June 10, 2009
Graphics Tech
The next big transition: "assisted" graphic design?
In less than 25 years we have moved from pasteups and X-acto knives to simplistic desktop publishing to the advanced graphic design systems and software of the moment. The transition from the board to desktop publishing software made it possible for the designer, who once spent a day assembling the parts and pieces of an advertisement, to produce the same product in an hour. In doing so, it allowed them to increase their work load and/or to devote more time to substance.
I'm guessing that transition will pale in comparison to the transition we now face. "Assisted" design further automates aspects parts of the production process. Instead of inventing your own systems for moving tasks forward you adopt a process built and perfected by others. Assuming it is equal to or better than a system you could create, why wouldn't you use it?
Content management systems are one example of how this transition is manifesting itself, EightShapes Unify offers another. Unify is a comprehensive collection of (primarily) Adobe InDesign templates and graphic elements you can use to present and prototype web pages. I point you to it not only because it is a very cool (free) product, but because it appears to me as another signal of a shift.
As the tools are improved, expectations increase, process is diminished, more resources are devoted to substance, and (in most cases) quality and effectiveness improves. You can easily see how each step prepares us for the next--the question is: where are we headed?
An overview of EightShapes Unify...
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I love that question where are we headed.... I think it is 3D advertising. The ad will not only be 3D, and look like it is real, but it will talk to you and with sensors, it will listen to your reaction and adjust the ad on the fly. That's it, an ad that changes to the consumers liking. TTS (text to speech) engines will become everyday and ad will look like people and talk and act, and ask for the sale, and close the deal faster than any ad has ever done. I know that is way out there, but we cannot predict the future as far as what it will be like and look like, and what tools will be readily available, but what we can predict... is that technology will continue to get faster, smaller and smarter. At some point, it passes mankind and it knows more than most. then we become the tool, the ad if you will, and it's something to think about. lol
Posted by: P. Fischer | June 17, 2009 12:58 AM
Haha. So you're saying the ad will be like the guy in the conversation who agrees with everything you say? We'd get bored quick wouldn't we?
Posted by: chuck
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June 17, 2009 11:17 AM
no the opposite, as the future ad will say, with all forms of media available, exactly what we want to hear, see, smell and more... When the ad has intelligence and it can listen and understand us, than it hooks us, and closes and says, "cash or credit".
I love technology and I am glad that you exist as your "Ideabook" took me to another level as you have the greatest tools! Now I have time to dream about crazy ideas like 3D advertising with intelligence. You are responsible for giving me more bandwidth and i'll never be bored. haha!
Posted by: P. Fischer | June 18, 2009 9:58 AM
Is this taking the creative out of creativity?
Posted by: Oen Hammonds | August 5, 2009 4:06 PM
I don't think so, just another step that peels away the process from the product. Kind of intimidating though, in the end, you are only as good as your information, creativity, and marketing skills.
Posted by: chuck
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August 5, 2009 5:14 PM