evolved to graphic design, animation, architecture and interior design, product design and more using Adobe XD and Figma, which started with Photoshop 1.0 on Macintosh computers. Everything we touch, feel and see has design involved, and it’s only getting better.
The beginning of it all in Stone Age
Right from the Stone Age, design has played a significant role in our lives. We started off my carving wheels and weapons from stone and painting inside caves to document information. The world’s oldest known cave painting is a life-sized picture of a wild pig, made at least 45,500 years ago in Indonesia. Human figurines, symbols, typography on walls and tablets are some of the great examples of art from the Egyptian era. Then humans moved further towards carving sculptures into caves, like the ones at Ajanta and Elora.
The first printed logo
Design made a drastic change and stepped into the future in 1436, when the “Gutenberg Press” was invented, which allowed content to be mass-produced for the first time in history. Around this time was also when the printing industry first used logos. They weren’t kist marks on their own documents, they were a means to show off printing skill. Then came the ‘cornatos’, which were essentially tabloids of the 1600s featuring ‘current’ news. The first English language coranto was published in Amsterdam in 1620 under the title The new tidings out of Italie are not yet com. The earliest known advertisement was in the Kilburn Times, now known as London Borough of Brent, on 28th May 1870.
Introducing color with Chromolithography
Two hundred years down the road, technology took a huge leap and introduced printing in color, also called ‘chromolithography’ in 1837. A lot of branding elements as we know today like color schemes, emotion evoking visuals were brought to life over two hundred years ago. The invoked realism, allowing advertising to capitalize on attractive models, fashions of the day and artistic usage of colors. It is also believed that the first movie poster was painted by Henri Brispot in 1895 for the Lumière Brothers on the occasion of the world’s first-ever public film screening. The biggest revolution in the design industry was in 1990 with the arrival of Photoshop 1.0 on Macintosh computers.This gave designers’ the ability to play with new techniques, including overlapping text, faded elements, and digital overlays.
The Digital Era
Soon when digitization began in the 1950, the way brands represented themselves evolved for good, Brands became more targeted towards their audience, with customized branding and approach based on the message they wanted to convey. One of the pioneers to place modern digital design on the pedestal for branding was the legendary designer Paul Rand. Rand’s work was regularly featured in the daily lives of Americans in advertising posters and logos for consumption brands, from alcohol to make-up.
The role of Designers in 2021
Today, there are new tools, methods, APIs, techniques and theories introduced everyday. Designers need to be up to speed with these ever-evolving changes in order to truly succeed and deliver. Brands use graphic design every day for their marketing efforts. Gone are the days when designers were just on one-off contract terms; they are now an integral and essential part of any business and the success of any brand relies heavily on them too. Designers now have the power to set organisations apart in the power to capture the audience with visuals and brand photography. They play a variety of roles, that include but are not limited to: User Interface (UI) or Graphical User Interface (GUI), User Experience (UX), Interaction Design (IDX), User Experience Design (UXD), Customer Experience.
Moving with the future trends in design
Designing will continue to evolve. It is difficult to predict the exact advancements in design, but we can preempt a few trends that will continue to shape the way design evolves.
Creating an emotional connection with the viewers is hitting home for brands. Today, when the branding clutter focuses heavily on the future, going back to a familiar and simple place makes viewers feel strongly about the brand. A common design component in a lot of branding elements is vintage designing. Simple, hand-drawn and unique typography created a great vintage twist to a new company.
Like a lot of industries who deal with UX, designers also need to amplify the user experience to make them feel special. Personalization and customization is key to winning any customer’s heart. Creating original and personalized designs will speak directly to customers churning higher loyalty and trust.
AR is the future of computing. Consumers have already moved to smartphones, and now the shift will be towards smart glasses. This will change the way designers create and think of visual communication. Personalization will again play a key role to stand out from the clutter of branding. Facebook and Apple are reportedly working on their own smart specs and global shipments of smart glasses are expected to exceed 5.2 million by 2024.
This progression will continue and new elements will keep getting added to the way we design. Meeting this dire need to upskill while also creating a strong fundamental base of design is CAM Institute, one of its kind in Atlantic Canada. Creative designers are becoming increasingly in demand, as industries such as marketing, manufacturing, advertising, publishing as well as other specialized areas are constantly in search of qualified and talented designers. Specializing in Communication and Industrial Design, CAM focuses on creating digital storytellers while providing students with hands-on experiences through project-based learning structure. In a world that is governed by user experience, we help designers evolve in conveying a message and creating a human connection through their designs.
CAM is licensed by the government of New Brunswick and registered under the Private Occupational Training Act.
- 210 Crown Street Saint John NB E2L 2X7, Canada
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- info@thecam.ca
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