OUGD601 - Research: Graphic Design: A New History

Stephen J. Eskilson's A New History gives an overview of the last century in design, from the invention of film photography, to the Industrial Revolution to contemporary graphic design. The Industrial Revolution was responsible for expansion and growth of rail, production, but it is also important to note that the growth and expansion in industry, which in turn produced a new, mass urban lifestyle which developed a mass production of printed material. The growth of the printing industry was dramatic during the industrial revolution and there was a demand for printed advertising growing amongst purveyors of mass produced items. There was need to broaden their audience with the new development of urban life. A rapid growth of all technologies evolved through this period of time because of the mass expansion of everything in industry.

There was a constant high demand in new technologies to advance production and the technology that produced the products. In print, the necessity of printing high volumes was in such demand the introduction of steam presses, mechanised letterpress and lithography saw the production of printing grow from a thousand pages an hour two eight thousand pages an hour. The development of film photography had a dramatic impact on newspapers. The halftone process made it cheap for newspaper to illustrate the news and it had a positive effect on circulation. The expansion of urban life created a demand for products, which lead to the development of new technologies and this domino effect was going full circle.

In part, the impact the industrial revolution had on 'graphic design' is similar to the impact it had on film. The introduction of new technologies and film photography, which later developed into colour film, saw the growth and development of design and production design grow together in a similar way.