This article discusses a brief history of graphic design, and it is detailed with where it all started and how it progressed.
Despite being active since the Stone Age, graphic design and what it is known for today started in the modern era since the late 1800s. The 19th century was more about technological advancements and how new capabilities were innovated in order to speed up processes and to get the most out of marketing and quality graphics.
Printing is a common tech and highly competitive innovation with artists and designers and is pushed to explore new styles and techniques in designing. This quickly became the most important part of marketing tools throughout the spectrum.
The first graphic design company was started in 1903 and was known as The Wiener Werkstatte Agency. Since the start of the 1900s, more companies started noticing how they could benefit from graphic designing, and this pointed many individuals to take up graphic designing as a career.
The Austrian company, The Wiener Werkstatte Agency, was an organisation that made design contributions to businesses. They were the first organisation of visual artists which included, painters, architects, and the early start of graphic designers. They were the inspiration for many other organisations to start up as graphic designer companies.
In 1922, the term ‘Graphic Design’ was first used. William Addison Dwiggins first used the term to describe what his role was in structuring and managing the visuals in book design. He was a book designer and wrote an article called ‘’New Kind of Printing Calls for New Design’’ in which he coined the term.
In 1947 Paul Rand published Thought on Design. He was a legendary designer who helped lead graphic design into its current and modern form, which it is known for. His theories were released in the book ‘Thought on Design’, and it helped shape the future of the entire graphic design industry, with vital theories and ideologies on how it could be used and presented.
Since the 1950s, the whole world started to slowly get involved in graphic designing in logos and images; this was the start of the digital era. The main adaption was from home computers and technologically advanced inventions of a printing press. It offered an innovation to communication and providing access to mass communication.
Graphic designing has since then had many innovations taking place in the design process with software and advanced 3D techniques to design.