WEEK 04

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Overview: The graphic design function is changing in fundamental ways and the impact of these changes on all types of work will become very substantial in the years ahead.

The need for new graphic design skill sets

Traditional skills associated with graphic design have evolved from the historical role that print communication channels have had in relation to reaching readers. Historically, graphic designers worked with text and images to orient spatial and visual design on printed pages – and they have worked with the interests of readers in mind.

However, the need for broader types of skill sets is rapidly becoming more evident because new communication channels are expanding to encompass screens, CD ROMs, and mobile devices, including mobile telephones. Such opportunities to deploy key messages through multiple channels are changing the nature of design itself. Design elements need to be inclusive of the end user as the reader, viewer and user of content.

Current challenges associated with graphic design support technologies

In current publishing workflow, authors (and their editors), graphic designers (and their publishers), and printers all work with their own tools of trade. The problem with this workflow is that the movement of content occurs in a forward linear pathway. For example, it is very difficult for editors to make significant changes when content that was originally authored in a Microsoft word environment is presented ready for printing in a PDF format. Equally, authors find it very difficult – often to do with expense - to author text in desktop publishing packages. The current workflow is too inflexible to satisfy the emerging needs of end users. These problems will fuel the (needed) trend towards semantically structured authoring tools rather those authoring to the paradigm of a printed page.

The focus on end users will change current workflow practices

The ability to present text, images and other types of media to the end user in multiple different formats will radically transform the processes and fundamental conceptions of the graphic design process.

Traditionally, graphic designers have been trained to think about design as a visual and spatial art-form. But with the shift towards design as supporting the integration of different communication channels, the need is for the designer to also think semantically about the structure of the information being conveyed. This represents a profoundly important shift in the ways designers will be required to think about their own particular knowledge and the various networks which are impacted by graphic design and multiple-media solutions.

Graphic design as a process contributing to network collaborations

What is likely to emerge is the role of the graphic designer interacting with a wide range of different networks of activities within organisations. The objective will be to customize the enterprise publishing system to support network user collaborations across various parts of the organization. The types of activities would include:

Creation of template structures to support the presentation of content to multiple media output-formats. Of particular importance will be the development of an approach to e-forms infrastructure and backend data management.
Close collaboration with data administrators and those responsible for managing the information architecture systems of the organization to ensure end users are able to engage effectively with content applications that involve many different types of media
The formation of internal and external networks to support collaborative approaches to content development, managing knowledge flows, data management and general communication. Examples of such networks that could contribute to a wide range of enterprise activities include:
marketing networks
risk management networks
administration networks
project management networks
innovation networks

KEY IMPLICATIONS

Graphic designers should play a role in the development and use of enterprise publishing systems. This is vital to ensure design principles are applied to support a user orientation and principles of interactivity.
To achieve these aspirations, graphic designers are likely to work with new enterprise publishing systems that provide the ability for users to take up more control over enterprise publishing workflow.
This will enable graphic designers to engage with networks within organisations and create collaborative design solutions and communication programs.
In turn, this could mean more graphic design services are in-sourced. Or deeper partnership relationships might need to be developed if media and publishing organisations can provide new types of enterprise publishing system infrastructure systems.