The Five Stages of Developement

Today in class we had an interesting look into a few of the stages of development that Graphic Design has gone through since its inception as a commercial art in around the 30s. This is a concise summary but the vernacular is the local language and norm of design that one does not question or stray to far from. The awakening is analogous to the transition to adolescence; the beginning of questioning and breaking free from the rules established.  Professionalism was the beginning of graphic design as an actual profession and career. We are then led into segmentation, which is the division of many vernaculars, each appealing to their own demography.  Finally, we enter the lattice. The lattice is our current design stage and tries to incorporate many different vernaculars, unlike segmentation which stays within it’s own element.

There is a point to this very short summary, and that is to raise a question: what next? The article suggests that maybe the next stage is a dismantlement of client, designer, and communicator into a stage of everyone being a designer. The tools we use are readily available to everyone, so people believe they can simply cut out the need for a designer.

Maybe I’m in denial for fear of job loss but  the need for a graphic designer will always be present. Like any profession, it is a discipline and cannot be easily learned on your own.  Sure there are books, resources, tutorials etc. available but we have learned things that clients will never learn, unless attending a design program of course.  Our ability of having our work critiqued by professionals, having somebody guiding you through the process of kerning, presentations by other graphic designers, and a comprehensive look into the client end of things. Like an electrician or a plumber, graphic design is a profession with skills that can’t just be taught through book or tutorial.

Maybe we’ll just become trapped in an endless cycle of the five stages of development; establishing a vernacular only to question it. Maybe 3D will be the new future of graphic design, leaving behind 2D design in the dust. Perhaps a new tool will replace the pen tool, making much used vectors outdated. Whatever the case, every new up and coming graphic design will play a part, no matter how small, in the next stage.