the digital haze.

Image via Wikipedia

last blog, i talked about the effect of technology on the world of photography, and this time i'd like to continue on the topic of technology and art. another area where art and technology have merged is in the development of graphic design.

the number of people involved in the graphic design community has increased steadily over the past few years. companies are becoming more and more reliant on graphic design as they begin to emphasize marketing and promotion. but along with this string of creative professionals comes a new breed of artsy imitators. it seems like every teenage kid with a copy of adobe photoshop is now a "graphic designer", and i think it really takes some of the credibility away from the real artists.

along those lines, i wanted to discuss the issue of vector images. vector images are images created using mathematical formulas to generate shapes and designs that are easily manipulated and re-sized in graphics programs. they make designing layouts and images with multiple layers much easier on the designer. however, there are many instances of graphic designers who use only vector images and don't utilize drawn images at all. in fact, some graphic designers don't have artistic drawing skills at all!

personally, i feel like a "graphic artist" should be just that. an artist who works with graphics. while i understand that utilizing vector images is a huge benefit to most graphic designers, i think that a certain level of artistic skill should still be necessary. when graphic designers no longer need this level of skill i think it undermines their importance and talent.